Alex Puccio, one of the most accomplished boulderers in the world, will join the athlete ambassador roster for Scarpa, the Italian-based manufacturer of rock shoes and footwear for the full range of mountain sports, starting this month. Puccio will use Scarpa rock shoes in the upcoming IFSC Bouldering World Cup Circuit, which starts in April with an event in Chongqing, China.
Puccio is a seven-time national women’s champion in the American Bouldering Series and has earned top-five results each of the last three years on the Bouldering World Cup Circuit, In addition, she won the women’s bouldering competition at the Arco Rock Master event in Italy in 2012 and 2013, and she topped the field at the World Cup bouldering competition in Vail in 2009.
Outside of the competition scene, Puccio is equally as inspired by outdoor climbing and teaching others to enjoy the sport. In the off-season from competition, she focuses on bouldering outdoors, which she says balances out her climbing and gives her a fresh perspective on the comp scene. Puccio has climbed 14 V12s. She also is a lead instructor at the renowned ABC Climbing Kids Climbing program in her hometown of Boulder, Colo.
Puccio says a climbing companion in Europe exposed her to Scarpa’s quality and performance by suggesting that the company’s rock shoes would be a good match for her style.
“So I tried them, and I was really impressed. That led to a conversation with Scarpa, and the relationship just grew from there. If I work with a company, I definitely want to make sure the product is great, but I also want to work with great people. And those things are both the case here. I really like that Scarpa’s a family-owned company, and I really enjoy working with the people there. When things grow naturally from that, you just have a really great vibe all around.”
Scarpa’s climbing shoe line includes a wide range of rock shoes designed by master rock shoe designer Heinz Mariacher that cover the full range of climbing situations, from shoes for steep and overhanging terrain to extremely sensitive, lightweight and dynamic shoes to edging shoes. Scarpa’s rock shoes are all built in its vertically managed operation in Asolo, Italy, with the utmost attention paid to craftmaship and quality control.
“Here at Scarpa, the mindset has always been that product is king, and, for us, the best product always wins the day,” said Scarpa North America CEO Kim Miller. “It’s always rewarding when we forge a relationship with someone like Alex based on product performance, and when it happens in such an organic way. We’re psyched to welcome her to the family.”
