Climbing Shoes

Recently, I had the opportunity to try out the Tenaya Masai, a medium-stiff, flat-lasted lace-up made in Spain with input from world champ Ram??n Julian Puigblanque.

La Sportiva's new model, the Jeckyl VS, happens to fill the bill bouldering, sport, trad and multi-pitch.

The Instinct VS has some great performance features. It is built on an almost identical last to the Boostic and edges really well.

The Scarpa Boostic is a contender for my new favorite high-performance shoe. Supportive but sensitive, with a near perfect suction-cup fit, the Boostic is my go-to slipper for hard routes and boulder problems.

The marketing blurb I received with the X-Cube proclaimed it as built for the hardcore and more.

We loved this shoe. It's comfortable but not clunky -- and has more edging power than Bode Miller's skis. One secret is the Oreo cookie-style layer of white stuff sandwiched into the sole.

Help! I didn't understand this shoe. Down-to-the-toe laces, stout rands and a blunt toe box are features I'd praise on a long-route shoe.

The Blaze Pro could have been one of our favorite shoes.

This year everyone is trying to make them: moderately sporty, moderately stiff Velcro shoes

We loved the Shadow because the Shadow loved our feet. I found I could wear it for hours at a time without discomfort, and along with Five Ten's Anasazi Slipper it soon became my top choice for pump sessions at the crag and the gym.

The Tora is one of La Sportiva's three new price-point shoes, and our favorite of the bunch.

It's nice to see a lace-up that's not as stiff as Donald Trump.