Do You Need Scarpa’s Most Technical Approach Shoe?

All approach shoes wear out, and some things to keep an eye on will be the heel cuff—it’s supple, making on-off super easy (I leave the shoes tied and just use my finger as a shoehorn), which is great while cragging. But in the past, approach shoes with soft cuffs have also tended to fray more quickly. The sole is also very thin—like rock-shoe-level thin—but Scarpa is claiming the SuperGum rubber is three times as durable as regular butyl rubber. We’ll see, but for now the cuffs are holding strong as is the treaded sole—no notable wear patterns or soft spots.