Scarpa Phantom 6000 or 8000 for 7-summits?

I need to upgrade quite a lot of my gear to give seven summits a shot, but I'm not sure if I need or two different boots.

I have almost decided to go for Scarpa Phantom boots, after realizing that La Sportiva didn't fit my forefoot.

For Everest, and perhaps a few higher mountains in Nepal to prepare/get experience, the Phantom 8000 is a must. I think the Phantom 8000 might be good for Denali and Vinson too where I must be prepared for some really cold shit weather.

Carstenz and Kilimanjaro just require normal hiking boots, but Elbrus and Aconcagua should be fine with Phantom 6000's.

Do I need both 6000 and 8000 boots? Will the 8000 be overkill for Aconcagua and Elbrus? As far as I've read from other people, 6000 boots are good enough for Denali as well.

I expect the 8000's to be warmer ofc, but they are also aprox 300 grams heavier each boot.

A friend who was on Aconcagua this winter said that the rocks on the approach are known to shred boots. He climbed in plastics for that reason. He also took plastics with him when he left for Denali the other day but he was saying that for personal climbing up there next season he'll probably get LS G2SMs, I haven't looked into the high altitude boots enough to know what the equivalent Scarpa boot is. Hope that helps.

Jason4Too wrote:A friend who was on Aconcagua this winter said that the rocks on the approach are known to shred boots. He climbed in plastics for that reason. He also took plastics with him when he left for Denali the other day but he was saying that for personal climbing up there next season he'll probably get LS G2SMs, I haven't looked into the high altitude boots enough to know what the equivalent Scarpa boot is. Hope that helps.

Yeah, I've also heard that Aconcagua may shred the softer fabrics and it would be crappy if I buy a pair of 8000's and shred them before even entering a 8000-mountain. However, that's the same risk with Scarpa Phantom 6000 and as far as I've seen for G2SM too. In that case Spantik is an better option, but I cannot make my feet into Spantiks. They are to narrow around my toes and I have to size up 4 sizes to avoid that, which makes the heel slip big enough to completely slip out of the shell :D

I think I will have to take the risk of boot shredding and I will also try to use other boots as long as I can during approach at Aconcagua.

I have Phantom 6000s as well. I ran a thin bead of Seamgrip over all the seams and wear points of the boot. It has made a significant difference in durability and is a highly recommended yet simple modification for all mountain boots.

Another thing you can do to protect the boots while talus scrambling is wear a supergaiter. You'll get a heavy rubber rand covering the boot's rand and cordura covering the boot upper. At that point, the only thing left to wear out will be the sole. That said, the soles on the P6000 and P8000 are VERY thin and were designed for lightweight performance exclusively, not so much for durability at all. You could wear through the soles in a single expedition if you're on rocks enough.

Are you going to climb the everest summit dude?

Ask your guide. They should be able to tell you the best.

Yer gonna die!

If you are going to spend $50-70K on Everest, what's another $500?!

In regards to 8,000m boots, the sole are made soft because they assume that you are going to be on snow 95% of the time and with crampons on. If you use it on Aconcagua then might as well get another pair for Everest. Also, only two types of boots are used on Everest, the La Sportiva Mons and Millets. I don't remember seeing Scarpa on Everest or another 8,000m peak that I've done.

Jon H wrote:I have Phantom 6000s as well. I ran a thin bead of Seamgrip over all the seams and wear points of the boot. It has made a significant difference in durability and is a highly recommended yet simple modification for all mountain boots. Another thing you can do to protect the boots while talus scrambling is wear a supergaiter. You'll get a heavy rubber rand covering the boot's rand and cordura covering the boot upper. At that point, the only thing left to wear out will be the sole. That said, the soles on the P6000 and P8000 are VERY thin and were designed for lightweight performance exclusively, not so much for durability at all. You could wear through the soles in a single expedition if you're on rocks enough.

Good point, cheers for that.

kevin trieu wrote:Yer gonna die! If you are going to spend $50-70K on Everest, what's another $500?! In regards to 8,000m boots, the sole are made soft because they assume that you are going to be on snow 95% of the time and with crampons on. If you use it on Aconcagua then might as well get another pair for Everest. Also, only two types of boots are used on Everest, the La Sportiva Mons and Millets. I don't remember seeing Scarpa on Everest or another 8,000m peak that I've done.

hah, I'm selling everything I own to afford the expeditions, so if I can keep it down to one boot and not five boots, that really makes a difference.

