REASONS TO BUY
Top of the line edging performance
Sensitive for a stiff shoe
Precise toe
REASONS TO AVOID
Long break-in period
Not very versatile
Asymmetric shape can be uncomfortable
Scarpa Boostic R Review
When you need to stand on tiny footholds for long pitches of face climbing, this is the shoe for the job
If you need a stiff, powerful shoe for technical face climbing, the buck stops with the Scarpa Boostic R.
Credit: Dom Rickicki
By Dom Rickicki ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ November 24, 2025
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Our Verdict
Despite popular climbing media focusing on hard overhung boulders and Olympic-style comp climbing, there are still many of us out there who love climbing hard technical faces. If this includes you, the Scarpa Boostic R is a highly specialized edging machine designed to tackle the world's toughest face climbs and trad routes. The aggressive shape and stiff sole make it perfect for standing on tiny edges – it lets you stand up taller on your toes and snag those barely out-of-reach holds. Even if you're not freeing Golden Gate in a day, the Boostic R is a secret weapon for milking everything out of marginal footholds or standing on your feet for marathon pitches. That level of performance comes at the cost of some comfort, but we think you might find the pain a bit more palatable when paired with the sweet victory of your project.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Scarpa Boostic R is the modern reissue of the Scarpa Boostic, a legendary shoe that has been seen on the feet of more than one pro climber on some of the world's toughest face climbs. The Boostic was updated a few years ago, but unfortunately, it ended up softer than the original. Scarpa listened to athlete and customer feedback and developed the Boostic R.
For technical face climbing, the Boostic R allowed us to power on small edges, and stand a bit taller to snag out of reach holds.
Credit: Dom Rickicki
Comfort
The Boostic R is an incredibly aggressive, highly asymmetric shoe – it's maybe one of the most extreme shapes in our test. The tall toe box encourages a steep, crimped toe angle in the front of the shoe, and the tensioning system helps drive power to your big toe. All of this adds up to a shoe that does not put your foot into a very comfortable position.
While your foot position may be uncomfortable, Scarpa has done a good job of ensuring that everything else about the shoe keeps you from hurting too much. Unlike other shoes of a similar design, the uppers are soft and supple to avoid hot spots and to mold well to your contorted toes. All of that to say, the shape of the Boostic R directly supports its performance, and we think that's worth a little discomfort. The shoes do eventually break in comfortably, but it will take several pitches – in our experience, 10 or more.
The fit is highly asymmetric with a high toe angle, which is not traditionally comfortable. The soft and supple uppers help make this more tolerable.
Smearing
Smearing qualities and edging qualities often work at odds with each other – a stiff shoe is designed to stand on small edges, not flatten and smear over them. The Boostic R is one of the stiffest shoes we've tested, and as a result, we don't recommend it even for routes with a slabby approach on the way up to the crux pitch. The shoes may work well on the Freerider boulder problem, but don't expect them to be your favorite on Freeblast getting up there.
When climbing long pitches, you will inevitably cross more than one type of foothold; you won't simply be standing on edges the whole way. While the Boostic R may seem too specialized, we found we just had to change our technique a bit. On smeary footholds, we would simply find the best part of the hold and edge on it. This worked quite well and is really a testament to the shoes' edging capabilities.
The Boostic R has an even, stiff flex, but the shape of the shoe holds your foot in a supported position, which does a lot of the work too.
Credit: Dom Rickicki
Edging
This is what the Boostic R is all about: marathon pitches of dime edges and technical crux sequences on the hardest face climbs. The shoe sports a full-length, 4 mm Vibram XS Edge outsole, a Flexan midsole, and a high toe angle – all of which combine to give you incredible support throughout your foot for powering off nearly-there footholds. The support also lets you stand tall on footholds, giving you that extra inch of reach to snag a hold. Even at 5'11" and a +2 ape index, our lead tester was happy to use the Boostic R to get an extra bit of reach to avoid using bad intermediate holds.
While the Boostic isn't the only high-performance edging shoe we have tested, it offers a fair amount of sensitivity, which is pretty unique among edging shoes. This allowed us to place our feet precisely, better taking advantage of footholds and putting all of our power exactly where we needed it. While the fit of this shoe is not necessarily comfortable, it is what aids in its edging performance. That said, severe pain won't let you put all your weight on your foot and make the most of this shoe – if it works for your foot, it works; and if it doesn't, there are a few other shoes that perform nearly as well.
The high toe angle adds to its power as an edging shoe and gives you support for weighting tiny holds.
Credit: Dom Rickicki
Pulling
The aggressive downturn and high toe angle of the Boostic R let you grab and pull on overhang holds, but you are basically just relying on the shoe's shape for these moves. The stiff flex won't let you really bend the shoe around holds, so you won't increase your pulling power. Yet, it is still serviceable for technical overhung climbs where you're digging into small footholds for upward progress.
The snug-fitting heel is good for heel hooks, but it doesn't outperform more specialized models; it just allows you to heel hook well when you need to. The toe rubber patch is pretty small and only marginally helps with toe hooking. The other downside of toe hooking is that your big toe knuckle presses so hard into this spot that we found it wasn't particularly comfortable to pull on.
For powering off edges, the Boostic R is supportive and surprisingly sensitive.
Credit: Dom Rickicki
Crack Climbing
The Boostic R offers some benefit to crack climbing, but it also has some qualities that make it insufferable in cracks. Mainly, the aggressive shape and high toe angle make jams uncomfortable – you're trying to torque your already contorted foot into a small space. At the same time, the shoe is very stiff and offers good support for standing on your feet in jams. We didn't mind it in hand-sized cracks, but loathed it in narrower cracks.
This shoe has been used by pros on many big-wall free routes in Yosemite, which undoubtedly require jamming to get through. While this is the case, many of these pitches are characterized by mostly face climbing around cracks with jams here and there. When this isn't the case, climbers often carry multiple shoes, and for crack pitches, they have a bigger size in the quiver to allow their feet to fit flatter in the shoe. This is a pretty specialized use of the Boostic R, and we recommend buying it for its edging capabilities rather than crack climbing.
The aggressive shape of this shoe helps when things start to get overhung, but we wouldn't use it for our ultra-steep projects.
Credit: Dom Rickicki
Should You Buy the Scarpa Boostic R?
Many of the new shoes we see coming onto the market are focusing on softness and sensitivity for gym climbing and bouldering. But for those of us who still really enjoy technical face climbing, these don't cut it. If your projects involve long vertical faces and technical footwork, the Scarpa Boostic R is a modern face-climbing stalwart. As a highly specialized performance edging shoe, we don't recommend it as your next all-arounder, but it's a worthy addition to your quiver.
What Other Rock Climbing Shoes Should You Consider?
The market for this type of shoe seems smaller than it used to be, but if the Boostic R doesn't fit well, there are other options. The La Sportiva Miura VS is a similarly stiff and aggressive edging shoe that performs nearly as well as the Boostic R. It is a bit less sensitive, but it has a shallower toe angle and a nice padded tongue, which may fit you more comfortably. The La Sportiva Katana Lace is a stiff, mostly edging-focused shoe, but with an even flatter toe angle, it smears better than these other two shoes, making it more versatile. If you're climbing steeper sport routes, check out the Scarpa Instinct VS.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Compare Scarpa Boostic R versus top competing products:
—Dom Rickicki
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