Scarpa Alpha

A solid performer. Great on a snowy approach and great for technical pitches of ice and rock. They have a low ankle collar to allow for gymnastic moves. I don't use them very often due to it being a warmer climate where I go for alpine climbing trips, but when I do use them, I'm satisfied.

Scarpa Alphas work well for all conditions but the most extreme cold. They work well with most crampon types and are lightweight for a double boot.

They seem to fit at the indicated size. I have a medium wide foot and they seem to fit fine width-wise. My street shoe size is 11.5, however, I was able to wear size 11 US men's Scarpa Alpha boots just fine with no issues.

The Scarpa Alphas I have are size 11 and they are comfortable when wearing a liner sock and mid-weight insulation sock based on a person who may have a regular feet to slightly wide feet.

These boots are good to go for cold season climbs and colder summer climbing in lots of mushy wet snow during approach hikes and low angle mountaineering.

Warm, stiff, and light for a double boot.

Sadly no longer made, but these boots are exceptional and can be bought at bargain prices these days. I've led up to WI4 with no trouble and I'm sure a more experienced ice climber could climb much harder than that with these.

Also took these to the Tien Shan twice and had no complaints about warmth, comfort, or climbing ability. Only went to 5100m but I reckon these would do 6000m and beyond pretty comfortably.

Kept up with my friend's swanky lightweight La Sportiva Supergaiter boots (I forget what kind, but they were expensive) on icefalls and with Scarpa Phantom 6000s in the Tien Shan no problem.

Only trouble is the plastic outer isn't waterproof above the tongue, so it'll flood into the outer boot easily. It's also rather difficult to lace up really tight.

In short, if you see them going cheap, buy them! You won't regret it.

The Scarpa Alpha, an amazing double plastic boot. Thanks to its plastic outer shell and carbon fiber footbed, it's incredibly light, (at 900 grams!) actually one of the, if not the, lightest mountaineering boots on the market.

And considering it has much better insulation and is much warmer than any other lightweight shoes, it's really worth it's 5 star rating. And it's amazingly warm, thanks to the thick insulated inner shoe, making it well suited for alpine winter climbing or high altitude expeditions.

Its sole is as stiff as concrete, and together with its toe and heel bail it's perfectly suited for any type of crampon, from lightweight flexible walking crampons to fully rigid technical ice climbing crampons.

On top of all of this, I was even actually that incredibly lucky that they were on a bargain, from 320 Euro for an incredible 75 Euro! Obviously I bought me a pair straight away, they are now an addition to my Koflach Verticals, both plastics.

Great boot, very warm and dry. Automatic crampon compatible. The only problem I have is tightening them really tight. I got them on sale for $200--great buy for that price.