Outdoor Gear Lab

If you want as little material as possible between your toe and the rock, this is the shoe to get. An amazingly sensitive shoe, it lets you dance your feet up the rock on features you didn't know it was possible to stand on. This performance shoe has a flat shape and a more welcoming fit than other shoes like the La Sportiva Miura - Women's that offers a similar level of performance, but has a more aggressive shape...." go to full review

We like the Katana for an all-around climbing shoe. Just slightly less downturned than our Editors' Choice winner, these shoes are excellent for the climbs when you don't need or want all that curve in your foot, such as on a slab or a long moderate route...." go to full review

From the first moment we put the Solutions on our feet, we were in love. This shoe manages to be amazingly comfortable and dramatically aggressive. It positions your foot for powerful edging, pulling, and smearing, and can help bring your climbing to the next level. The only real downside to this shoe is that is specialized for specific terrain, and it is not an all-around shoe to cross over to a variety of styles of climbing. If you need a more versatile shoe we definitely recommend the..." go to full review

This is our favorite women's climbing shoe, hands-down. It performs well in all of our metrics and for any type of climbing we hope to do. It can be either an all-around one-quiver shoe or reserved for hard sends. The level of downturn and moderately high asymmetry is just perfect for most climbers for most applications. It earns our Editors' Choice award for this unmatched versatility and the incredible level of performance, from right out of the box all the way through the third..." go to full review

This ultra high performance shoe is the newest design in the Chris Sharma Series from Evolv. Evolv says it represents "a new way of approaching how we build shoes". The aggressive downturned toe is similar to the Evolv Shaman but has a pointier more precise toe tip. With new design features the Nexxo could take it over as the top selling high performance shoe in the Evolv line. Both shoes are aggressive but the Nexxo has a thinner 1mm midsole and is therefore more conforming and..." go to full review

The most unique thing about the M5 (Mugen 5) is that for the first time in Mad Rock history, their concave sole features a flat sole design. The flat sole gives it a more relaxed fit without the toes being "down-turned" like more aggressive concave designs. The concave aspect allows it to grab and hook onto steeper terrain like the down-turned designs while the flatness keeps the toes from being unnaturally bent. A custom molded mid-sole gives the right blend of rigidity and..." go to full review

The Evolv Defy is one of the best values in climbing shoes. This new and improved model has a slightly better fitting heel, coated Velcro tabs for increased durability and a splash of color. Other than that not a lot has changed from the previous version. The rubber is the same high friction 4.2mm TRAX with a 1mm half length midsole. The overall design is still nearly identical. The pointy toe and Velcro design is very similar to many of the top rated shoes out there. It is one of the best..." go to full review

The La Sportiva Katana is a solid gym, sport climbing and bouldering shoe. It stands out for its unique Velcro closure that has circles you can't miss. It also has a unique single-piece tongue that wraps around the entire top of your foot whereas most have a split tongue that joins in the middle. These are pretty comfy for a Velcro shoe...." go to full review

A product of revolutionary shoe designer Heinz Mariacher - a man who wore his EB's so tight he had to slip them on with plastic bags over his feet - the Scarpa Boostic is a marvel of climbing technology and bone crushing agony. With a highly asymmetrical shape and a narrow, tapering fit towards the toe, the Boostic focuses all of the weight of the climber's body through the toe. This makes for an extremely precise climbing platform and some seriously mangled digits at the end of a..." go to full review

We tested them on long alpine routes and found they climb as well, but not as comfortably as approach shoes or alpine boots (Trango Cubes). They won't, however, let you waltz away from a day in the mountains without swapping out your footwear. The velcro straps made it a little painful to put feet in any cracks, and they perform like any rock shoe if the terrain is a mix of scrambling/climbing/walking: poorly...." go to full review