Backpacker awards SCARPA Top Midweight hiker, Coolest New Technology

Calling the Mustang GTX hiking boot “flawless,” Backpacker Magazine named SCARPA’s newest hiking boot, the Mustang GTX, the ‘Top All-Around Midweight’ boot in its 2007 Gear Guide, which hit newsstands in March and outlines editors’ top picks for this year’s best outdoor equipment.

In addition, SCARPA earned accolades from Backpacker for ‘Coolest New Technology’ in footwear. The latter award was bestowed for the new Grivel-SCARPA binding system, for providing an easier-to-use and more secure way to attach crampons to SCARPA’s Escape GTX boot.

Of the Mustang GTX, the magazine wrote: “Found: the quality construction, fit and performance of top-shelf leather boots – in a pair that weighs less than three pounds. After tramping 34 miles carrying 35 pounds … our tester deemed these suede/Gore-Tex mids flawless. Through cold, rain and snow, mud, and on rock, as well as trails of sand and lava ash, his feet remained dry and warm. Traction is excellent.”

Of the Escape GTX, the editors said: “One of the best crossover hard-core trekking and light mountaineering boots we’ve tested, the leather/Gore-Tex Escape … mates with the most innovative new crampon to emerge in years …” The GSb binding system, developed jointly by SCARPA and Grivel, offers a simpler, more secure way to attach crampons to the boot via a metal prong that inserts into a slot at the front of the boot’s sole. “The GSb crampon is remarkably easy to use and secure,” the magazine wrote.

The GSb system is available on different types of Grivel crampons designed for specific performance characteristics –climbing technical ice and mixed terrain or for general glacier travel.

For more information about SCARPA footwear, visit www.scarpa.com.

About SCARPA and SCARPA North America

Founded in 1938, SCARPA builds performance footwear for hiking, skiing, mountaineering, climbing, trail running and other outdoor pursuits from its headquarters in Asolo, Italy. SCARPA has been owned and operated by the Parisotto family since 1956. In 2005, SCARPA opened its North American headquarters in Boulder, Colo., staffed and directed by veterans of the North American outdoor industry, to oversee sales and marketing in the U.S. and Canada.

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