Scarpa Zanskar Review
I’ve never done a review and as it stands, this is only some initial thoughts as I just got the boots. This is bound to be far less helpful than many of the great reviews on here, but I found little on these boots from hunters, so thought I’d at least put something here. I’ll try and add to this thread as time goes on and keep track of things that might be pertinent.
After doing a lot of reading and chatting up my friends, I ended up getting the Zanskars off backcountry.com while they were on sale. I planned on getting the Scarpa Kinesis as well to see how they were side by side, however they were no longer on sale. It’s probably just as well-they didn’t have 12.5’s in the Kinesis and that’s the one that ended up fitting well in the Zanskar (ordered those and the 13’s). The Kinesis has a full rand vs the one on the Zanskar that is only around the toe. In pictures, it appeared the Kinesis was a tad bit taller. The customer service guy at backcountry was really helpful and said the Kinesis is just a bit more robust, but otherwise pretty close to the Zanskar. The Kinesis gets good reviews and looks to be a nice boot-I would’ve liked to see how it felt.
I’ve never owned Scarpas and feel I have a fairly average foot, possibly a slightly lower arch than average. I wear a size 12 in all my footwear, though my friend said he’s a full size larger in his Scarpas. As mentioned above, I found the 12.5’s (46.5) worked well for me-there was just too much room in the 13’s. The boots themselves appear to be of good craftsmanship without any noticeable flaws. One thing I found on reviews online were the positive feelings on the lacing system. I have to agree. The locking metal hooks at the top of your foot (before moving up the front of the ankle) is really nice. I can set the amount of tightness over the top of my foot easily and it’s “separate” from how much I want to cinch down the upper ankle support area. I think there are different companies doing this, but I’ve not had ones with that feature before and think I’m going to like it.
When I walk around the house with them, there pretty comfortable for a stiffer boot. When holding them in my hands, they give a pretty significant amount of resistance to flexing, but I can get them to bend just a bit. They’re definitely not an alpine type stiff boot. While walking, they bend relatively “easily”, but it’s jot a significant amount. While standing still, the construction of the boot leaves the toe “angling” up at about the ball of the foot. Not uncomfortably at all, but it requires less bend when walking that if the toe was flatter to the ground. I hope that makes sense...
The top of the boot is soft and pretty comfortable. The tongue is nice and padded and the sides rise above my ankle a stnificsnt distance-more than I thought it would from the pics. The back is cut a ways lower which makes it comfortable on the achilles. That being said, a little taller at the back of the boot would probably help keep rocks and debris from getting into them while going downhill in loose stuff...which I hate. The toe box feels pretty roomy, while my heels feel secure, as does the whole of my foot in regards to width. The top of the boot at the toe doesn’t pinch or or lay right down on top of my toes, which I like. I prefer a little bit of room rather than a “hugging” fit all over my foot.
The sole has deeper lugs than I expected, again from the photos. The gap between them should hopefully allow for easy cleaning while in the hills. While the boot does have more flex than other boots out there, the rigidity in regards to twisting seems pretty solid. I’m getting these will do much better for me side hilling than the lighter, lower, waaaay more flexible Merrells were earlier this year.
I am going to look into insoles for these, though I’m not sure which ones or if I’ll ultimately get any. I’ve got some current knee problems that are keeping me from going to the hills, but as I move forward with getting miles on them, I’ll add the info here. Hope this helps someone in their hunt for a decent boot.
Jeremy
I’ve never done a review and as it stands, this is only some initial thoughts as I just got the boots. This is bound to be far less helpful than many of the great reviews on here, but I found little on these boots from hunters, so thought I’d at least put something here. I’ll try and add to this thread as time goes on and keep track of things that might be pertinent.
After doing a lot of reading and chatting up my friends, I ended up getting the Zanskars off backcountry.com while they were on sale. I planned on getting the Scarpa Kinesis as well to see how they were side by side, however they were no longer on sale. It’s probably just as well-they didn’t have 12.5’s in the Kinesis and that’s the one that ended up fitting well in the Zanskar (ordered those and the 13’s). The Kinesis has a full rand vs the one on the Zanskar that is only around the toe. In pictures, it appeared the Kinesis was a tad bit taller. The customer service guy at backcountry was really helpful and said the Kinesis is just a bit more robust, but otherwise pretty close to the Zanskar. The Kinesis gets good reviews and looks to be a nice boot-I would’ve liked to see how it felt.
I’ve never owned Scarpas and feel I have a fairly average foot, possibly a slightly lower arch than average. I wear a size 12 in all my footwear, though my friend said he’s a full size larger in his Scarpas. As mentioned above, I found the 12.5’s (46.5) worked well for me-there was just too much room in the 13’s. The boots themselves appear to be of good craftsmanship without any noticeable flaws. One thing I found on reviews online were the positive feelings on the lacing system. I have to agree. The locking metal hooks at the top of your foot (before moving up the front of the ankle) is really nice. I can set the amount of tightness over the top of my foot easily and it’s “separate” from how much I want to cinch down the upper ankle support area. I think there are different companies doing this, but I’ve not had ones with that feature before and think I’m going to like it.
When I walk around the house with them, there pretty comfortable for a stiffer boot. When holding them in my hands, they give a pretty significant amount of resistance to flexing, but I can get them to bend just a bit. They’re definitely not an alpine type stiff boot. While walking, they bend relatively “easily”, but it’s jot a significant amount. While standing still, the construction of the boot leaves the toe “angling” up at about the ball of the foot. Not uncomfortably at all, but it requires less bend when walking that if the toe was flatter to the ground. I hope that makes sense...
The top of the boot is soft and pretty comfortable. The tongue is nice and padded and the sides rise above my ankle a stnificsnt distance-more than I thought it would from the pics. The back is cut a ways lower which makes it comfortable on the achilles. That being said, a little taller at the back of the boot would probably help keep rocks and debris from getting into them while going downhill in loose stuff...which I hate. The toe box feels pretty roomy, while my heels feel secure, as does the whole of my foot in regards to width. The top of the boot at the toe doesn’t pinch or or lay right down on top of my toes, which I like. I prefer a little bit of room rather than a “hugging” fit all over my foot.
The sole has deeper lugs than I expected, again from the photos. The gap between them should hopefully allow for easy cleaning while in the hills. While the boot does have more flex than other boots out there, the rigidity in regards to twisting seems pretty solid. I’m getting these will do much better for me side hilling than the lighter, lower, waaaay more flexible Merrells were earlier this year.
I am going to look into insoles for these, though I’m not sure which ones or if I’ll ultimately get any. I’ve got some current knee problems that are keeping me from going to the hills, but as I move forward with getting miles on them, I’ll add the info here. Hope this helps someone in their hunt for a decent boot.
Jeremy
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