Wear, therm, water ingress. Few seams and thick leather is silicone impregnate. water resistance good, very scuff resistant. Little to no breakin period for hotspots, circulation issues is not a problem so stayed warm in sub zero, thermal break sole & insulation works good for long treks. Ascent. Some flex in toe to mid plus ascent at 30-50% slope. Acceptable for 60% plus on hard snow & ice for a couple of hours. Great for multi day trips and backpacking. great on hard snow, ice, and snow shoeing. All seasons. Descent. . Going down steeps is great with these mountaineering boots (most with this upper form. Karakorums are good & prevent toe butt & jamming** and having the strap &lacing that hold the foot in heel better.to get techs due to my feet, the tongue & lacing provide good even retention pressure on navicular and talus and smaller anterior foot bones, and prevent the tarsals and mets jamming** together on descents. . Love these boots, got extra size up from 44 to 44.5 which had no heal issues and allowed BETTER fit when using cushioned high end orthotic insoles. (The ones that come with boots you can recycle...). I like the breath ability so used Arcteryx gaters repack their liquid waterproof sealant for multi-day trips, & Gore Tex GXT socks j.i.c.

Don’t get the tongue exposed to mud, snow use gators is a big plus. Not water proof in extensive rain, or mud exposure especially lower tongue. ( Gore-Tex liners risk having wear spots anyway after a few hundred Km). Reasonably light so for me, with heavy packs, rope, gear. Upper rubber protective rind not as thick as needed for on rock, scree & talus. Vibram sole to upper rubber appears glued not vulcanized and can delam just starting to see that now...(suggest fix with black Sikaflex caulking). hybrid crampons pick carefully as some models can really wear-in spots on the thin upper rind and glued seem of toe box. I did not have this problem as I read about those with issues... I maybe don’t walk the trail through all the crud, mud so I’m delicate. (So are my feet, with past injuries). Not a steep ascent stiff boot thus assumedly not for long, steep ice climbing..

Wear, therm, water ingress. Few seams and thick leather is silicone impregnate. water resistance good, very scuff resistant. Little to no breakin period for hotspots, circulation issues is not a problem so stayed warm in sub zero, thermal break sole & insulation works good for long treks. Ascent. Some flex in toe to mid plus ascent at 30-50% slope. Acceptable for 60% plus on hard snow & ice for a couple of hours. Great for multi day trips and backpacking. great on hard snow, ice, and snow shoeing. All seasons. Descent. . Going down steeps is great with these mountaineering boots (most with this upper form. Karakorums are good & prevent toe butt & jamming** and having the strap &lacing that hold the foot in heel better.to get techs due to my feet, the tongue & lacing provide good even retention pressure on navicular and talus and smaller anterior foot bones, and prevent the tarsals and mets jamming** together on descents. . Love these boots, got extra size up from 44 to 44.5 which had no heal issues and allowed BETTER fit when using cushioned high end orthotic insoles. (The ones that come with boots you can recycle...). I like the breath ability so used Arcteryx gaters repack their liquid waterproof sealant for multi-day trips, & Gore Tex GXT socks j.i.c.

Don’t get the tongue exposed to mud, snow use gators is a big plus. Not water proof in extensive rain, or mud exposure especially lower tongue. ( Gore-Tex liners risk having wear spots anyway after a few hundred Km). Reasonably light so for me, with heavy packs, rope, gear. Upper rubber protective rind not as thick as needed for on rock, scree & talus. Vibram sole to upper rubber appears glued not vulcanized and can delam just starting to see that now...(suggest fix with black Sikaflex caulking). hybrid crampons pick carefully as some models can really wear-in spots on the thin upper rind and glued seem of toe box. I did not have this problem as I read about those with issues... I maybe don’t walk the trail through all the crud, mud so I’m delicate. (So are my feet, with past injuries). Not a steep ascent boot nor assumedly for ice climbing... not super rigid not for day hikes . Get a lighter, supported- flexi shoe.

Overall these boots are a good all round boot. They feel really nice on my feet. It took a long time (not to mention a lot of blisters)for me to break them in. Like other people said, after the nikwax wears off on them they soak up a lot of water and don''t dry out very easily and the metal componets to the laces are rusting. They aren''t as stiff now, which kind of makes me made because when I try to go climb alpine rock or ice in them, they have too much flex to them. The rocker basically just walks for you which is nice. Overall, it''s a good all round boot that will do everything but not excel at anything. But since they don''t make them anymore (replaced by the Eiger, curious to compare these boots to those) I guess there was really not much point in doing this review huh?

