Boostic R

I would always hear the climbers I looked up to most talking about their love of the old Boostics...

When I finally tried these I understood what they meant. This shoe is remarkably comfortable and yet allows you to bear down on the microest of micro crystals and edges on granite walls. It also jams and heel hooks remarkably well. I recently upsized in these shoes and was blown away by their performance across sizes. I wear a 41 for performance downsize, which I actually found to be a little too aggressive in this model... whereas the sizes 42 and even 42.5 were extremely comfortable while providing top notch performance on stacked 5.12 and 5.13 up the north face of Mt. Hooker!

Recently I've taken these to India, where I sent one of my hardest overhanging finger cracks. The Boostic R held up to heavy use in cracks and corners, making it as versatile as it is comfortable and stylish.

They also hold their own on the boulders, as you can see with Bharath putting down the second ascent of Tehelka V6 with no pads after we attempted a nearby bigwall.

The Boostic R is a return of the old Boostic - a favorite for technical edging and standing on the smallest of feet. I can confidently say that many of the routes I have climbed, I could not have done in any other shoe. This includes routes ranging in styles from Pineapple Express on El Capitan to many hard sandstone multipitches to single pitch sport routes. In technical, vertical terrain, the stiffness of the shoe allows me to stand as tall as possible on dime edge feet - I can reach noticeably farther when wearing the Boostic as opposed to a softer shoe. In steeper terrain, it allows me to maximize knee bars because I can push so much pressure through my knee due to the stiffness of the shoe. The supportiveness also helps in reducing foot fatigue on long routes or back to back days of climbing such as on a big wall. They may not be the most comfortable shoe out of the box, but they are certainly the most proficient in a wide variety of applications, namely technical edging and toeing in on the tiniest features of rock. The only downside is that the Boostic R seems to loose it's stiffness slightly faster than the Original Parrot Boostic. Sizing wise: I wear the same size in these as I would for any Scarpa shoe. Ex: a performance size Drago or Instinct would be the same as a performance size in the Boostic R.

Huge fan of the original Booster. I did not mind the softness of the azure blue model before this as it was more versatile but the heel on this is absolute garbage compared to the original. They added a lot of tension back but it's still so wide and sloppy and the velcro strap area is not as snug on top of the foot. Overall back half of the shoe is higher volume and doesn't stay true to how they previously fit. I use to wear these with a snug fit everywhere and you can see how big across the top of the foot they fit and that's all dead space from where I am pinching the heel down. 42.5 downsized from 45/11.***** and my other shoes are the Instinct VS W in 43.5 so not going any smaller.

My hardest routes outside tend to be vertical with crux moves on thin edges and crimpers. The Boostic R, because of its touted stiffness, sounded like the ticket for me, so I ordered up a pair. The reviews led me to choose my normal Euro climbing shoe size: 42.5, which was slightly larger than what was recommended for a performance fit. No way was I ordering a pair too small that I would have to return. When the shoes arrived and I pulled them from the box, I was struck by how tiny they looked. It seemed doubtful that my feet, US mens size 9.5, were going to fit, but I was wrong. Sort of. After a bit of effort, I did manage to stuff my right foot into the shoe, but I knew almost instantly that I could not climb in these. Standing in the shoe was impossible. As long as I was sitting I was okay, but as soon as I stood up and weighted the shoe as if I were edging the pain shot way above the “You’ll climb better if your shoes are comfortable” threshold. Perhaps going up a size or size and a half would work, but I will be returning these shoes. For reference/comparison, I wear for a single-pitch performance fit the Scarpa Vapor Lace in 42.5 and the Acopa Merlin in US M 9.5. I wear the La Sportiva Finale (blue and grey) in 41.5 for multi-pitch.

As much as I appreciate the company's response to remaking this shoe. In my opinion, they really did not. It is more of a blend between the two boostics previous. Very asymmetrical toebox which was not the case with the original (this does not fit my foot). As well as being slightly softer than the original (stiffness was what the main advantage was). I have bought two pairs, the first of which I returned because they were obviously too small and the second pair I thought would work out of the box but clearly, on my first pitch outside, I was not going to continue with them. Personally I will not be wearing these shoes and I increasingly struggle to find scarpas that fit me. The sportiva solution for the win.

I would also like to take a couple stars off of the top reviewers here because they are sponsored by the company (they either got paid to leave a positive review or they are a part of the population that have pidgeon feet).

Sorry for the harsh review but I'm disappointed and feel like my $230 was wasted.