Scarpa Vapor Climbing Shoe reviews and deals for sale

Way Too Small

I normally wear size 39.5 in La Sportivas. Bought the Scarpa Vapors in size 40. They are more like size 38 in La Sportivas. Here is a comparison pic with my TC Pros (39.5). Can't give you a review on its performance since I can't even get into them.

Decent but not Amazing

These shoes are decent but not my favorite. Theyre suitable for easy trad which is mostly what I bought them for, but on climbs with small foot placements I found that the rubber under my big toe was folding, though my feet might just not have the right shape for these. (Bought online without trying on) I wear a 42.5 La Sportiva and got these in 45 and they have a similar tightness.… read more Also, the slight downturn was completely gone after 1 use :(

Great all-around shoe

The Vapor lace makes for an excellent all-around shoe for vertical to off-vertical rock. I believe it has more of a preference for face climbing as opposed to pure jamming, but it's a capable shoe for trad climbing. It seems very comparable to the La Sportiva Miura, but it fits my foot much better than the narrow Miura. I've used this shoe extensively but only on granite, pretty… read more much all in CA. Most of the climbing here is vertical to slightly slabby. I don't climb much if any super overhanging sport routes, so take that into consideration. The Vapor strikes a great balance between comfort and performance in these conditions. These shoes don't kill my feet, but they still can climb thin faces well. I own several climbing shoes. The TC Pros are my go-to trad shoe, especially for anything that has a lot of jamming. The TC Pros are more comfortable to me for jamming, but the Vapor can still stand up to some jamming. It wouldn't be my first choice for a sustained jam crack, but it will do. I wear about an 11 street shoe. My Vapors are size 44. Just a slight toe curl. My outer toes (where the top of the toes isn't covered in rubber) hurts a bit in sustained jam cracks, which is why I prefer the TC pros for jamming. I feel they edge a bit better and are more precise than the TC Pro. I like them more for face climbing than the TC Pro for these reasons. But they're sensitive enough that you can still feel the rock well. And they're pretty comfortable for the degree of performance. Way more comfortable than a Miura VS for instance. I can wear these on a multi-pitch climb and not suffer. The thing that makes them great for granite is that they're not so downturned or stiff to make smearing difficult. Granite requires a lot of smearing, and these shoes can get a lot of rubber in contact with the rock without causing too much pain. The Sportiva Miura VS edges better than the Vapor, but the Miura VS is worse at smearing due to the pronounced down turn and more stiffness. You fight the downturn and stiffness more on the Miura VS when smearing. Compared to a softer shoe like the La Sportiva Skwama they are less sensitive than the Skwama but I think they offer a firmer edging platform compared to the Skwama. My 2 shoe quiver for most days on granite is the TC Pro for more jam cracks and these for the more techy faces. The Miura VS comes out for pure edging prowess only nowadays. It may not be the best shoe for anything in particular, but it's a great all-around shoe that can edge, smear, jam, and still be comfortable enough to wear for more than 1 pitch. The Vapor has a synthetic upper. It won't really stretch much at all. It will conform somewhat to your foot but the fit stays pretty consistent over the life of the shoe. I will say that any down turn that may have been present at the beginning is gone. They're a pretty flat shoe. FWIW my street shoe size is about an 11. Most of my running shoes are 11 but I can wear anything from a 10.5-11.5. I have a fairly wide forefoot. Take all of the sizing comments with a grain of salt, everyone seems to have their own idea of what a "good" fit is for a rock shoe. TC Pro is 42.5-43. 42.5 for more performance, 43 for more comfort. Toes are flat. Vapor in a 44, minimal toe curl, pretty flat toes. Tight and precise but pretty comfortable. They feel a bit tighter than the TC Pro when both are broken in, which probably explains the extra comfort in sustained jam cracks with the TC Pros. Miura VS 43. Toes are quite curled. Uncomfortable for more than 1 pitch. Great edging shoe. Skwama 42. Toes are curled but these are surprisingly comfortable once broken in. I've worn them on longer routes but I tend to undo them and take them off my heels at belays to give my toes a break. Awesome sensitivity. Grip rubber is super sticky. Good bouldering and sport shoe. Pretty good edging but requires more toes strength than the above shoes due to softer construction. The pronounced down turn helps edging.

