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The Generator is the result of 98 prototypes over three years of R&D—and it shows. The shoe is expertly made, with low-profile stitching, premium materials, and a critical eye for how to improve upon the current market’s offerings.
Where the Generator excels
This shoe will be most at home on routes with a lot of cracks and edgy face climbing. Think Yosemite, North Conway, New River Gorge, and Squamish. In Washington Pass this summer, on the modern classic The Hitchhiker (5.11-; 900ft), the Generator was the ideal shoe for the area’s grainy, face-hold rich granite. On the slabby 5.11 pitches I stabbed out to micro feet and stomped on edges, confident that the Generator would support my weight. And when the angle reared and finger splitters emerged, I had plenty of rand rubber and suede to comfortably jam them.
As I’ve already briefly mentioned, the Generator has a taller toe profile than what I would have naturally expected. But the benefit of this, I’ve realized, is that I can comfortably size the shoe down for a performance-edging fit since there is available space for curled toes. This was certainly Scarpa’s intention when designing the shoe and I’ll leave it up to you, dear reader, to decide if a tall-ish toe profile is relevant for you. Personally, a burly crack shoe with ankle protection is not going to also be my premiere edging shoe; so I would have preferred for the shoe’s toe profile to be shorter, thus making it fantastic in cracks of all sizes, and then I’d just bring up my beloved Vapor Lace in the haul bag for any vicious face-climbing crux. That said, the low-cut Generator hits its stride in this regard: stable on edges, supportive on crystals, and still ace on all but the thinnest (or widest) of cracks.
How it fits
Features and high-tech materials aside, you should only buy the Generator if it fits you. And since most trad climbers I know have used—or at least tried on—a pair of TC Pros, I will use that shoe for sizing reference.
- A 41 Generator and 41 TC Pro both give me an all-day performance fit (I’m a 42 approach shoe).
- The Generator has a wider toe box than the TC Pro, and is not as asymmetrical.
- The Generator has a taller toe profile than the TC Pro, which, some would argue, increases its edging power, but decreases its finger-crack prowess.
- The Generator has a narrower heel, but it also feels taller, due to the PAF system.
- I found the Generator to have a significantly faster break-in period than the TC Pro.
- After multiple long, demanding routes, I found the Generator to retain its stiffness better than the TC Pro.
After three months of steady shoe-testing in Squamish, Washington, and multiple trips into the Bugaboos—where I found myself on gaping offwidths with unfortunate frequency—the Generator Mids have held up admirably. And aside from some minor glue failure in the tongue, the Generator’s rand shows no signs of delamination (a common issue in other brands), the laces look brand new, and the suede is hardly scuffed. Overall, Scarpa has built a comfortable, high-end winner in the Generator, and I look forward to jamming in them for seasons to come.
Anthony Walsh is a digital editor at Climbing.