Customer Service

Never had any personal experience and I have never seen any pairs of sportiva''s go back at work either

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SLM SM Exp, Vasque H2, Sportiva Makalu, Koflach Degre, Koflach Arctic expe, Scarpa Freney, Sportiva K2

great boots, I wore them on a mountainering trip with an 11 mile approach on there first time out. they were very comfertable although they wernt quite broke in and I got a large blister on my heel. They soak up allot of water though I would suggest a heavy water rappelent. The soals are very stiff I did a little bouldering in them and it worked well, they work great with crampons.

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none yet

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Danner, they sucked, water got between the gor-tex and leathor and rotted out the leathor.

I tried at least ten different brands of mountaineering boots searching for the perfect pair. I think I have found it. I have a huge bone spur on my left foot and needed a forgiving boots to work around my foot. With a little creative lacing I have a very comfortable fit. Considering what these boots are designed to do I am surprized at the comfort. The Makulu boots are notorious for a long break-in. These Karakoram seem fine. I have just been wearing them walking, haven't got on a mountain yet, but I feel like I have found my boot! They definitely seem stiff enough for ice yet I feel like they will be fine for a trail or rocky approach. The pully lacing with lockdowns is wonderful. On normal (non-hiking) shoes I wear a size 9. Hiking boots I go with 9 1/2. I got the 43.5 and it is the perfect fit with heavy or double socks. And they look pretty cool (I'm so vain.)

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Great on all sorts of snow and crusty things with no crampons. Easy to stand on toes while scrambling or bushwacking up steep dirt on approaches. Great traction on snow and rock. Edge well. Very warm and dry. Fits all sorts of crampons like a charm. Feel very secure. Versatile enough to use on hard mountain and jog back on trail ! I recommend getting new soles before trying to break them in. The Superfeet Soles work nice. I love these boots.

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These are absolutly fantastic boots. Some people are not so happy with their status as the "middle ground" mountaineering boots. Ok for hiking; ok for scrambling; ok for moderate ice climbing, but not great for any. Well, what I do most are long, steep, rocky, bouldery, wet, snowy trails. Unless you like to carry four pairs of boots on each of your climbs, these boots ARE perfect (that is, if they fit you perfectly).

I was told that they fit narrow feet the best. I thought my feet were wide, but these boots fit just fine. My advice, go and try on a pair, no matter what your preconceptions.

I was also told that these boots were very difficult to break in. I just soaked them in a bathtub for three hours (after taking out the insoles and laces), ran around and stretched in them for a few more hours, and poof! they were broken in! My first hike was 8 miles round trip +-3400 feet. Only minor hot spots on my heels because I was wearing the wrong socks. These boots were just fine for the full stride hiking of most of the trail, provided great traction on the snow, and really amazing traction on the rock scramble to the top. This is due to the softer rubber than most shoes which will wear out more quickly and will probably require one or two resoses before the boots wear out, oh well.

Fantastic boots.

Customer Service

none yet (that's a good thing)

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only discontinued Zamberlan and Garmont boots (both midweight hikers and not very good quality)

Excellent compromise mountaineering boot - soft enough for long approaches and backpacking but stiff and robust enough for edging on rock and grinding up non-vertical ice and snow.

Climb well on rock. Fairly tough although sole is wearing fairly quickly (tradeoff for good grip...). Rubber toe piece absorbs much rock climbing abuse and fends off a lot of wet when kicking steps in snow. Boots soak through eventually (about 4 days in summer Coast Mtn snow climbs) but that depends on your waterproofing dilligence.

Very comfortable. Excellent fit for me - no breakin problems and fit is still excellent after 2+ years. Very good lacing system allows lots of fit adjustment depending on intended use.

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Whether you don't have room in you closet or your credit card and only want one pair of boots to your name, I highly recommend the Karakoram. As others have noted, it is a compromise of between comfort and efficiency for glacier walking/hiking and stiffness for edging/frontpointing. But the middle ground never felt better.

These boots have the one of the highest ankle cuffs around, as well as intermediate lace 'lock-downs' over the instep which allow quite a range of lacing adjustment. (I fold down my second pair of socks for bulk to get the ankles really tight on vertical ice.) I prefer roughout construction (keeps the working layer of the leather protected) and the toe-cap rand has saved the leather there from jamming abuse.

One caveat: I'm a lightweight, and it probably means I don't suffer the flex on technical ice as much as others might. If you're a linebacker doing a bit of Grade VI in the off-season, get stiffer leathers or plastics. Also, I use Charlet Moser Grade 8's; they're not 100% rigid and so won't fatigue and eventually fail, as completely rigid crampons might on a non-rigid boot.

Customer Service

Happily, no!

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Self-abusive Koflachs, Solomon Guide 9's

Exellent boot, sturdy, good quality.
Sizes run small to USA conversion, get the right size and you will love them.

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I also own Salomon "Super mountian 9 (Rock and Ice) which also is a great pair of boots, I use this pair for climbing the Mexican volcanos.