The 11 Best Climbing Shoes of 2025

There are now so many different lines of climbing shoes, it’s hard to believe that back in the day there were only a handful of options. But the sport has evolved massively since the crack-and-slab epoch, and we now need shoes for a wide range of specific applications: everything from garage spray walls and steep sport routes to multipitch climbing.

These days, brands are designing shoes and evolving tech for these and more specialized niches. This year’s crop of top performers has an emphasis on performance sport and bouldering, both indoors and out. We also focus on all-rounders for climbers who don’t want to stock a full quiver of shoes in their gear closet, as well as more beginner-friendly and intermediate-oriented shoes.

Related: A Beginner’s Guide to Climbing Shoes

This is a particularly exciting and creative year for shoes, with new offerings from the two big Italian shoemakers. La Sportiva and Scarpa have added more precise, semi-stiff shoes to each company’s softest lineup: the No Edge and Drago families, respectively.

We tested these new shoes and perennial favorites alike to find the top-performers of the bunch.

Updated April 2025: We added seven new shoes to this guide, including the Scrapa Arpia V, our favorite all-rounder for outdoors. We’ve also updated pricing as well as shoe specs and info throughout. 

Best Climbing Shoes at a Glance

• Best Outdoor All-Rounder: Scarpa Arpia V ($169)
• Best Sport/Mixed Shoe: Unparallel Qubit ($186)
• Best Bouldering Shoe: Scarpa Drago XT ($229)
• Best for Beginners: Butora Rubicon ($150)
• Best Shoe for Steep Routes: La Sportiva Mandala ($209)
• Best Training Shoe: Scarpa Veloce L ($175)
• Best Pure Slipper: La Sportiva Mantra ($169)
• Best Long-Session Shoe: Ocun Diamond S ($135)
• Best Edging Shoe: Tenaya Iati ($205)
• Best Crack Shoe: Scarpa Generator Mid ($225)
• Best Tech Shoe: La Sportiva Miura VS ($199)
• How to Choose Climbing Shoes
• How We Test
• Meet Our Lead Testers

Best Outdoor All-Rounder

Scarpa Arpia V

$169 at REI $169 at Backcountry

Weight: 8.6 oz
Upper: Microsuede
Sole Rubber: 3.5 mm Vibram XS Grip 2

Pros and Cons
⊕ Precise edging
⊕ Comfier than similar all-rounders
⊕ Solid smearing and grabbing
⊗ Rounded toe compromises precision
⊗ Lower Velcro strap interferes with toe scumming

With a middling price point and a low-key build featuring subtle downturn and asymmetry, the Arpia V makes a great choice for intermediate and advanced climbers pushing the grades. It has a precise, pointy toe with a low profile that’s good for thin cracks, as well as a wide-foot-friendly last, a comfy footbed, and a low-key heel. This makes the Arpia V a versatile shoe—the cozy, microsuede-upper boot does its stated job just fine, but also, for an all-arounder, proved itself a surprising secret weapon on harder climbs.

To that point, tester Steve Potter used the Arpia V to send multiple 5.13s on limestone, granite, and basalt in New Mexico. For those sessions, Potter felt the shoe had the perfect mix of edging power, support, smearing capability, and grabbing agility. He reported that they worked just as well on gneiss on a stiff V10 with very small feet in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

I would echo these sentiments. I used the Arpia V on climbs up to 5.13, with great results on all sorts of terrain: on a 30-degree-overhanging sandstone jug haul in Boulder’s Flatirons; on 35-meter, 20-degree-overhanging gneiss pitches with jamming, smearing, edging, and divot standing; and on volume-studded auto-belay routes at the Boulder Rock Club.

I did experience some initial skittering off smears during break-in, despite the soft XS Grip 2 outsole, but this was less of an issue once the shoes softened up with break-in. I’d compare the Arpia to La Sportiva’s pointier, more asymmetrical Miura VS, which has more big-toe power but less comfort; you can simply keep the Arpia V on longer, rendering it friendlier for long gym sessions and multipitch.

A note on durability: Potter reported that the midsole started to break down and the big-toe bite faded after about 20 sessions. However, he also noted that “for an intermediate climber demanding slightly less from their shoes, this might not be quite as big a problem.”

Plus, the softening edge isn’t without its silver lining: the shoes gain sensitivity and perform just fine on bigger footholds as they break in. Our take: the Arpia V would make an excellent shoe for mileage up to 5.13 in varied-angle and -terrain crags like the Red River Gorge, or for multipitch granite climbs with a mix of technical face and jamming, like in Yosemite.

Best Sport/Mixed Shoe

Unparallel Qubit

$186 at Unparallel (High Volume) $186 at Unparallel (Low Volume)

Weight: 8.4 oz
Upper: Micro Synthetic
Sole Rubber: 4.2 mm RH rubber

Pros and Cons
⊕ Extremely stable edging and micro-edging
⊕ Top-notch toe scumming
⊕ Flexible toebox fit
⊕ RH rubber is grippy
⊕ Hard-wearing
⊗ 4.2 mm sole felt thick for smearing
⊗ On/off is onerous for bouldering

The Qubit may look like a bouldering shoe with its pared-down aesthetic and downturned, mildly asymmetrical last—and, yes, it does excel on techy, toe-focused boulders—but it also emerged as a sneaky, light-on-the-foot, top-notch all-arounder.

