2019 Climbing Shoe Review: Five Ten Dragon VCS

“When I was cutting my feet on a roof or using the heel to squeeze a boulder, the Dragons did very well,” said one tester. “It’s hard not to catch your foot on something when there’s rubber almost fully surrounding the shoe.” Two testers also noted the Dragons as light on the feet, making them a good choice for thuggy, bouldery climbing in which your feet rip and you need to control the swing—less weight at the end of the pendulum. The new Dragons had a slightly higher-volume last than their predecessors, but make no mistake: They are a narrow shoe, without much give in the last thanks to their copious rubber coverage, and work best when sized aggressively. Their strong suit was off-vertical to overhanging technical edging and divot-toeing, with the sole—as with their sister shoe, the Aleon—protruding past the toebox/rand to produce an incredibly stable edging platform. On the flip side, smearing is less sensitive, though the ever-sticky Stealth sole and siping on the toe-scum patch, which let the upper forefoot flex, locked the foot on reliably once you learn to trust the feel.