Newest SCARPA rock shoe earns 2007 Climbing Mag ‘Editor's Choice'

BOULDER, Colo. – The Mago, SCARPA’s newest rock shoe for steep, overhanging routes, won Climbing Magazine’s 2007 ‘Editor’s Choice’ award, the only lace-up rock shoe to earn that distinction this year. The award was announced in the May issue in conjunction with Climbing’s annual rock shoe guide.

The magazine’s editors called out the shoe’s performance for overhanging routes, and its new X-tension technology, created by legendary rock shoe designer and SCARPA Climbing Line Manager Heinz Mariacher. X-tension is a new, three-dimensional approach to supporting a climber’s foot. The concept behind X-tension is rands that are shaped in an “X” under the arch and underfoot and tightened to different tensions to support the foot as well as focus power to the most appropriate parts of the shoe.

The result is a lace-up that offers power for steep climbing, sensitivity that is close to climbing barefoot, and strategic sticky rubber placements that aid with heel/toe hooking as well as crack climbing. The Mago not only offers an uptick in performance compared to shoes in the same class, but it’s also more comfortable than other aggressively downturned climbing shoes.

“With its high-test sensitivity and power, SCARPA’s steep-climbing redpoint shoe makes an exceptional specialist’s tool,” the magazine’s editors wrote. “Funky footwork beyond 90 degrees was its forte, as was hooking from all aspects of the toe and heel – most notably the Achilles and lateral heel.”

Climbing’s annual rock shoe guide also highlighted the new SCARPA Booster and Rockette, men’s and women’s Velcro rock shoes that employ X-tension technology. It also featured the new Spectro and Sphinx, men’s and women’s high-performance edging shoes, also designed by Mariacher. Those shoes use a variation on the concept behind X-tension called the Bridge System, a tensioned rand system tailored for the demands of dime-thin edges.

Earlier this spring, the Spectro won a ‘Best in Gear’ award from Rock & Ice magazine.

These shoes are among six new rock shoes and three new approach shoes designed by Mariacher, who joined SCARPA last year and is now overseeing those lines.

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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