SCARPA has a deep bench of rock sneakers for climbers who’ve moved past newbie standing. These intermediate-level sneakers carry out effectively for every little thing from gymnasium classes to multipitch.
The SCARPA Vapor line (lace, Velcro, slipper), the Quantic and Quantix SF, and the Veloce lace and Velcro are well-liked sneakers inside this area of interest.
The revamped Arpia V can be a succesful contender on this intermediate and sensible class. It’s a barely downturned, evenly asymmetrical, dual-Velcro-strap reimagination of the unique Arpia, which got here out 5 years in the past.
With a full-length — versus break up — -outsole and midsole, the Arpia V stiffened issues up. This made it a extra supportive, edging-friendly boot and it got here up increased over the foot. It’s merely a much bigger, extra built-up boot with the attendant execs and cons.
For this assessment, I examined the SCARPA Arpia V for 3 months. I climbed in them throughout coaching classes at numerous native gyms in Boulder. And so they boosted me up cracks and faces at numerous crags within the Entrance Vary of Colorado.
Briefly: The Arpia V is a extremely adjustable efficiency all-arounder with notable help however sufficient sensitivity, particularly after break-in, to construct good footwork habits on all however the steepest terrain. SCARPA caters the common model to vast toes however affords a low-volume model. And the MSRP of $169 received’t break the financial institution.
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Higher materials
Delicate contact microfiber (artificial leather-based) -
Midsole
1.4mm Dynamic Flexan midsole -
Outsole
3.5mm Vibram XS Grip 2 -
Closure
Twin Velcro straps
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Vast, forgiving match pairs with efficient closure for broad sizing choices -
Secure, supportive edging -
Exact, “bitey,” evenly delicate toe good for micro-holds, particularly on vert -
Nicely-built: stable worth and can take a number of resoles
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Full-length sole make for “clunky” grabbing on über-steeps -
Minimalist heel and toe-scum patch lighten shoe up however are squirrely for extremely gymnastic bouldering
The SCARPA Arpia V Spec Sheet
The Unique Arpia
The unique Arpia got here out in 2019. Just like the Arpia V, SCARPA payments it as a efficiency all-arounder however not a top-flight efficiency shoe. The Italian model additionally priced it accordingly, at effectively beneath $200.
This primary model had a half-length 3.5mm XS Grip 2 sole — Vibram’s softest, stickiest compound — and a 1.5mm midsole. SCARPA used a single-strap, dual-eyelet closure (the Wave Strap closure) to lock all of it down.
The Arpia was a semi-stiff, semi-asymmetrical, semi-downturned, low-profile, delicate shoe. SCARPA bridged the hole between a flat-lasted shoe and a efficiency match for climbers pushing up by means of the grades.
The Most important Adjustments for the Arpia V
Past the brand new colour scheme, the large adjustments to the Arpia V usually are not fairly apparent. It’s barely extra constructed up over the foot and up the ankle, with higher vertical rise. It now has a full-length XS Grip 2 outsole.
The midsole is the bendier 1.4 mm Dynamic Flexan sole, which imparts fore-to-aft flex to offset the full-length outsole. And the closure has modified to thick, opposing twin Velcro straps. It has beneficiant lateral room within the “tack-down” space to regulate match.
The uppers are nonetheless artificial microfiber, and the footbed is now microfiber, not leather-based. SCARPA stored stretch elastic within the tongue space. The Arpia V additionally has a small, gilled toe-scumming patch and a gentle, minimalist heel.
The outsole tapers to a ridged “mohawk” to kind this heel. You don’t get a whole lot of “excessive efficiency” bells and whistles, i.e., main rubber protection, for high-end bouldering. However within the gymnasium on cave boulders and on gneiss at angles as much as horizontal, I by no means slipped out of the fundamental hooks and scums the shoe is supposed for.
The producer’s acknowledged weight for a pair of dimension 40.5s is 17.2 ounces. On my little residence scale, my dimension 41s weighed 18.0 ounces.
SCARPA Arpia V Match
Though I’ve at all times appreciated SCARPA’s dedication to efficiency all-arounders, a few of its stiffer, pointier choices (Vapor lace and Velcro, Quantix SF) simply didn’t match my vast, high-volume toes.
There hasn’t been sufficient give even after break-in, and annoying forefoot pinching offset their supposed aptitude for long-term put on. I’d be ripping them off on the anchors, like my aggressive sneakers. Out of the field, nevertheless, the softer, wider, friendlier Arpia V slid on readily.
Maybe it’s as a result of the Arpia V’s toebox is far more rounded and visibly wider than the Vapor’s or Quantix SF’s toebox, which let my toes sit extra neutrally. Or maybe it’s the supple uppers, plus the elastic tongue and the gills within the scumming patch, which let the shoe unfold out laterally.
Regardless, the break-in was fast. An evening or two on the sofa, after which straight to the gymnasium auto-belay. I wore them as much as 4 or 5 pitches in a row with out taking them off, because of the forgiving final and gentle microfiber inside lining.
The brand new dual-strap closure was efficient. The straps are beefy and stayed closed. There’s plenty of back-and-forth strap play, and I might regulate the closure angle on the tack-down space. Once I needed a tighter match for more durable climbs, I might get it, with no useless area, main me to consider extra common toes would do effectively with the Arpia V’s final as effectively. (There’s additionally a low-volume model.)
