Mountaineering Boot Fitting, Crampon Fitting and Ice Axe Testing Specialist

With over 40 years of experience fitting mountaineering boots to customers, we have staff who have been fitting boots for over 20 years on site 7 days a week. So there's no need to make an appointment, just ask for David or Chris, both of whom have done several summer and winter Alpine seasons and plenty of UK winter mountaineering, whilst Dave has plenty of Greater Ranges experience too. Our other more senior boot fitting staff have been trained to our exacting standards and will be able to help as well.

Mountaineering Boot Fittings

For more information on what we look for when fitting all boots in general follow this link.

Recognized as "the specialist boot fitter" with the best range of mountaineering boots and high altitude boots in South Wales, our customers come from across the UK and abroad to benefit from a fitting, our wealth of knowledge and our large selection of top brands, fits and lasts.

You can choose from our carefully selected range of B2 boots and B3 boots from reknowned brands such as Boreal, La Sportiva, Salewa and Scarpa. They all offer different lasts to cater for most feet, and some options even offer half European sizes, as well as the more common half UK sizes. You will be able to test them out around the store on our ramps and steps and have a climb on our climbing wall with them as well, to ensure a precise fit with minimal heel lift.

Crampon Fitting at Up and Under, Cardiff

Crampon Fittings

Once you've decided on your mountaineering boots we can help fit you out with crampons to go on them, alternatively if you already have boots please bring them along with you so we can choose the best crampon for your boot. You can then have a go on our synthetic ice climbing wall to ensure perfect performance when appropriate.

There are many factors to take into account when fitting crampons to boots and shoes, are they the correct style for your footwear, i.e. how bendy is the sole and flexible the upper. Do you need a stretchy rubber harness system with spikes or chains on it that can work on anything from trainers through to boots (these work variously from pavement use to moderately angled hill terrain), is your boot soft enough that it needs a flexible bar, and is it so soft that it needs separate strapping at both the ankle and forefoot area, or will it handle a single heal to toe strap (this is also effected by the size of the boot), or is your boot rigid enough and designed for a more step-in crampon / clip-on style of system from a B2 style clip at the heal and basket at the front to a B3 style bar at the front and clip at the rear.

Beyond the correct style comes the actual fit, the crampon needs to follow the curvature of the sole as closely as possible and sit centrally under the boot, with no points sticking out to the side of the boot to catch on clothing or make walking unstable. How much of the front points are visible once on your boot, is there enough to climb or is there only enough for a steep walk. Then you have point configuration, do the crampons need to spend time mainly on big steep snow slopes and some ice or is the terrain mixed, you can choose from a more "French" style secondary point for the former or a more "Scottish" style secondary point which enable you to stand on rocky steps easier for the latter. If you are looking for a crampon to take you to the limit of water-ice climbing then you may want to go for vertical front point or mono-points and some options will have the ability to do both.

There are so many great options from Black Diamond, Climbing Technology, Grivel, Kahtoola, Petzl and Salewa so why not come on in for a crampon fitting or email [email protected] or phone us on 02920578579 for fit advice. If we stock your boots we can try our various relevant crampons on to get the best match and post them out to you.

Ice Axe Fittings

We can carry out walking axe and general mountaineering axe fittings; whats the right length for you, what feels best in hand, etc. but for technical tools you really need to give them a good swing into ice and thats where our synthetic ice wall comes into its own. You'll be able to see how the axe feels to swing into something and then remove it. Besides which its good fun too so why not come on in to compare between ice axes and tools from Black Diamond, Blue Ice, DMM, Grivel and Petzl.