Talk about a shoe that I relied on for just about everything. The Scarpa’s Crux approach has been a solid piece of gear for work and play, allowing me to carry less by having it do more. When I want a trail shoe that can do some casual bouldering or crossover into low angle terrain like the First Flatiron, I have taken these. The smearing friction is really good under foot, with a fat band of solid, flat rubber. The shoe curves up as you move towards the toe, which forced me to really get up over my toes if I wanted to do any type of edging. This didn’t feel as comfortable for me, but man do these shoes tear it up on easy granite.
I brought my climbing shoes with me as a backup when I climbed Royal Arches in Yosemite last month, but the Crux was perfect for the majority of the climb which kept my feet more comfortable, even when jamming up long hand cracks. The beefier build of an approach shoe like this pads your feet on harsher jamming and holds up on rocky approach trails and descents. The final slab traverse was no problem with the large contact area under the toes and I just cruised across the thing, avoiding the potential 50+ foot pendulum fall with surprising ease. The North Gully descent after that climb was more like sliding through loose debris than walking down the steel gully/hillside and these shoes took it like a champ.
When shooting routes from off the ground, the Crux offered a great balance of performance on the rock and durability. I can smear and move around enough to trust I won’t swing into the climber I am photographing because the sensitivity and grip under foot offers me enough response to avoid those slips.
Leave a reply