BOULDER, Colo. – SCARPA’s new rock-climbing line continues to pull down the awards from North America’s top climbing magazines. This week, SCARPA won a 2008 Editor’s Choice Award from Climbing Magazine for its new precision shoe, the Techno, after winning a 2008 Best in Gear Award from Rock and Ice in recent month for its high-performance steep shoe, the Mago.

This year’s awards for SCARPA follow on the heels of winning both those awards last year as well – a Best in Gear Award from Rock and Ice for the Spectro, its performance edging shoe, and an Editor’s Choice from Climbing for the Mago. SCARPA and Climbing Line Manager Heinz Mariacher added to the line for 2008 with four new shoes, created a well-rounded line of 10 new rock shoes and five approach shoes designed by Mariacher between this year and last.

In this year’s award, Climbing called the Techno a “comfortable, high-performing trad shoe that can swing sport climbing too.”

Meanwhile, Rock and Ice said: “The Mago, designed by the genius cobbler Heinz Mariacher, performs well in every kind of face-climbing situation – granite slabs, limestone drips and tufas, and anything that requires advanced edging and heel or toe hooking. It’s also comfortable, a great candidate for the new wave of rope-stretching pitches that everyone seems to be getting after.”

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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BOULDER, Colo. (March 18, 2008) – SCARPA North America this week hired Mark Mathews as its new Director of Sales and Summer Product Development. Mathews brings a multi-faceted outdoor industry perspective to SCARPA, having worked for the last 17 years in the industry as a director of sales, a product manager for hiking and running footwear, as well as on the retail side of the business.

The hire will allow Chris Clark, SCARPA North America’s Sales and Marketing Manager since SCARPA opened a North American office in 2005, to assume a new role as Director of Marketing and Winter Product Development. According to CEO Kim Miller, the separation of sales and marketing functions will allow Clark and Mathews to bring singular focus to each of those arenas.

Most recently, Mathews was Director of Sales for Sierra Designs, where he managed global sales and distribution, and also oversaw a sales force of 50. Before that, he worked at Vasque Footwear for six years, half of that time as Director of Sales and half as Product Manager prior to that.

Mathews also brings three years of independent sales rep agency experience, having represented Vasque, Smartwool, Cascade Designs, Bluewater and other well-known industry brands. He also has five years of retail sales and management experience at two Midwest outdoor specialty shops. In addition, Mathews’ varied background includes working for a year as a wildlife biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and four years as a financial analyst at Shearson Lehman Brothers. He holds degrees in both biology and business administration, is a former professional soccer player, and an avid trail runner, skier, climber and backpacker.

“Beyond knowing the outdoor industry inside out, Mark is well versed in international business and product manufacturing, and he’s also the kind of person that I know will fit right in with the rest of the growing team here at SCARPA North America,” Miller said.

“SCARPA has a long and well-respected heritage of innovative and high-quality performance footwear,” Mathews said. “I’m really excited to be joining the team and look forward to working with them to take SCARPA to the next level.”

Mathews officially starts his new post the first week of April.

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

About SCARPA and SCARPA North America

Founded in 1938, SCARPA builds performance footwear for climbing, hiking, skiing, mountaineering, 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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BOULDER, Colo. (Feb. 11, 2007) – The Kailash GTX, one of the newest mid-weight hiking boots from SCARPA North America, was awarded a 2008 Editor’s Choice Award from Backpacker Magazine this month. The prestigious annual award denotes products with outstanding innovation in design, materials and/or performance. In addition, the Kailash was featured in the magazine’s annual gear guide – the issue prior to announcement of the Editor’s Choice Awards – as ‘Best All Around Midweight Boot’

In the gear guide, the March issue, SCARPA’s Nepal boot, a heavier duty backpacking boot, also earned ‘best buy’ in its category. “Even on off-trail rambles with a heavy load, testers reported comfort through 12-hour days …” the magazine wrote.

Offering the impeccable Italian craftsmanship for which the SCARPA brand is known, the Kailash GTX is a midweight hiking boot with a cushy Vibram sole that employs suede so it breaks in virtually out of the box. “Normally we’d advise against heading out on a three-day trip with a 45-pound pack in brand new boots. But that’s exactly what our tester did with these mid-cuts, and afterward he said they were instantly comfortable …” Backpacker wrote in its gear guide.

The Editor’s Choice Award for the Kailash GTX will be officially announced to the general public in Backpacker’s April issue, on newsstands March 11. Given annually since 1993, the awards honor the products that Backpacker editors have chosen as the best of the year based on months of trail testing by teams of highly experienced hikers and climbers.

Last year, SCARPA also took top honors in the same category in Backpacker’s gear guide with its Mustang GTX midweight boot, named ‘Top All Around’ midweight boot for 2007.

“This year’s winners show that designers in our industry are really pushing the envelope in producing lighter, tougher, and smarter products,” says Backpacker editor-in-chief Jonathan Dorn. “As we found in field-testing, they’re making it easier and more comfortable for anyone to get involved in trail activities. Adds gear editor Kristin Hostetter, who has spearheaded Backpacker’s Editors’ Choice testing for more than a decade: “These outstanding products should enjoy the same sterling track record as our past winners. Readers and retailers trust Backpacker’s picks more than any other magazine’s because our testing is unrivaled in its duration and intensity. Our unofficial gear-testing motto – we break stuff so you don’t have to – says it all.”

