I am a massive fan of the old Scarpa Vortex slipper and I will forever mourn its loss, even if it was violet. Make no mistake, the Scarpa Stix was going to have to live up to a lot in order to impress me. The Vortex was sensitive, had oodles of power in the toe - it was a great shoe to wear.

I was recently lucky enough to spend three weeks in the US bouldering Mecca of Hueco Tanks, Texas. Accompanying me on this mission into the steep side was my usual, and sizable, selection of shoes. Usually, in the UK, I am never out of my FiveTen Anasazis, but this wasn't home turf - Hueco is steep, really steep. Every other problem is a roof and it was here I found that the Stix, Scarpa's new high-performance slipper, came into its own. The aggressive down turn last of the Stix is awesome on overhangs and gives loads of holding power in the toe. Another major plus point is the Vibram XSV rubber, this seems a vast improvement on the old Megabite, used on the Vortex, and they do seem to be stickier in general and offer better "out of the box" performance.


The toe box is very roomy, which encourages the toes to curl giving loads of support as the shoes actually feel more comfortable when worn a bit snugger rather than looser. Another rather clever innovation is the use of Lorica in the toe box on all the newer Scarpa models. Lorica is a non stretch synthetic material which has a soft feel and improves comfort across the tops of the toes, whilst at the same time preventing the toe box from bagging out and thus losing the ability to hold the foot in the right position. This means that the Stix holds its shape much longer offering more support. The Lorica isn't the most durable outer material however and careless footwork will lead to relatively easy scuffing of the outers.

Left: Tom Dixon making short work of Baby Face Arete (V7), Hueco Tanks, USA.

Oddly for a slipper the heel of the Stix actually feels very good - close, snug and not like it's going to pull off the back of the foot very easily. Unfortunately, this effect isn't going to last as long as the heel cup of these slippers seem to stretch out faster than the toe box, meaning they become a little looser.




A final doth of the cap must come though: it's good to see some thought going into holding the slipper onto the foot. Scarpa have achieved this by adding some PU bands across the top of the foot where we would normally see just a piece of elastic. These bands give the slipper a snugger and more secure feel, whilst helping it to hold its shape for longer.

So to summarise, I am very much taken with the Stix. I think it is a superb shoe which is perfectly suited to steep bouldering and sport routes, and like its predecessor the Vortex I think a lot of climbers will find it to be an awesome shoe for training, sport climbing and bouldering. Highly recommended.

By Dave MacLeod

After getting accustomed to the Scarpa range, my clear favourite emerged. It’s no accident that I gave myself many months of trying the different models in different climbing situations to get a feel for them and establish what worked best for me. Rock shoes really are an extension of your body in rock climbing and it’s critical, no matter what level you are at, that the shoes work in balance with your technique and that you feel comfortable and confident in them.

The flow of influence between your movements and the shoe is actually a two way process believe it or not. Just as your typical, repeated movements will wear out the rubber or upper on a climbing or walking shoe in a certain way, the design of the shoe and what movements it lends itself to wears it’s way subconsciously into your technique and the patterns of movement you habitually use. You’ll almost never be aware of this because it happens so slowly and subconsciously, unless you are qualified to analyse your own climbing movements very well.

As a coach you can spot climbers with a history of poor rock shoe choice, maintenance and fitting a mile off. They avoid small footholds, uncertain foot placements and place their feet poorly on the rock. What’s worse is; they don’t even know they are doing it. They think “I am getting the most out of my footwork already”. But in reality, they are just getting the most out of the rock shoes, with a huge field of potential from footwork left unrealised while they wear those old, ill fitting, or poorly designed shoes.

Habitual use of the wrong rock shoes over time has subconsciously taught the motor planning part of the brain – don’t rely on footwork to solve the move, it will let you down. Concentrate on the upper body instead. What a disaster! In beginner level climbers this effect is blatant and obvious, in expert or advanced climbers, it tends to be more subtle and takes an experienced eye to spot. The moral of the story? Every rock shoe is a performance shoe, and no matter your level, it IS important you make the right choice. If you make a bad choice early on as a beginner, you are much less likely to progress in climbing unless a coach spots the problem or you accidentally discover how good the right pair of shoes are down the line.

Dave MacLeod on Bear Trap Prow (8a+), Glen Nevis Scotland. Photo Claire MacLeod/davemacleod.com


Right, with that out of the way, what makes the Stix so good? Most rock shoes sit somewhere along a continuum of trade off between stiffness and support, and softness and sensitivity. The obvious design challenge for rock shoe designers is to somehow have your cake and eat it and get the best of both worlds. Heinz’s [Mariacher] X-tension system has done an excellent job on this. Like all good design features where working with the human body is involved, it works with the natural anatomy of the foot and not against it.

The result is sensitivity in smearing yet a slightly surprising amount of support when standing on small edges. Over the course of the year I’ve found them a cut above in performance and comfort in sport climbing, bouldering and big trad routes of all angles and lengths. On ‘special’ move types such as toe hooking and heel hooking, they are remarkable also. In fact they are the best toe hooking boots I’ve ever used by quite a margin. Although more likely to stay secure on your heel during aggressive heel hooks than any other slipper, you might still want a lace up for the most hardcore of heel hooking boulder problems. But only for 1 in 10,000 moves. For everything else, they are my rock shoe wishes all granted in one!

View Scarpa shoes here.