La Sportiva Hits It Out of the Park With New Mandala

Let’s get down to what matters: performance. The Mandala felt truly boss out of the box as I broke them in with some gym bouldering and boarding. Like the Futura and Mantra, they had superb grabbing ability in the bouldering cave, especially on jibs, since you can spread the No Edge toe out on spikes/protuberances and into deformities; this let me traction in over the big toe to bring my hips close to the wall. They were also excellent for boarding, letting me curl my forefoot around the holds like a prehensile tail as well as push hard into the smeary kicker-panel and lower-board feet. (On the Tension Board 2, I sent a crimpy V8, Captain Jack Sparrow, I’d tried two previous days without success; the Mandala dug hard into the tiny starting jibs, letting me stand tall and stick an elusive lockoff.) OK, check, this is what No Edge is meant to do: deform and let you push. Nothing new here—so how about technical face?