There are actually two climbers I know of at Everest atm summiting in the new 2016 phantoms. Otherwise I agree with that Mons or Millets are the common ones.

As it looks like right now I do need two boots, one 8k setup only for Everest and hopefully I can use the 6000-boots for Denali/Acon/Vinson/Elbrus.

HarryN wrote:Are you going to climb the everest summit dude?

That is the plan.
Kilimanjaro done and have signed up for Elbrus, Aconcagua and Everest.
Vinson, Denali and Carstenz will be the last, but I do need a break between and try to see how the heck I can get fundings.

Shadowfire I'm not sure if you don't fit sportivas because your feet are too wide. If that is the case I would give boreal boots a look. I picked up a pair of the G1 lites and have been really happy with them. They're a bit hard to find to try kn in the US but I'm a big fan!

Tommy Barker wrote:Shadowfire I'm not sure if you don't fit sportivas because your feet are too wide. If that is the case I would give boreal boots a look. I picked up a pair of the G1 lites and have been really happy with them. They're a bit hard to find to try kn in the US but I'm a big fan!

Thanks for the advice, I'll have a look.
La Sportiva is just impossible for my forefoot. Scarpa was way better.
Worst case I will just have to pick a boot and try to mold the liner and maybe ductape it on the heel to lock down the heel. Hours and hours of heel slip is just waste of energy.

Hello,

not sure, but I guess by now you have buy your boots.
i'm actually climbing the 7 summits, 6 out of 7 and going to everest in March 2017.

Scarpa is the way to go.
I had scarpa Guides for smaller mountains like elbrus and other peaks around like rainier and other snow peaks

Scarpa 6000 were perfect for Aconcagua and Denali (with 40 below overboots - don't bring 8000's on denali - too heavy for 1 day only. your going to overheat the balance of the trip

Scarpa 8000 - I had some Millet everest GTX for Vinson and regret that i didn't go with Scarpa, so I'll go on Everest with the brand new scarpa 8000.
Vinson and Everest and really the only 2 you need 8000's boots.

feel free to ask is you have any other questions for the gear on the 7 summits.

Hi Mathieu

Hope you have been well.

I am sorry to bother but I hope you could help me with a quick query ( mountainproject.com/forum/t… ForumMessage-112344064).

1. For Mount Aconcagua, did you use any overboots with the Scarpa Phantom 6000? Please advise if the Scarpa Phantom 6000 were warm enough for the hike (please advise if you deal very well with cold and if this influenced your choice).

2. For the approach, please advise which boots you chose to wear and please provide your opinion around how cold the approach section happened to be in your trip.

I have a pair of Scarpa 6000 which helped me in the trip to Mount Elbrus however some blogs online seem to advise going for even warmer boots for Mount Aconcagua. Personally I prefer to be as light as I can so I am thinking so much about opting for a warmer boots (surely heavier if they are warmer). When I read your post I wanted to find out more from you as you seem quite experienced. Thank you very much in advance.

K

Hello k

Plenty of warmth for me on aconcagua with the scarpa 6000, only time i've used overboots was on denali.   Climbing on Everest right now- sorry for the late reply- with scarpa 8000.  

As approach shoes, i use the merrel moab goretex mid version ( they do plenty of version of the moab) but did all my approach walks with them, even the full trek to everest base camp thist last 3 weeks.

I use the smartwool socks collection from the light to the extra heavy ones  and again on aconcagua i dis not use my bigger ones. 

The approach walk is quite warm in the valley up to base camp some days you could be in short if it wasn't for the dust.

Hard for me to comment as everyone is different temperature wise but the 6000 are plenty with the roght socks combination and a food trekking shoe like the moab is also plenty for aconcagua and many other mountains ( i've summited kilimanjaro with them and did multiple approach walk without issues)

Updating my own thread if anyone else is searching and finding the topic. Now I've been summiting Acon, Elbrus, Kili and got halfways up on Everest (but got pneumonia and had to abort). 

I actually tried out La Sportiva G2 SM and it felt much, much better on my feet than both Scarpa and Spantiks. G2SM is pretty damn awesome, so am using those up to 6600m. Over 6600m I use La Sportiva Olympus Mons just for the added isolation, but they are way more incomfortable to climb with versus the G2SM.