La Sportiva’s website touts the Gandalf as: “The ultimate mountain shoe for technical alpine rock climbs and those unbelievable long days in the mountains.” We thought we’d test this and so yesterday set out with Gandalf on the Italian side of the Zillertaler Alpen – on the Wildgall’s south ridge, an easy 5th class scramble.
Together with our friend Kurt Astner, a man of numerous titles from owner/manager of Bruneck’s best mountain shop, AlpStation, to professional climber (multiple Italian National Ice Climbing Champion) and UIAGM mountain guide – we left the car at 5 am for the 3 hour approach to the Wildgall high above Riva di Tures. Honestly, I was very skeptical of the Gandalf’s ability to make such a long approach a good experience. When putting it on, it feels much more like a climbing shoe than something you would want to hike in. I was wrong. The Gandalf’s cushy heel makes it more than a climbing shoe that you can hike in, it is a hiking shoe you can climb hard in.
La Sportiva's Gandalf, the ultimate all around alpine rock shoe?
Key to the whole process seems to be the lacing, for the hiking part of the day, loosen the laces at the toe but snug them up towards the top of the foot – then off you go. With this system, Kurt feels he could include trail running in his Gandalf day.
Best of all, it keeps your pack lighter by one pair of shoes for many types of climbing, is fully re-soleable and is of the highest quality.
Overall: The La Sportiva’s Gandalf gets a solid 5 star rating for all around performance and comfort. At the end of the day… DolomiteSport says, well, exactly the same as La Sportiva. “The ultimate mountain shoe for technical alpine rock climbs and those unbelievable long days in the mountains.”
And in Kurt Astner’s words, “Perfetto”.
With the Anterselva Valley below, Kurt Astner climbs some fifth class on the Wildgall
The South Ridge of the Wildgall
Dolomites Tour Operator
sick photos!