For more information about SCARPA, visit www.scarpa.com. For more information about Urban Climber, visit www.urbanclimbermag.com.

About SCARPA and SCARPA North America

Founded in 1938, SCARPA builds performance footwear for climbing, hiking, skiing, mountaineering, 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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BOULDER, Colo. (Nov. 7, 2007) – North America’s most talented but little known boulderers and climbers who’ve seen their peers ‘Unearthed,’ Urban Climber’s feature that puts the spotlight on unknown talent, have yet another reason to get discovered. The winner each year – highlighted by the magazine’s Climber of the Year Award – will also earn a slot as a climbing athlete on Team SCARPA.

Paul Jung, chosen as this year’s Climber of the Year in the October-November 2007 issue of Urban Climber, is the first to earn a seat on Team SCARPA. Moving forward, each Climber of the Year will earn a slot on Team SCARPA.

“These climbers are total guns, but cool thing about what Urban Climber has done with this is that there’s more to the to the contest, in terms of being an ambassador for the sport, getting people stoked at their local crag, and being an advocate at the community level,” said Chris Clark, Sales and Marketing Director for SCARPA North America. “So that made it a natural to welcome the winner as a SCARPA athlete and ambassador.”

Said Urban Climber Editor Joe Iurato: “I grew up a skater, and the skate mags always had a strong emphasis on core community. So that influenced what we wanted to do here. It’s awesome to see what Chris Sharma, Dave Graham or Joe Kinder are out there doing, but it’s also awesome to turn the page and see people who quietly live the life every day.”

Nominees should be climbers pushing the boundaries at their local crags, but other factors contribute to winning. For instance, criteria include looking for people who are role models in the sport, who have positive energy, and who are socially or environmentally active, Iurato said.

In the last year, Urban Climber has received roughly 150 nominations for Unearthed Climber. Jung, chosen as this year’s Climber of the Year, is a boulderer out of New Paltz, N.Y. with a healthy tick list at the Gunks and a positive attitude to match.

Unearthed Climber works like this: Urban Climber accepts nominations for Unearthed Climber on an ongoing basis. Nominations should be submitted by a nominee’s friends or peers and include information about a person’s tick list and qualities that make her or him stand out. Each issue, from the nominations received, the magazine profiles the person who most exemplifies the characteristics sought out in the contest. From the six people profiled in Unearthed Climber each year, Urban Climber and SCARPA choose one person who will earn the Climber of the Year Award. Submissions should be e-mailed to unearthed.coty@gmail.com.

For more information about SCARPA, visit www.scarpa.com. For more information about Urban Climber, visit www.urbanclimbermag.com.

About SCARPA and SCARPA North America

Founded in 1938, SCARPA builds performance footwear for climbing, hiking, skiing, mountaineering, 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.

About Urban Climber and Skram Media

Skram Media is one of the leading independently owned and operated consumer-publishing companies. We serve the passions and interests of climbers of all ages, covering their interests and pursuits through special-interest magazines and related multi-media projects and events. Climbing is the journal of record for climbers worldwide, and together with its website, Climbing.com, reaches more climbers than any other climbing magazine. Urban Climber is the leading youth climbing magazine, and its companion website UCTV is the leading destination on the Internet for climbing film and video entertainment. Combined, Climbing and Urban Climber deliver the largest audience of any climbing media combination. For more: skrammedia.com.

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BOULDER, Colo.– Earning the only five-star scores out of 20 climbing shoes tested, SCARPA’s new Mago and Booster rock shoes both chalked up perfect ratings in Rock and Ice Magazine’s 2007 climbing shoe review. In addition, the Stix, also from SCARPA’s new six-shoe rock line for 2007, earned a four-star rating.

These distinctions follow two other key awards for the new SCARPA rock line in recent months. The Spectro, an edging shoe from the same line, won a ‘Best in Gear’ Award from Rock and Ice in March. The Mago also won Climbing Magazine’s ‘Editor’s Choice’ Award in May, the only lace-up rock shoe to earn that distinction this year.

The Mago lace-up, Booster Velcro shoe, and Stix slipper, as well as a the Rockette, a women’s version of the Booster, introduce a new technology from SCARPA called X-tension, which was 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 design uses rands that are shaped in an “X” under the arch and tightened to different tensions to support the foot as well as focus power to the most appropriate parts of the shoe. X-tension not only offers an uptick in performance compared to toe-power shoes in the same class, but it’s also more comfortable than other aggressively downturned climbing shoes.

Of the X-tension technology, Rock and Ice Senior Editor Andrew Bisharat wrote that it “all but eliminates any dead spots in the shoe.”

“The Mago is one of the best shoes I’ve ever worn for sport climbing,” he wrote. “The shoe turns down for toe power, but it also performs well on smears and edges.”

Editor-in-Chief Duane Raleigh wrote that the Booster “is the best SCARPA rock shoe I have worn. It fit so well that I would have sworn that it was actually made for me. …. Although it has a radical camber and twist, I didn’t mind, and I usually don’t like those qualities in a shoe.”

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

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.

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.

OutsideMag.com’s Gear Guy and best-dressed media guy ever to attend OR, Douglas Gantebein says try the SCARPA Inverno.
Q: I’m climbing Denali via the Muldrow Glacier in May 2008, and I’d like to start breaking in some boots (and my feet). Unfortunately, I’m a size 14 and am having trouble finding double-plastic boots large enough. Any chance that my old (c. 1982), but well cared for, double-leather boots would be adequate?