Best Granite Trad Shoe I've Ever Used

Very impressed with these shoes as they are the best shoe I've used on granite. I've been using them in Little Cottonwood Canyon all season and I am way more confident climbing delicate slab and trusting greasy little nubbins to stand on. Seriously, these are incredible shoes. My sportiva approach shoes are a 42.5 and my Vapor Laces are 42.5 as well. They fit snug - I will be… read more purchasing a size 43 for comfort. They really excel on finger cracks too - had locker feet while climbing the crux of Tick Fever in LCC. Id recommend these shoes to anyone who is trying to improve their granite rock game, from City of Rocks to Yosemite - these are my new go to on shorter multipitch!

Comfortable All Day Long

I have been in love with these since the moment I put them on. They were pretty uncomfortable when I was breaking them in. I went with the 41.5 which equals out to be about an 8.5+. I wear a size 9. in my street shoe. The left shoe fits tight, and the right shoe has a little bit of room. If I wanted a little more aggression I would have gone with the 41.0. But with a shoe like… read more this even with a little bit of room they perform so well for all types of climbing. You're looking at about a 7-10 hour break in time before they really feel incredible. During this time you'll have some hotspots, but nothing unexpected. These will be my longer single/multi pitch shoe although I love them as a warm up boulder shoe. Throwing them on unlaced, the heel pocket holds to your foot so well.

fit too small

just quick review on the size i wear size 9 for gym shoe and this is the first time im ordering climbing shoes def the 42 was too small, im ordering the 44 now. not sure how they will fit

Walking on Sunshine WWWOOOAAHHHH

Story time: I finally bit the bullet and got myself a rock climbing gym membership a couple months back. My brother had a pair of shoes he wore a couple times and didn't like them; passed them down to me. Of course it wasn't my style I was looking for, but I needed shoes so they worked. Time came for a new pair and I decided to go to a local climbing store to try on some pairs.… read more I tried several shoes and none of them really melted my heart. A rep recommended these shoes to me... Fireworks, bubbly heart eyes, and racing heart once I put them on!! These fit like a glove, a perfectly fitting glove. They seemed a bit tight, but I knew this pair was for me. I did find them for cheaper here at Backcountry, so of course I took that into account. After about a week of solid climbing, they definitely broke in and they climb like a champ without any blisters, no uncomfortable spots, and solid shoe all around. I am extremely happy I purchased these! TLDR: Buy them, they're worth it

The Vapor Lace

I am five feet eleven inches tall, 148 pounds, and measure 9 -1/2 D on the Brannock. Most Nike running shoes fit me perfectly (room at the toe, no movement in the heel) in a size 10. In the Scarpa Crux approach shoe a size 42.5 is all-day comfortable. The Scarpa Vapor Lace Yellow (I include the color because there was once an orange Vapor lace that didn’t work for me) seems… read more to run a little wider than La Sportiva rock shoes. It also has a relatively tall and structured toe box, as opposed to the chiseled or amorphous toe of some shoes. Although I cannot wedge the Vapor into finger-sized cracks, my toes completely fill the front part of the shoe – a definite plus for edging. The fit of the heel pocket is snug without cutting into the Achilles tendon. I tried out two sizes (a 42.5 and a 42) from Backcountry and decided to keep both: the larger pair for all-around and gym climbing, and a performance pair for steep edging outside. Although some photos appear to show the Vapor lace with camber, the amount of downturn is minimal. After several gym sessions, it felt basically like a flat lasted shoe. What was new and different for me was the small, shallow cavity in the outsole just under the ball of the foot and the corresponding convex area inside the shoe. This felt weird initially, however, I soon got used to it and discovered that I could use footholds in new ways. The shape of the sole lets me better snag the edge of buttons and bulbous holds on overhanging terrain, and on slabs and vert the curved shape of the sole allowed me to wrap a little more rubber onto a hold, especially those out to the side, either pushing or pulling. Another advantage these shoes offered was in crack climbing. Performance in the Mythos (my shoe of choice for several years) came from downsizing and then cranking the laces such that the bones in the ball of my foot were slightly stacked and bundled. The edging is quite good, but for me the crack climbing with such a fit was purgatory. What I discovered with the Vapor is that even with a performance fit and my toes curled, the relatively wider toe box allowed my feet to lie flat laterally and foot jams as such are much less painful. The shoes broke in quickly after three or four sessions indoors. I have been using them 2-3 times a week since January 2017 and the size and shape have not changed. I can think of nothing negative about this shoe. Even its color, a vibrant yellow, has grown on me.