In the end, testers were pleasantly surprised to find that the Qubit shone most on technical sport. It was supportive and precise for long, facey pitches, but it also earned high marks for crack climbing, thanks to its toe- and side-rand coverage—we gave it an 8 out of 10 for jamming. With its massive, patterned, siped toe patch, it also earned a solid 10 out of 10 for toe scumming—better than any other shoe in the test.

With the Qubit’s unlined synthetic upper and stretchy elastic tongue, tester Anthony Walsh noted quick break-in, as the forefoot and upper spread out easily. “I loved that the toe patch’s siping let me aggressively size down and have curled toes, while providing those toe knuckles room to breathe,” he commented.

I wore my street-shoe size, 10, which felt perfect. This translated to comfortable wear on long pitches, like the undulating 35-meter gneiss routes in Colorado’s high country where I tested. It was on this vertical and just-past-vertical terrain where the Qubit, with its rigid midsole, excelled, withstanding massive foot pressure on edges, jibs, and micros, with minimal foot fatigue. And for Walsh, on vertical limestone at Nevada’s Mount Potosi, the sole also proved durable, even when standing tall on sharp micro divots.

The flip side of it being such a stiff, long-lasting shoe is that its thick sole mutes feedback. The other issue is break-in: the Qubit has held its shape so nicely that it’s still a struggle to get my heel in for the first pitch of each day.

Best Bouldering Shoe

Scarpa Drago XT

$229 at Scarpa

Weight: 7.1 oz
Upper: Microsuede
Sole Rubber: 3.5 mm Vibram XS Grip 2

Pros and Cons
⊕ Jaw-dropping precision
⊕ Prehensile toe scumming
⊕ Insane torque
⊗ Heel can feel baggy
⊗ Almost “too stiff” for board climbing

If you’re a diehard gym climber or boulderer who wants to stand on those barely visible screw-on plastic jibs on vert but still go full beast mode in the bouldering cave, then the Drago XT is your shoe. It’s one of the most precise, powerful but still fleet, grabby, and semi-soft shoes I’ve worn, and it absolutely destroyed on difficult indoor terrain.

On two V9 micro-foothold crimp boulders (rock-gym Tic Tacs) that my softer Veloce L’s punted on, I put the Drago XT on and sent both times right off the bat. And when I took the Drago XTs on some steep pitches—both on plastic and Flatirons sandstone—they dominated at grabbing with their major downturn and banana curve, yet still had enough versatility to see me up an outdoor 5.13c that climbs out a cave to a bulging V7 crimp boulder to a 5.12 slab.

I also used them on a 5.14 project on the same wall with a key outward toe scum/drag on an undercling; with their huge, laser-etched patch of gummy M50 rubber, the Drago XT locked my foot in like a hand. If this sounds like over-exuberance, consider that I didn’t love the other shoes in the Drago family (Drago and Chimera) or Scarpa’s similarly soft offerings (like the Furia line). They were too soft, too banana-shaped, too flexy, and too rounded.

But the Drago XT uses a new last that’s 10 percent straighter than the other Drago models, making the toebox visibly pointier and lower volume, and features a second Velcro strap. The result is a Drago that’s stiffer and more built-up, with an upper that accommodates your foot like a glove. The only feature that might not appeal is the heel cup: it’s made of gummy, textured (“reptile skin”), laser-etched 3 millimeter rubber that locks on and rocks over big features like a champ, but can be baggy and imprecise on angular features on rock.

Ironically, the Drago XTs may be too stiff for board climbing, especially the smeary feet on a vert kicker panel: I had them pick off a few times while MoonBoarding. But these are minor dings on an otherwise near-perfect, high-octane shoe. For the gym, bouldering, and radical steeps, these are the best shoes I’ve tested in years and finally do “soft” right by, well, not being so soft after all.

Best for Beginners

Butora Rubicon

$150 at REI $150 at Backcountry

Weight: 8.7 oz
Upper: Microsuede
Sole Rubber: 4 mm Butora NEO Fuse

Pros and Cons
⊕ Solid intermediate-to-advanced shoe
⊕ Remarkable performance for its niche
⊗ Minor pinching

I’m usually skeptical about beginner and intermediate shoes. Sure, they’re affordable, but they’re also typically blocky, boxy, and cheaply made facsimiles that teach newer climbers not to trust their feet. Bad climbing shoes slip, and thus ingrain poor footwork. The Rubicon, however, opened my mind to this genre by proving that well-designed intermediate shoes do exist.

This shoe provides the forefoot support (courtesy of a half-length ABS midsole) that novice climbers need as their feet strengthen, and marries it with a mild downturn, precise, semi-pointy toe box, supple, breathable, and comfy sock-style upper, and a scooped-out, 4-millimeter Neo Fuse rubber half sole. The result is a shoe that teaches you to properly feel and stand on small holds.

