|
Climbing Shoe Review
By David Loveland
If you check out any climbing video over a few years old, you will notice that two things keep changing, clothing and shoes. Manufactures are always tweaking last years shoes, offering stickier rubber, better designs, more versatility, and this is a good thing. It may be hard to keep up with all the new shoes available out there, so we put together a few of the new offerings. We have taken these shoes on all kinds of climbs, from limestone to red sandstone to granite, and of course the local climbing gyms. For the most part, they all worked great. You're going to have to pick the shoes that suite your climbing style and budget best. We looked at three manufacture's newest offerings, Five-Ten, Saltic and Boreal.
Five Ten T-Rocks
Five Ten Southwest
Saltic Guru
Saltic Bara
Saltic Falco
Saltic Spirit
Boreal Spider
Five Ten T-Rocks
 T-Rocks are a great example of new technology being combined with years of successful shoe building experience. They are great in all sorts of climbing situations, especially edges. I tried to find situations where this shoe didn't work well, but they out climbed me every time. The lace up let me pick the sensitivity level for my feet, a function that I particularly like. Five Ten calls the stuff around the edge of the shoe DEP, for Dime Edge Platform. I call it confidence. I didn't think I would like the synthetic upper part of the shoe, but it too grew on me, and bless whoever put the two twin pulls on the back of the shoe. A super thin edge shoe, works great in most all other situations.
Shop for Five Ten climbing shoes at GearReview.com
Five Ten
P.O. Box 1185
Redlands, CA 92373
(909) 798-4222
Back to list
Five Ten Southwest
 Talk about new technology. I don't know who came up with the idea, but these shoes have a great little trick up their sleeve in the form of a snazzy heel hook along the Achilles tendon area. Even if hanging from sloppy overheads isn't in your bag of tricks, this little addition will help when you need even a tiny bit of grip from your heel. One of our testers said it looked like a lizard, and it climbs like one too. It has a synthetic upper, which doesn't stretch as much as leather, so you need to take that into consideration when picking a size. They seemed to run a little tight, and yes, I know they are supposed to be tight. They worked great on edgy stuff, and the down turned toe makes for great confidence on those dime-sized holds.
Shop for Five Ten climbing shoes at GearReview.com
Five Ten
P.O. Box 1185
Redlands, CA 92373
(909) 798-4222
Back to list
Saltic Shoes
If you have not heard of this company, let me introduce you. They are from Canada, and have been around for awhile, making great shoes. When you find out how much they don't cost, you will like them even more. All the shoes we tested come with a double heel pull tabs that seem to be lacking on much more expensive brands. The stitching on the shoes has held up well, something that under priced shoes sometimes suffers from. We couldn't find any corners that were cut on these shoes.
Back to list
Saltic Guru
 This shoe was a big winner with our testers at the local bouldering spots. It had a sensitivity that you usually have to pay through the nose to get. It has held up well, and was grippy enough to get edgy on overhung stuff. One climber didn't think the Velcro allowed it to be snug enough, but the other two who wore this shoe said it wasn't an issue.
Shop for climbing shoes at GearReview.com
Saltic Shoes
513 Victoria Street
Nelson BC
Canada, V1L4K7
(866) 472-5842
Back to list
Saltic Bara
 This shoe is especially made for a woman's narrow foot. My gal pals used this shoe for all kinds of climbs, and they couldn't come up with anything they didn't like about the shoe. It performed well on tight edgy stuff as well as big trad climbs. Our pair seemed to wear well, and went on and off with much less effort, thanks to a few air holes and that ever popular double heel pull tabs.
Shop for climbing shoes at GearReview.com
Saltic Shoes
513 Victoria Street
Nelson BC
Canada, V1L4K7
(866) 472-5842
Back to list
Saltic Falco
 Personally my favorite Saltic shoe. This shoe and I just plain got along. It gave me all the traction and edge I needed, but it didn't kill my foot to have it on. I don't mind trading a little pain for some grip, but these shoes didn't even ask for that swap. Don't get me wrong, they still got peeled off after each climb, but after hours and hours of climbing, I still didn't mind slapping them back on. They are made especially for work with the toes, and work they did. I felt a bit more confidence on tiny edgy stuff that usually gets my sewing machine legs going. The price tag will turn these good shoes into great shoes.
Shop for climbing shoes at GearReview.com
Saltic Shoes
513 Victoria Street
Nelson BC
Canada, V1L4K7
(866) 472-5842
Back to list
Saltic Spirit
 I wish I could tell you more about this shoe, but I gave them to a hard core 10 year old climber I sometimes take with me climbing, and he won't give them back. While climbing with him, I would ask him how he liked the shoe, how would he rate them, and he wouldn't stop climbing enough to give me more than: "great, mumble…. Grunt…… hard core……. mumble….. grunt….. tooling", and something about shut up and feed me rope. I have no idea what tooling means, but I gather he likes them. I did get to see that they have really held up well, and that says something because this kid is hard on shoes. They have been on all kinds of climbs, and I hate to use the word 'favorite' but these are defiantly this kid's 'favorite' shoe. Nuff said?
Shop for climbing shoes at GearReview.com
Saltic Shoes
513 Victoria Street
Nelson BC
Canada, V1L4K7
(866) 472-5842
Back to list
Boreal Spider
 New from Boreal this year is their Spider, another great product from Boreal. These shoes were designed with the long term user, I have worked these shoes, and they have shown very little wear and tear. I like the high rubber sides, I found them great for smearing and tricky edge work. It also protected my feet in slippery crack work. Usually the sides of my feet come off of crack climbs pretty chewed up, probably because I fall all the time, but the high sides helped keep the chewing to a minimum. I felt like they gave me good sensitivity on bouldering and friction pitches. A good, solid shoe. Good luck finding something wrong with this shoe.
Shop for climbing shoes at GearReview.com
Boreal
(800) 437-2526
Back to list
When Dave Loveland isn't climbing, he's commonly mistaken for a mad scientist.
|
