Scarpa Vapour S

Comfort and performance

I bought the Vapour S because they fitted so well when I tried them on in the showroom. Coupled with the price, purchasing them was a no brainer. What I was surprised by however is how well they perform despite being incredibly comfy: my previous views on performance were that if the shoe feels comfy it couldn’t edge or smear effectively. The Vapour S proves this wrong with incredible comfort due to the slipper fit as well as edging and smearing performance akin to that of a much more pro shoe like the Drago than to the Reflex. This shoe proved that comfort and performance can be achieved and is the perfect all rounder in my opinion.

Scarpa Vapour S

Climbing shoes are such a personal choice, it's hard to listen to reviews as it could be a completely different experience for someone else but here is my thoughts. I'm 72kg, used these on grit & rhyolite so far & have used them on routes from diff to E3. I bought these as an option to have something that I thought would be a softer but still supportive & more comfy shoe compared to the Scarpa Instincts and Vapour V. I did a fair bit of research & being experienced with downsizing, I decided to downsize by 1.5 sizes from my street shoe size. Initially, they were pretty painful but after a good week of wearing them round the house and warm up climbs, they are reasonably comfy. I haven't owned them long enough to decide whether I'd only go down by 1 size next time as they do feel fairly soft. I wanted a shoe with that same incredible Scarpa quality that could potentially rival the Unparallel up lace comfort with a good blend of smearing ability & edging. It's only been 3 weeks but I find these shoes too soft for me for trad climbing. Their smearing ability is amazing but I just find my feet a bit tired after being on a route for a while & that's just single pitch trad. Pros - amazing quality, very good sensitivity, really comfy, fits my wide forefoot/narrow heel/duck feet Cons - too soft for trad or edgy routes in my opinion, I found the Instinct VSR to offer more support which has the same rubber & only a 3/4 length midsole. Think these would be a good bouldering / board shoe / indoor shoe if you want something even comfier than the Instinct range.

The perfect allround climbing shoe?

These are tight on my feet and very comfortable at the same time. They have been great on overhangs and slabs, and should be great in cracks. I have other climbing shoes, but these might be the only ones I actually need.