La Sportiva  Aequilibrium LT GTX Mountaineering Boots - Men's

Review after testing these on a steep (gains >3000 ft. just in the first 1.5 mi.) mountain hike with scree, dirt, gravel, smooth and rough rock in dry conditions. Background - I have over 40 years of backpacking, mountaineering, and technical rock and ice climbing experience, and have used boots from every major brand and most styles. My feet are boot-fitting nightmares. I do not make callous and sweat heavily, so very prone to blistering. Have bone spurs on heels, and curled toes, not quite 'hammer toes' yet, but prone to blistering on tops of 'toe knuckles' during descents if not a generous toe box. One foot is 1/2 size larger than the other. Impressions: Out of the box, with medium thickness Darn Tough hiking socks, these felt snug, but comfortable, a technical fit similar to my LS Nepal Cube boots. At first, I didn't think there was any lace lock below the ankle, but upon closer inspection, the lowest lace hook is narrower and acts as a lace lock. These are 'B2 rated' boots, so more flexible and less rigid than B3 boots for more technical climbing. They have a pronounced rocker in front, and the angled heel behind which is unique. The heel lugs are very big, and the heel is a bit flared, and therefore didn't fit my Charlet-Moser Black Ice crampons. The ankle is fairly low, and flexible, which can help with balance when landing on off-camber rocks, and traversing side-sloping rock, but combined with the sole flexibility, would likely weaken the performance for front-pointing and edging. While hiking these moved like a dream. The combination of the flex and rocker made each step smooth and propels you forward, without the momentum-killing 'ker-thunk' of stiff, flat, mountain boots. On descent, the angled heel also smooths the landing, and gives more surface area on initial contact which prevents skating on gravel or smooth rock. The grip on all (dry in my test) surfaces was superb, and I had no sliding on scree, gravel, or dirt as I do with most other shoes and boots on this route. This could suggest a softer rubber compound that could result in shorter sole life, but I don't know about that yet. They don't appear to be re-soleable. After about 90 min of climbing, I got hot spots which turned to blisters on my heels, but that's not uncommon for me. I hope to be able to manage that with Leukotape and Engopads on my next test. More bothersome though, was while descending steeply. They felt great at first, without any toe-bang or much forward sliding which curls my toes and causes the toe-top blisters in my other boots. I found as I went along this was because they are narrow just before the first metatarsal bone (the 'bunion area') on side of the big toe, and that is what stopped my feet from sliding forward while descending and saved my toe nails. Unfortunately, it caused blisters in that area on both feet, which I've never had with any boot before. It could be a deal-breaker for me, but will try Leuko-taping those area on my next test as well, and lacing the forefoot more loosely on descent to see if I can find the sweet spot that still will prevent forward foot slippage. I hope I can get them to work for me. They are fairly light weight, and will make a great boot for summer or lower elevation alpine ascents, range traverses, and off-trail scrambling.

I haven't had these for a month and the material on the back of the ankle is starting to come apart on both boots. Really disappointed as I use these boots on a daily basis. Since they are under warranty, returning for a new pair and hope the next pair doesn't have the same issue. Or other issues.