SCARPA Vapor Lace-Up Review: A Whole Lotta Trad With a Dash of Sport

The SCARPA Vapor Lace-Up shares a niche with shoes like La Sportiva’s Katana Lace and TC Pro, and the Five Ten NIAD Lace.  But it offers a thin, 3.5mm sole and a slightly softer, more sensitive feel — for the genre. They are an amazingly light, breathable edging shoe with solid crossover into midsize jamming and slightly overhanging rock, both sport and trad. They were ideal for almost all granite venues, as well as sandstone face-and-crack areas like Eldorado Canyon, Colo. I’ve tended to favor them for middling-hard to hard multipitch climbs, but they are a great cragging boot too. Especially for climbers who like their shoes to flirt with an old-school, full-foot supportive feel but also have a dash of flair and downturn for technical sport climbing.