Saltic Vampir

Saltic’s unlined synthetic Vampir goes for edging power over smearing and sensitivity and delivers well on that promise. The shoe sends quite a bit of power to the big toe for frontpointing and features a stable platform along the inside edge. That ability to stand on the inside edge comes in quite handy when your feet are turned out on a thin, vertical face. Keep in mind, however, that you won’t want to subject the shoe to dime edges on less-than-vertical terrain — it’s strictly vertical and beyond for this ride because it’s not sensitive enough for the subtleties of rolling onto those small holds.
The receiving ends on the Vampir’s Velcro straps feature broad patches for fine-tuning the fit. Like the X-Cube, it would have been nice to have more rubber around the heel, though you’re less likely to be aggressively heel hooking on the less-steep terrain for which this shoe is designed.