I bought these boots in 2000 and have almosted lived in them, wearing them for more than 240 days on a glacier in SE Ak, and a few times in the Yukon, BC, and then northern AK. I went through liners in a hurry. The heel area wore the quickest for me. I wear a size 91/2 D and went with a custom insole that probably made these the cadillac of all boots. I have previously worn Koflach ski boots and found them to be the most comfortable boot in the world....this holds true today. Comfort level is 10 for 10. Warmth is great especially for temp ranges in the 0 F area. When worn at -38f in the Delta range on a weekend trip my feet did get a bit cold, but were warmer than a friends in the Inverno. Great for glacier travel and GM. Waterfall ice is also doable in these, but a bit sloppy. Still though, the best boot out there and i am still wearing them after abusing the hell out of them. Even with the new boots on the market, i will be buying these for my fiance this year.

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Scarpa Asolo Vasque

I bought a pair of these after trying rental boots that were older model plastic jobs. The rentals were very painful and slowed me down a lot. I was turned off on plastic boots until I tried the leather ones. The leather ones are far less comfortable and take way too long to break in if they ever do. Then I tried these, the BD Scarpas, and the Arctics Expes. These and the yellow arctics were more comfortable than the Scarpas. I didn't see the need to pay $100+ more, and I got these. Two expeditions above 14k feet later, they've been perfect. My feet were never cold, wet, or bothered by the boot. I wear only liner socks and fit the boot for this. This way my feet do not swim in the already generous padding as well as thick layers of sock. Dryness and circulation are the key to warm feet. Those who reviewed the Arctis as not so warm maybe have too big a boot, too much sock, and are cutting off their circulation with tight laces. I'm only 120 lbs and these Degres are always warm even for several days at -10 C. I haven't tried them atop McKinley yet, sorry.

Customer Service

Best mountaineering boot for the money. Good enough for anything you would want to do. Especially if you need to ask for advice on the subject...

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Vasque, Salomon, Scarpa, rentals

Less than 100 miles on my Degres.Very warm and very dry.Better flexability than serous plastic boots.Work well on rock and snow.Perfect with or without crampons.Good price from LLBeans.Two thumbs up from a winter hiker/camper.

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Scrapa older rental cant recall model.Stiff.Better for ice climbing.Cant wait to try that!

I have had the degres for 15 months.
I am on my second pair already. These
boots are comfortable, light and warm.
they are also junk. The ruber rand on the toe piece came off the first pair within a month. koflach claimed they had never seen that before. A friend of mine bought a pair for his wife and within two months her rand is falling off. I am not using these for anything the boot wasn't designed for. I climb about 2 14ers a month in winter in co. the rand is coming off and falling apart after one year. initially these do seem like good boots, until you wear them about 10 times. Makes you wonder what koflach does for field testing.

Customer Service

Had a pair of koflach varios for 12 years. they are in better shape than 1 year old degres

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makalu
koflach vario

These boots rock! Replaced my 30 year old Molitors (great boots though) because it's cold up in NH. The Degre's are COMFORTABLE, whether on the approach, climbing or going down. They are very warm. I tried them out up Mt Lafayette and Lincoln, and stood around at Greenleaf Hut for 25 minutes in 0 degree temps. Everyone else was jumping around trying to keep warm. Me? Standing still and toasty. If they fit in the shop - they'll fit on the trail. Make sure to leave room in the shell, as there is obviously no give in the toe. I opted or a slightly larger shell, and placed a full length shim underfoot. My only "complaint" with these is that I'll likely replace the footbed with "Superfeet"

Customer Service

None with Koflach, but can't say enough about REI!

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Scarpa Inverno
Koflach Viva Soft
Asolo (Guide, I think)
30 year old Molitor Leather

This is the first boot I have owned/used other than ski boots, so I little to compare them to. Either way, I love them... warm, comfortable, fit great, and they give a good feel.
I've only used them for ice climbing so far, but they have given me no trouble.
Only concern is that the toe is fairly wide, and my crampons didn't fit on the boot. However, a minor adjustments to the campon (bend the wire) fixed that.
The company I bought them through gave a great deal... 300 canadian, which I think is like 85 cents is US clams. Mountain Equipment Co-op is the company. Great company

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None

A great pair of boots !

I've used these boots extensively for ice climbing and mountaineering and have nothing bad to say about them. I even used them for hiking in the Canadian Rockies after my other pair of boots left my feet covered in blisters.

The grooves on the boots are great for crampons. My BD sabretooth's have never fallen off while my friend (with Asolo's) had to readjust them every 30 minutes !

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Koflach Viva Soft - another great boot although not as warm.

I rented a pair of these from REI to climb Mt Rainier this past
summer. Due to heavy snow over the previous winter, we had to
don the plastic boots at the Paradise trailhead. My feet stayed warm
and dry the whole trip. They were much more comfortable than
I imagined they would be. I got a hot spot on my shin on the down
climb, but I attribute that to not loosening the laces on that portion
of the climb. This is the boot I will buy when I take the plunge for
my own pair. Please understand that this is my first experience in
plastics, so I really can't give a comparative review with other
products.

This boots make a good technical boot or are confortable for walking up any glacier. These boots are warm (-40) and i reccomend them to any bouddy who is going to spend a week in the mountains.

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scarpa inverno (didnt like)

Though they may not be as warm as the arctis expe's, they are plenty warm for me. I tried the vertical, artis expe and these, and these were the most comfortable, maybe not the warmest, but it is still rated to -40 and holds up to that. Good in every mountain range except maybe the himalyas (but i think they would do fine), these are a decent pair of boots for a reasonable price.