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La Sportiva Nepal Extreme

Rating: August-September 2005 

La Sportiva Nepal Extreme

These boots represented the first step away from synthetic mountaineering boots for me. The great staff at Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking (AMH) in Anchorage spent around six hours trying to convert me and they did. The boots were really quite incredible, and for my flat feet they represented little problem, in comparison to the pain inflicted by boots made by Scarpa. I give these boots a rating of *** stars because I think they were simply one of the most impressive pieces of foot-gear I have ever had on, but I must confess that I ditched them on EBay after the one season. My problem came from trying to get the size just right and I went with what is supposed to be the ballpark equivalent of an American size 12, 45.5 European. The result was hammered toe syndrome during a long 2 mile descent of some 3,000 ft. with a heavy load, and within just a couple of days the big toe on my left foot was black. The boot was simply about a 1/4″ too short for my left foot, but it was still a great boot. As stiff as the Koflach Degre, but not as hot, and a much better fit in my opinion. The only reason I did not go back to this boot was the discovery of the La Sportiva Trango. Of course I would have went to a 1/2 size larger boot, or at least that would have been logical. Overall the boots are great if you can get the right size, and even in my Trangos I have decided to go up the 1/2 size to the European 46 because I still get some hammering of the toes on steep descents. Realize the Nepal model is a heavy boot for extreme situations, and although I think you would be hard pressed to go wrong with the boot for sheep hunting (especially when it comes time to pack out a big load), I am suggesting people think of going lighter, and in particular I am suggesting folks look at the various Trango models.

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