First Look Review: La Sportiva Trango Tech GTX

As with any boot, there’s a trade-off between climbing performance and walking performance. Generally, stiffer boots climb better, while softer and more flexible boots walk better. As you would expect, the very soft Trango Tech walks quite nicely. However this soft Strobel lasted boot walks well because the toe flexes, which takes away from performance in snow and ice where a stiff platform is needed. The boots are quite stiff laterally though, which allows them to perform reasonably well on the rock. The toes flex straight on for smearing but provide a fairly rigid platform when edging—a good compromise.