Contributions by Dan Reinhart (5)

I have used this series for several years, and planned all my larger outings with it. If you are willing to fight through the 1980's style installation, the user interface, which is neither windows nor unix in nature, and "fiddle" with it as necessary, you can achieve very acceptable, custom results. You can also use plasticized paper to create ruggedized maps. And in any format (under about 24 x 28) that you want. The road overlays don't precisely match the road in the topo, but they probably had the digitizing done overseas ... what do you expect? Despite all its warts, it is a unique and effective product, just not easy to install, to use or to get the prints you want on the first try.

These insoles have relatively high volume, which is what I need with my low-volume feet. They are fairly comparable to the Ed Viesters in terms of rigidity and shape. The surface fabric is somewhat prone to wrinkling during forming, but they can be reheated and reformed to reduce the wrinkles. They feel very good in terms of keeping the foot immobilized in the boot.

I really wanted to succeed with these Pitons. My "standard" shoe is the women's Mythos. I have very narrow feet, and so far, the Mythos achieved the best fit I've known. But the Mythos were very painful for trad crack climbing, in part due to the superb, long lacing system. It put laces over my foot way down at the "business end" where the thinner leather and the laces became hurtful during thin jams. So, after checking around and looking, the Pitons appeared to be a marvelous shoe for trad cracks, with extremely thick rubber encasing the toebox area. I tried a number of sizes to identify the smallest size I could stand for break-in, in order to achieve the narrowest insole. Despite these efforts, there just wasn't any way I would be able to climb with them, not because of the shoe's build, but because my foot could not adequately fill the shoe. With the best size match, I still had about a centimeter of space between my lesser toes and the perimeter of the shoe. I admire the build and style of these shoes, and every user I spoke to had glowing praise for them. Unfortunately, a person with an A/B foot will not be able to obtain a fit permitting safe climbing. I'm back in the Sportiva line, trying some Barracudas, that may fit acceptably, but they will never provide the heavy coverage and protection that the Pitons would have. Those with D/E feet who want some maximum grip, grab and coverage in the toebox should be delighted with Pitons.

Great parka. I had to exchange it for a larger size after following the guidance of another review. The review that says this jacket is "great for fat people" and has enough room to zip it over his bent legs is spoofing us. This is an "over everything" parka, and it needs some space, but it's just right in line with the Marmot size guides. Don't order it to "skin size" because you will not have room to move. I especially like the inside pockets!

I bought the women's Mythos because my foot is quite narrow, and the women's shoe has a narrower insole than the equivalent men's size. I would normally wear about a euro 45 or so, but I opted for the size 41. This was based on a lot of forum articles and reviews that stressed the large amount of stretch that occurs in the unlined Mythos model. So initially, my toes were fully knuckled up, and it was an extremely painful break-in for perhaps 40 - 50 hours of climbing and walking. The overall stretch gave me a perfect match with my toes just touching with light force, and the insole falling directly under the sides of my feet. My ability to edge jumped by a factor of two or three, and has remained so as when I've taken the trouble to clean the soles after getting them dirty or chalky, depending on the climbing venue. My only reservation is whether I'll ever be willing to go through that pain again when I need another pair of shoes.