Climbing

This is an amazing, quiver-of-one shoe for sport climbers who lean toward technical, gently overhanging routes and mega-steeps. It’s a bit soft for dead-vertical edging-fests, but still has enough big-toe bite to squeak by on spots of slabbier terrain.go to full review

The most remarkable thing about the Quantix SF is how much precision you get for such a light, low-key shoe. Climbing’s digital editor, Steve Potter, concurred—we both gave the Quantix SF a perfect ten for edging, thanks to a sharp, pointy toe box that digs into micros. However, unlike other precision masters (say, the brand’s Boostic), the Quantix SF is not overbuilt. The forefoot is stiff—despite having a gummy XS Grip 2 outsole—but the rest of the shoe is super malleable, so you..." go to full review

Made by a small European brand not often seen in the U.S, the Voltage has long been a sleeper classic. It’s one of the friendliest downturned shoes available, with a low-key fit that’s good for steep-rock neophytes, a precise and supportive toe, and a suction heel. Now it comes in a low-volume (LV) version for narrow feet. Our LV tester, Scottie Alexander, mostly bouldered in this new shoe. He praised its precision toe, giving it an eight out of ten on technical demands presented by fussy..." go to full review

The Skwama has a huge fan base for a reason: it’s a high-torque, highly sensitive slipper that gets the job done—and done well—on just about any terrain, even the slabby stuff. The downturned last drove energy into the forefoot. The XS Grip 2 outsole and pointy toe provided stick and bite on tiny holds, especially bouldery steeps. The bulbous, geometrically patterned heel held its own in stiff hooks—arêtes and heel-toe cams—but also deformed for technical hooks on crimps and rails while..." go to full review

The Katana Lace is among the highest-performing all-around and thin-face shoes on the market, overbuilt for durability, support, and performance in that unique Italian way. Trad aficionado Clayton Laramie wore them to flash his hardest climb ever, a 5.12c gently overhanging a mixed-face-and-seam route in the Tan Corridor of Colorado’s Staunton State Park, about an hour south of his home in Boulder. “I love this shoe,” he said afterward. “It’s my personal favorite for hard trad and vertical..." go to full review

Five Ten’s Anasazi line has enjoyed a cult following since the 1990s. The NIAD family—Lace, Moccasym, and the VCS—is a reimagining of that line. The VCS is the most well-rounded of the three options, occupying middle ground between the stiffer Lace and the softer Moccasym. It’s a beast of an edging shoe, with the kind of old-school support (read: a flat last coupled with a full-length, two-millimeter midsole) and precision you want on long, vertical face climbs and trad pitches. “I hadn’t..." go to full review

A softer sibling to Black Diamond’s all-arounder, the Method, the Method S is an ideal comfort shoe for long gym sessions and steep routes, thanks to its mild downturn and cozy footbed. It’s also one of the flashier shoes on the market: both the men’s and women’s versions sport a camouflage heel cup and tension rand that tend to be conversation starters with others. Two testers felt the Method S was great for grabbing extruded footholds on gym boulders and board climbs. “I was surprised by..." go to full review

We began by testing this shoe on a mixed bolt-and-gear granite slab with a strange, leaning, flaring crack, followed by thin nubbin stepping and faith smearing—exactly the type of climb it’s designed for. The big news here is that the Aspect Pro has such a kind, cushy microsuede footbed, and a softer demeanor than similar trad shoes, that it performed amazingly out of the box, needing almost no break-in period. On its inaugural voyage, the shoe felt grippy and reliable—and even had a dash of..." go to full review

This nearly all-rubber boot had some of the best all-shoe feedback of the test. Translation: it’s sensitive everywhere, from the toe box to the heel cup to the scumming patch. (Most rock shoes only offer supreme sensitivity in one or two of these spots.) One tester confirmed this on a modern-style gym problem that involved rocking over a sloping jib screwed onto the side of a triangular volume. The hold was angled in such a way that you could only drop your heel—not toe—onto it. The Gomi did..." go to full review

Don’t let the low-key aesthetic fool you: the Vapor S is a powerful, muscular slipper. The key is a sticky, full-length XS Grip 2 outsole married with a surprisingly flat last and touch of asymmetry that curls your big toes inward like talons. None of these attributes alone scream high performance, but consider them alongside the shoe’s overall flexibility, glove-like fit, gummy M50 rubber over the toe box, semi-stiff heel cup, and a low-profile, rounded toe that deforms preternaturally into..." go to full review