The selection of high-top trad shoes has grown rapidly in recent years. The Five Ten Grandstone presents a nice addition to the field. Its softer, more flexible sole addresses the chief complaint made about many of its competitors — that they're too insensitive. In our tests, however, we discovered that the added sensitivity also leads to added foot pain during sustained crack jamming. Nevertheless, the Grandstones manage to fill a nice middle ground between an ultra-stiff trad model and an..." go to full review

The Mammut 9.5 Crag Classic wins our Editors' Choice award as the best overall climbing rope because it combines longevity with great handling, and also offers a nearly perfect catch, whether leading or top-roping. 9.5mm ropes work perfectly for nearly any type of climbing, and are the diameter we recommend for those who simply want one rope that can do it all, and don't want to worry about having an entire quiver of cords. If this sounds like you, then we highly recommend the 9.5 Crag..." go to full review

Overall, the Swift Protect Pro Dry 8.9 blew my mind.  There is nothing else on the market like it, and I can’t believe that it took rope companies this long to figure something like this out. Since I’ve started climbing, rope innovation has mainly involved them just getting incrementally skinnier.  As a gear nerd, the introduction of aramid has me really excited about what the future of climbing ropes will look like.  I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for the ultimate alpine..." go to full review

I’d recommend the Ozone Plus highly for anyone with wider feet, who is looking for a reliable all-round performance shoe for sport and trad climbing. It offers top level construction and fit, without the hefty price tag of some more popular brands. I’d be more cautious in recommending the Ozone Plus for those looking for a technical bouldering shoe, because the heel didn’t have the staying power or sensitivity of others on the market. Nonetheless, the Ozone Plus was a more than capable..." go to full review

The Scarpa Velocity has benefitted from a complete overhaul. They are a thoroughly modern shoe for the modern climbing era. As sustainable as they can be, super comfortable and precise enough for harder climbs if you want to use them for that. If you want comfort I would suggest your normal approach shoe size and if you want performance drop a size down.go to full review

The first of La Sportiva’s three comp shoes was the Solution Comp, followed by the Theory and the Cobra 4.99. The Theory is softer than the Solution Comp for more of a bouldering focus. It also has volume-friendly features like Sportiva’s No-Edge technology, a rounded underfoot edge that, here, wraps up into two semi-circles of rand on the posterior toebox; a variable-thickness half-sole (1.9–4mm) that thins down behind the toebox, where you typically don’t stand, to encourage forefoot flex..." go to full review

Butora’s athlete team will still likely be rocking two pairs of shoes at comps: the Acro for steeper or edging problems, and the Acro Comp for volumes. However, having tested the Acro Comp, I found more than ample support for basic edging and jib standing—which is great in these very sensitive shoes, if you can take a little pain and/or have strong feet. And their performance on heel hooks and toe scums is nearly perfect—the toe-scumming patch is one of the biggest I’ve seen and is über-..." go to full review

The X1s have been Alex Johnson’s go-to shoe for indoor, competition, and outdoor climbing since they came out in 2018. “The softness makes it flexible—when a shoe is too soft and you’re standing on a volume or slab, you get a bubble,” she says. “The X1 is soft enough that I can trust my feet on volumes, but not so soft that the mold of the shoe falters.” When I tested the X1s when they first came out, I was impressed with their heel, one of the first softer, “volume-forward” heels to hit the..." go to full review

The Testarossas are among the more expensive shoes on the market, but you get what you pay for. They were an excellent fit immediately out of the box. The shoes were broken in within just two or three pitches of climbing. All the other shoes I've used have required at least a few days to break in.go to full review

All in all, The Dragonfly is a good unit, but I don't know if I would consider them superior to similar offerings from BD or Metolius (both of which are less expensive, MSRP). Now, if I found that 4 or 5kN wasn't enough to catch my falls, all of this would go out the window. But the 4kN of other tiny units I have climbed on has proven to be adequate for catching falls time and again; so the biggest advantage of the Dragonflies (6kN in the smallest size) feels like something of a moot point..." go to full review