Great All-Around Shoe

I've used the Vapor V's for about 18 months and I love them. I needed a new trad/crack climbing shoe to replace my Miura's and decided I'd give these a try, I could not be happier. They are fantastic as an all day multipitch shoe and I've been impressed with their ability on sport climbs and bouldering (5.11-12/V5-6) as well. I have a slightly wider foot and La Sportiva shoes just… read more never feel right for me. The Scarpa Vapor line is straight Goldilocks just right for me.

Great!

I bought these to replace a more casual pair of Scarpa climbing shoes after I developed a nasty case of sesamoiditis in my right foot. These are stiffer, more aggressive, and have a noticeably thicker sole compared to the softer lines of Scarpa shoes available (for a high arched foot like mine, the softer/more casual climbing shoe wasn't a good fit, thus going with something a bit… read more more solid like the Vapor). I find that overall, the weight distribution of these shoes places less stress on the ball of my foot and has almost eliminated the pain I was getting while using big toe edge on my right shoe. Also, these things are amazing for edging and tiny holds, while also being really comfy and supportive at the top of the foot. The laces make it really easy to dial in the perfect fit, and overall I'm SUPER happy with these. One thing to note for women (my feet were ever so slightly larger than the biggest size in the women's lace-up vapors): the back edge just above the ankle sometimes rubs a tiny bit, since they come up higher on your leg than a women's specific model might. However, I haven't found it to be a big issue while actually climbing, but seems like maybe more of a thing when walking around in them. This hasn't really caused any issues, it's just something I notice here and there.

Premium

The synthetic suede is plush and forms comfortably to the foot. I wear a 10.5 street shoe / 11 in Brooks Cascadia and have a 42.5 Scarpa for an agrgessive fit. The heel also holds very nicely in hooks with little dead space. I'm blown away at the precision of the toe and overall edging power. The one caveat to all the greatness is that the upper is a little fragile. A sloppy… read more toe drag roughed a spot of it up pretty noticeably. Overall very happy.

Comfy Thin Crack and Edging Machine

This shoe is incredibly comfy, even for a very wide forefoot. At street shoe size (9.5/42.5), I have a snug fit all around, especially in my small, narrow heel. My toes are a little curved and my second-biggest toe is a little knuckled due to the taper of the shoe, but the fit is comfortable. I can jam .5 camalot and even smaller cracks with ease due to the combination of the thin,… read more chisel-tip toe profile and pleasant torsional stiffness of the shoe. Additionally, I can stand on microscopic edges with confidence. The Edge rubber is a bit icy in cold temps, but with a little warmth and texture, they smear surprisingly well. The standout features of this shoe are the thin, precise toe profile, ridiculous comfort, sensitivity, very thin stack height (between the bottom of the sole and the bottom of your foot), and the supportive stiffness and edging prowess. The biggest con is the aggressive taper which slightly detracts from outside edging performance, but this could fit other feet better. I had the piping around the tongue removed at Rock & Resole and the tongue stitching altered to eliminate the only hot spot behind my big toe. I am planning on using this shoe as a hard, thin crack shoe and an all-day hard trad shoe. I intend to resole with Stealth Onyxx rubber to trade a small amount of edging ability for improved smearing. I will purchase another pair a half size above street shoe size (43) for a dedicated thin crack shoe and all-day shoe. 43 fits my toes completely flat and the heel is a bit baggier, but the comfort is unparalleled. This might just become my favorite all-around shoe. It does just about everything pretty damn well, from edging, smearing, and toeing in on steep terrain to heel-hooking and jamming. It fits my foot much better and edges much better than the 5.10 Anasazi VCS Blue, which was my favorite all-arounder before. The construction also seems to be of higher quality and the midsole is made of a thin sheet of plastic rather than cardboard. To clarify, the toe is slightly down-cambered, but the shoe flattens out pretty quickly after breaking in. I would NOT consider this a downturned shoe, although it has the toe-in precision of one. As a side note, this shoe has performed well on routes up to 12+ in the gym and crack lines on smooth basalt up to 12. On a particularly cold day in Eldo, I couldn't feel my toes and the rubber felt a bit icy, but the edging performance was undiminished.

