Boreal Diablo and ClimbingShoes.com Kermit Review
By John Walter

Editors Note: For an introduction to climbing shoe terminology see Introduction to Climbing Shoes.

Our focus in this article was to review climbing shoes that a beginner or intermediate climber would want to wear. Let's face it, climbing shoes are specialized. You wouldn't want to hike the Appalachian Trail in them because that is not what they are made for. By the same token, you wouldn't want to climb a 3 pitch slab route in a shoe with an aggressive cambered toe and asymmetric curve to it. We wanted to review shoes that performed reasonable well in all around climbing.

Our second criteria was to review shoes that you wouldn't have to break the bank for. Many companies are introducing shoes that are priced around $100 and are targeted to beginner to intermediate climbers.

Boreal Diablo
$99
Slip Lasted, Unlined, Cambered Flex, Leather, UK Sizing
www.borealusa.com

Boreal is a Spanish company that has made climbing shoes for a long time and they've sponsored some of the most elite climbers in the world (Lynn Hill has climbed in Boreal shoes for years). Their intention for the Diablo was to create a no frills shoe, to keep the price down, that was good for a beginner but also be functional as the climber progressed to higher levels of climbing.

Wth no lining, the Diablo stretches to conform nicely to the shape of your foot. The slip lasting allows for sensitivity in the sole, and with the cambered toe, the shoe performed well on steep routes. One tester felt that the leather reinforcement strip on the inside of the mouth cut into his foot and would be better placed on the outside, but overall our testers found the Diablo to be a very comfortable all around climbing shoe.

I sized the Diablos to the same size of Boreal Stingers that I have. The Diablos were slightly larger than the same size Stingers and stretched a bit more, but since we wanted these for all around climbing, we didn't see this as a problem.

climbingshoes.com Kermit
$69.96
Board Lasted, Cambrelle Lined, Natural Flex, Leather, US Sizing
www.climbingshoes.com

climbingshoes.com is a newcomer to the climbing shoe industry. Fed up with the high cost of climbing shoes, the founders of climbingshoes.com wanted to bring high quality European made shoes to the end user at a palatable price. They do this by skipping the distribution channel and selling directly to the user through their internet site. These are serious shoes. They are made in the same factories that companies like La Sportiva and Boreal use. If you look at their shoes, you'll notice a similarity with the time tested designs of big name manufacturers.

The obvious problem to buying over the internet is sizing. climbingshoes.com website has a sizing calculator that gives sizes of comparable shoes to help remedy this. Our suggestion would be to go to your local climbing shop and try on a ton of different shoes to find one that fits and use that shoe to size from.

The first thing that came to mind when I picked up the Kermits was that these were extremely well constructed shoes. Even though the major climbing industry magazines gave poor reviews to the Kermit, I have only good things to say about them. The board last definitely gives less sensitivity, but I never felt that my smearing ability was jeopardized. These shoes were great on long routes. The granite off-width that bloodied my knuckles and skinned my knee barely scuffed these shoes. The Kermits will probably fit better on a more narrow foot. We sized the Kermits 1 to 1.5 sizes smaller than our street shoes and felt that this was a good fit. At $69.95 these are one of climbingshoes.com's most expensive shoe, but still cheaper than 99% of most shoes on the market.

John Walter is a Contributing Editor at GearReview.com.