Walk • Trek • Travel
A photographic record and journal of our walking, trekking and travelling adventures.
Oh no! another Scarpa Mistral failure!
Oh no! another Scarpa Mistral failure!

Tuesday 11 September 2018

In January 2018, I wrote about the demise of my Scarpa Mistral GTX walking boots whilst walking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal.
At the time, I was very impressed with the customer service provided by Scarpa through the Mountain Boot Company and the speed with which they handled my complaint.
In August of this year, I wore the replacement pair on our Pembrokeshire Coast Path trek. It was the first time that I had wore the replacement Mistrals on a proper walk since they had arrived. Until that time, I had only tried them on for size and worn them on a short walk to check for rubbing etc.
I had initially been concerned that I might encounter some issues with wearing new boots on a two-week trek but the Mistrals were perfect in terms of fit and feel and felt every bit as comfortable as the pair that they had replaced.
I was, however, a little shocked to find that they were suffering from exactly the same problem as the previous pair! After only 90 miles in the 214-mile trek, you could visibly see the stitching coming away in exactly the same place.
They agreed, without fuss, to replace the replacement Mistrals with the leather version of the boot, the Scarpa Terra which is built using the same last but does not have the same design on the toe cap.I contacted the Mountain Boot Company and, once again, I was impressed with the way in which they handled the problem and the speed with which they dealt with it.
“…given your usage I am concerned that the Mistral and Terra are not suited to the amount of walking you are doing as they are entry level boots for occasional walkers…”.
So, once again, fantastic customer service!
The only thing that surprised me was the following statement from Jamie Mantle, After Sales Manager at the Mountain Boot Company, in his reply to my request to replace the Scarpa Mistral boots for the Scarpa Terra boots in which he said “…given your usage I am concerned that the Mistral and Terra are not suited to the amount of walking you are doing as they are entry level boots for occasional walkers…“.
Given that the RRP for the Scarpa Terra boots is £155, I found it odd that they were deemed entry level and for occasional use whereas I had thought that they were both just lightweight boots.
Either way, I now have the Scarpa Terra boots and they feel every bit as comfortable as the Mistrals so I am hoping that they will last for a good while yet.
Obviously, I am still very pleased!
Well done Scarpa and well done Mountain Boot Company again!
Are you tired of being stuck in the office? Bored of being chained to a desk? Counting down the days until retirement?
Me too!!
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