SCARPA Arpia V Efficiency
Sensitivity and Edging
The Arpia V will not be — neither is it meant to be — hyper-sensitive. Even with gentle XS Grip 2 rubber, the full-length sole rendered a supportive shoe, and as everyone knows, you don’t get sensitivity with help. But neither would I take into account them hyper-stiff, just like the Boostic or Vapor; simply semi-stiff — which means there was nonetheless an acceptable degree of suggestions.
On small “outie” holds like quartz crystals, and “innie” holds like dimples in sandstone, the Arpia V was remarkably highly effective. It was glorious at biting into tiny holds and at entrance pointing, even with the extra rounded toebox.
It was a stable edging shoe with the help you need in an all-arounder to keep away from calf fatigue. I discovered this out on lengthy granite and gneiss pitches on Colorado’s Entrance Vary.
The shoe is downturned and asymmetrical sufficient to go from comparatively steep — as much as 30 levels overhanging — to vertical on the identical pitch. I used them repeatedly within the Flatirons, Colo.
On the 5.12 God’s Kingdom on Earth, which has that actual angle change, I might toe in as wanted on the overhanging part. Then I edged comfortably on smaller footholds on the vertical headwall, unweighting my cramping forearms.
Heel Hooking, Toe Hooking, and Jamming
This shoe will not be a double-digit bouldering shoe with a high-tech, multilayered heel or rubber coating the toe for the trendy “toes as fingers” fashion. As an alternative, it has what I’d name Nineties-level hooking and scumming help. The SCARPA Arpia V had satisfactory glom for gymnastic climbs as much as round V7/5.13-.
The heel is primary however ingenious in configuration. The outsole wraps over the heel cup and tapers to kind a barely peaked rib. I dug how gentle this minimalist heel felt. It was agile for gymnasium bouldering, particularly on bigger holds like volumes, the place it might deform into the pores.
And on gneiss, on a 5.12 whose crux comes turning a body-length roof, the stiff Arpia V fluidly locked right into a heel-toe cam in a horizontal crack. Plus, it was simple to launch with out too many transferring elements to hold up on the rock.
SCARPA’s gentle M50 rubber makes up the toe-scumming patch and rand. Whereas the toe patch is small, I might get it to catch on bigger spikes, tongues, and lips. Once more, there was simply sufficient there to get the job finished. And I discovered the Arpia to be steady and dependable in cracks as much as fist dimension, with its semi-high-top minimize giving good foot safety.
Smearing and Grabbing
Regardless of the sticky XS Grip 2, smearing was not the Arpia V’s forte. This was very true on plastic, the place its stiffness made it tremendous for techy routes and extruded jibs however slightly too slippery for volumes. I skilled sudden smearing slippage (the dreaded “SSS”), particularly whereas bouldering.
The total-length outsole additionally prevented the shoe from bending profoundly for efficient grabbing — toeing down and right into a maintain to suction the hips into the wall. So, on gymnasium cave boulders, I’d typically revert to traditional frontal edging, climbing frog-like with my hips sq. to maintain my physique parallel to the wall.
Truthfully, nevertheless, this was tremendous, and the Arpia’s precision helped lock me in. I’d typically choose a smaller however sharper jib to face on versus an enormous, smeary maintain. It was only a completely different method, an old-school callback to the Nineteen Eighties and early Nineties after we edged out steeps as a result of there weren’t any gentle, downturned sneakers but!
Ultimate Notes on Efficiency
I believe one of the simplest ways to check gear is to judge it primarily based on its meant use somewhat than in opposition to rivals.
So, per SCARPA, “The Arpia V is a flexible shoe that may be sized tightly for efficiency but stays extremely snug.” And, “The marginally downturned and barely asymmetrical form affords a right away and pure match, effectively fitted to each indoor and outside climbing.”
I’d say that SCARPA succeeded on these counts. The match was pure, intuitive, and simply adjustable. And on the terrain the shoe is designed for, I acquired optimum efficiency, climbing as onerous as V7 and thinnish 5.13- face routes.
I assumed it was shoe for studying precision footwork whereas additionally having fun with help as you progress from 5.10 and V2 upward.
These have been nice all-around sneakers. I’m positive for those who took a time machine 30 years again and handed them to a prime climber of the day, they’d have been ecstatic to have such a exact, versatile shoe. And absolutely would have despatched one of many period’s skinny, technical 5.14s in them.
Conclusions on the SCARPA Arpia V
For climbers who’ve graduated from their newbie, price-point, flat-lasted sneakers, and preferring vert to softly overhanging terrain and a footwork fashion primarily based extra on edging than smearing, the Arpia V is an ideal kick. It’s a smooth, absolutely realized, light-on-the-foot efficiency all-arounder that does every little thing fairly effectively—like 6s to 8s out of 10—apart from smearing, and even then, I’d give it a stable 5. And it’s effectively beneath $200.
The SCARPA Arpia V was exact and supportive, but it surely received’t do all of the work of standing on small holds for you. The shoe felt like it might develop with you, instructing you to hone in on foothold subtleties and serving to strengthen your tremendous foot and toe muscle tissues because the final softens and also you develop into extra of an lively participant in your method.
I’d say this shoe is extra of a sport and trad shoe than a bouldering shoe, but it surely’s nonetheless loads comfortable for long-term put on and have become my companion on many gymnasium bouldering classes, particularly whereas warming up or doing circuits.
