BOOSTER

I have used this shoe lots over the last two years, and like it for several reasons. It has a good amount of power in the toe and the ability to pull on steeper terrain, but it also has a lot of sensitivity to it. I did find that the fit was a bit tighter than I am used to in Scarpa. For all my tightest pairs of shoes, I wear a 43.5 but this one I need in a 44for the same performance as the 43.5 is just too tight.

I was trying a new boulder in LCC called Doors of Perception, and the intro has a very technical and difficult foot walk on some comically bad feet. I tried stiff shoes: POP! I tried soft shoes: SPLOOSH! Finally, I thought to give the Boosters a chance at glory. Lo and behold, the foot walk was unlocked, every time.

I think the reason these shoes worked so well in this scenario has to do with the combination of their aggressive toe box and their soft rubber. The tight toe box gave my feet a lot of strength and support on the small footholds, but the soft rubber was able to squish into all the crystals of the Little Cottonwood granite.

So shoutout to the Boosters, you made my life a lot easier while projecting Doors and ultimately, got me to the top.

Pros:

-Great sensitivity

-Sticky rubber

-Excellent indoor boudlering performance

Cons:

- Little to no stretch/molding to the foot

-SMELLY

-Soft rubber wears through quickly

I previously owned a few pairs of the previous model of this shoe, the Booster S. I loved that shoe. Excellent sensitivity, sticky rubber, and surprising comfort given the performance. I loved those shoes, but alas, they have been discontinued. These shoes are *almost* as good as the S, but they have a few issues for me:

1. These shoes are entirely synthetic, which has a few effects. Firstly, I find the synthetic materials don't have the same capacity to stretch as natural leather, so the shoes haven't broken in as much, and so, aren't as comfy.

2. Again, due to the synthetic materials these shoes are STINKY. I have quite sweaty feet, and the synthetic materials don't allow the shoe to breath as much as leather shoes. The smell got so bad after just a few months that I had to do a deep clean and overhaul my drying/deodorizing process (thank you Boot Bananas).

3. Finally, I personally find the slightly re-profiled toebox of the shoe to be less comfortable. I have a large big toe that protrudes upward. The old Booster worked great but this one is really tight on the top of my toe. So much so that I have developed some nice big calluses on the top of my big toes from wearing these.

Overall, I would still recommend the shoes. Though they are a downgrade from the previous model for me, they…

I’ve beaten the crap out of these shoes for around 5 months and they are perfect for pretty much everything. They respond sensitively to smeary volumes but somehow maintain rigidity on tiny foot chips. Indoors and outdoors they worked very well. My only complain is that the heel sag wasn’t the best although it still allowed for a lot of performance. Perfect shoe for the all around lead/bouldering application.

I bought this shoe specifically for steeper sandstone (Flatirons) and limestone (Rifle) climbing but have found it to excel on vertical-to-overhanging technical granite as well. It edges incredibly well despite being soft in the mid-sole which make it incredibly versatile for technical granite pitches. I found that this shoe can be sized slightly smaller (1/2 size) for a perfect fit once broken in. I wear a 42 in the Boostic but 41.5 in the Booster. Overall I am thoroughly impressed with the performance of this shoe!