La Sportiva’s Trango lineup has undergone a progressive renewal over the past few years and at the time of this post includes the Trango Cube GTX, Ice Cube GTX (light ice climbing boot), Trek (hiking boot) and the new Tower GTX (basically an updated Evo). This lineup of boots is really focused on lightweight performance. Now the Trango Cube GTX fits squarely in the middle between the winter focused Ice Cube and the summer specific Tower and has struck a Goldilocks zone. Warm enough for long and wet snow routes but still dexterous and secure on rock, an incredibly versatile alpine boot.
Features:
- Weight: 765g (each for size 43)
- Last: Trango (ideal for people with medium width feet)
- Construction: Board lasted
- Upper: Panels of QB3 & Cordura / FlexTec 2 fabrics with a coating of thermally applied clear TPU lacing harness.
- Insole: 4mm Nylon
- Midsole: PU at the toe & heel with some EVA through the arch and heel and a TPU insert for the heel crampon attachment.
- Sole: Vibram “One” sole with a climbing zone at the toe and La Sportiva’s Impact Brake System™ at the heel.
- Crampon Compatibility: Hybrid
- Removable tongue
- Male and female versions available
For such a versatile and stiff mountaineering boot the Trango Cube is amazing light. The pair that I have weigh in at 766g per boot, significantly lighter than the old Trango S Evo’s and almost the same as the new Trango Tower boots.
The fabric combination used on the Trango Cubes strikes a great balance between lightweight comfort and warmth. The boots are not too hot for alpine rock but still warm enough for slushy snow slogs. They do have limitations though and will eventually get saturated with water if pushed. On a recent alpine trip I ended post holing though isothermal snow for about 10 hours, the Cubes became saturated after about 6-7 hours.
The Vibram™ One rubber soles feature a climbing zone at the toe, a braking zone at the heel and are made from an incredibly soft rubber. The up-side to the soft rubber is the amazing traction or grip that it provides on rock. Combine this with the stiff sole and these boots to excel at climbing. The downside is that the soles wear out fairly quickly, especially at the toe, when used for climbing. My current pair have around 20 days of use so far on a variety of snow and rock routes in the Canadian Rockies and I’m getting starting to wear the rand at the toes.
Versatile, stiff and lightweight, La Sportiva’s Trango Cube GTX are my go-to boots for summer alpine routes.
Pros: Very lightweight, stiff, fairly waterproof, comfortable
Cons: The soft Vibram One soles wear very quickly and the rand is easily cut on sharp rocks
Overall: A fantastic summer alpine climbing and mountaineering boot. If you want one summer boot that does it all then this might just be the ticket. Be prepared to get them resoled or replace them every 20-40 days though.
The boots for this review were purchased by me and I wasn’t influenced in any way, it’s just one mans opinion.