Great All-Rounder

Having had a lot of success fitting the Scarpa Instinct VS, but looking for a shoe which could smear more capably, and had more support for longer, less overhung climbs, I was interested to give these a shot. The shoe is sized very similarly to the instinct (I wear a 43.5 in the instinct vs for bouldering, and I ordered a 44 in these for all around use), and is definitely more comfortable.… read more As a result, it doesn't have as much of that vacuum like fit that the instinct has, but that's to be expected for a more comfortable shoe. For bouldering it is slightly less capable, but more than makes up for this with its versatility. On slabs, you can get a lot of rubber down on the rock, so friction smears and very marginal feet feel quite solid. They aren't particularly stiff, maybe as stiff as the Instinct VS, so they sacrifice some hard edging ability in exchange for gaining some smearing confidence. A friend got the la sportiva otaki, and they are noticeably stiffer, so likely better for edging. I would highly recommend it to anyone who tends to fit well in Scarpa shoes (i.e. wide forefoot, lower volume heel), and maybe has trouble getting proper fit from narrower brands like sportiva. Update: I've worn these for maybe a total of 20 days outdoors, and on a recent trip I was pulling the right shoe on and I managed to tear the tongue out of the shoe. It looked like it had been sewn in with a loop or two of thread, however the other shoe seemed more substantially attached... The tongue itself is just a rectangle of padded fabric, so it only needed a strong tug to rip out. Thankfully neither the tongue nor the leather was damaged and I actually climbed the rest of the day with the tongue held in place by the laces. Bought a needle and thread and reattached it. Still annoying though, since the rest of the shoe seems so solidly constructed.

Comfy climb

I liked climbing in these shoes, pretty good edging, fun sport route and bouldering shoe. my main complaint was a narrow toe box (similar to a la sportiva Katana) and not a great heel hold. (shallow heel)

like a glove

These shoots are comfortable enough for multi pitch climbs. they have excellent grip on any surface of rock. I prefer the lace up model because it gives me a truer fit and grip around my whole foot as opposes to the Velcro model.

Edge on a Dime

I'd consider this shoe a high performance agressive all - rounder. Supple sensitive and pretty comfortable for its aggressive downturn, i'm able to jam this shoe in cracks. But where it really excels is on dime edges. When you need to stick to that match book edge, these are killer. I've padded my way up slabs, but also have pulled on overhanging boulder problems. Great revamp… read more to an already killer shoe!

Sizing & fit advice for multi-pitch trad climbing? For reference, here is a list of the other shoes that I have worn: - Scarpa Techno, Size 42.5 (Good fit lengthwise and in forefoot, toe box width and height feels a bit too tight) - TC Pro, Size 42.5 (Good overall fit, leaving laces in forefoot relatively loose) - Tenaya Masai, Size 42.5 (Good fit lengthwise and in toe box, too… read more narrow at forefoot, heel slightly baggy). - La Sportiva Futura, Size 42.5 (Tight, performance fit, except for slightly baggy heel. Not wide enough for comfortable toe splay on slab and less than vertical climbs).