Marco Polo traveled the Silk Road across Eurasia from 1271 to 1295, walking much of the distance from Venice to the royal court of Kublai Khan. Through his bipedalism, he proved Italians must know how to make a darn good pair of shoes. Known the world over for form, function, and quality, Italian footwear sets the gold standard for cobbler craftsmanship to this day. Straight from the foothills of the Dolomites, Scarpa makes boots for the up and the down in this tradition; ski boots, after all, are footwear (…I mean, the whole country even looks like a boot).
For 2023, Scarpa is adding to their current F1 line-up of fast and fun mountaineering-oriented boots with the Scarpa F1 GT.
This boot takes Scarpa’s flagship F1 LT and beefs it up with a buckle across the lower, in place of the LT’s Boa. These days Boas have a ton of fan fair, precise fit, and low weight, but plenty of folks still prefer the muscle and fit of a good ol’ fashioned buckle.
Dr. Alex Lee lives in Anchorage, Alaska. Alex is a professor at Alaska Pacific University, teaching philosophy and environmental studies. He also works as a sometimes guide, naturalist, writer, and photographer.