I used the Rubicon while warming up in the gym and appreciated their edging support and comfort on vert terrain. When I pushed them harder—just to see what they could do—on steeply slabby to slightly overhanging angles, I was able to climb up to 5.13- and V7/8, which is further than similar intermediate shoe models have allowed me to go.

The Rubicon might even be overkill for its target consumer, but climbers advancing through the grades will mature nicely into the shoe. The Rubicon also feels well-built, meaning it should take multiple resoles. On a final note, the toe-box area is all rubber, on the stiff side, and won’t stretch a lot, so come up a half size above your street shoe for smearing or long-term/multi-pitch wear.

Best Shoe for Steep Routes

La Sportiva Mandala

$209 at REI $209 at Backcountry

Weight: 8.4 oz
Upper: Microfiber
Sole Rubber: 3mm Vibram XS Grip 2

Pros and Cons
⊕ Precise vacuum fit
⊕ Plenty stiff for most outdoor edging
⊕ Conforms into irregular footholds
⊕ Solid heel-hooking and toe-scumming
⊗ Too squishy for micro-edging
⊗ Heel cup can run baggy
⊗ Not the most durable

If you were on the fence about No Edge tech or wanted a stiffer, more precise No Edge shoe for outdoors, then check out the Mandala. It is one of the most proficient and versatile steep-rock beasts in recent memory, especially on “innie” footholds, and also holds its own on vertical terrain.

Until now, our testers considered La Sportiva’s soft No Edge shoes for gym use only. The Futura, Genius, and Mantra are fun shoes, but the unique, single-piece sole/rand that rounds up over the toebox was too squishy for most outdoor applications. Though the Mandala has the same 1.1 millimeter midsole as the other No Edge shoes save the Mantra, it somehow felt heftier—there was more weight, support, and precision in the toe, which also comes to a more marked front point than its siblings.

This extra structure and bite translated to fluency on both plastic and rock, with the Mandala going gangbusters on steep smearing, grabbing, edging, and especially concave/divot footholds (see: that front point) where you need to deform the rubber.

I used them religiously on a 30-degree overhanging local granite project, The Crenulator, that required just about every foot technique, with an emphasis on steep, powerful smears and precision divot stabs. Other testers also found themselves standing confidently on a variety of footholds in the Mandala. “While climbing blue-streaked limestone near Canmore, Alberta, I loved the shoe for onsighting 10- to 20-degree overhanging pitches,” reported Climbing Senior Editor, Anthony Walsh. He noted that he could paste the Mandala on just about any rugosity when in panic mode and still have it stick.

A couple of dings: Like all the No Edge shoes, the Mandala proved too squishy for true micro-edging, while durability was another factor—I slightly tore one heel cuff pulling them on, though it was about two months into testing. Still, these are relatively small issues on an otherwise alluring new beast of a rock shoe.

Best Training Shoe

Scarpa Veloce L

$175 at Backcountry

Weight: 6.9 oz
Upper: Microfiber
Sole Rubber: M50, S72

Pros and Cons
⊕ Extremely light on the feet
⊕ Soft, grippy, and sensitive
⊕ Comfortable for long gym sessions
⊗ Edging requires strong feet
⊗ Thin sole requires pain tolerance
⊗ Rubber is fast wearing

The original Veloce, first introduced in 2020, was comfy, light, squishy, and grippy, pairing Scarpa’s soft, in-house S-72 rubber outsole and subtle S-shaped midsole with a V-shaped tension rand to render a sensitive beast for smears and steeps. My OG pair is still a staple on my garage MoonBoard, even though I continue to struggle with the Velcro strap being too short and coming undone.

The Veloce L is the same shoe only better, fixing the strap problem with an offset lacing system that comes a good inch farther down the forefoot, giving you greater fit control—critical for ratcheting the shoe down for edging and as you move deeper into a long, sweaty session and the shoe expands.

The fit of the new model is intuitive, almost a “size it as you wear it” approach, though you may want to come down a half-size given how much they stretch. “It’s basically like wearing a performance sock,” noted Potter.

We both loved the Veloce L for everything from parkour-y slab, to cave bouldering, to long, overhanging 5.12/5.13 lead routes, and found them to be consistently responsive, comfy, and unshakeable. Potter especially appreciated how well they stood on irregular footholds, like the bulbous feet on the volcanic rock in his local Diablo Canyon, New Mexico, where the softer rubber molded to fill the complex grips. Their one weakness was vertical, technical terrain, though again, cranking down the laces ups the support. The Veloce L also comes in a women’s version.

Best Pure Slipper

La Sportiva Mantra

$169 at Backcountry $169 at La Sportiva

Weight: 5.9 oz
Uppers: Microfiber
Sole Rubber: 1–2 mm Vibram XS Grip 2

Pros and Cons
⊕ Very light
⊕ Stretchy fit
⊕ Hyper-sensitive
⊗ Tough to stand on edges and jibs

With a big downcamber and mild asymmetry, the sensitive and pared-down Mantra is great for grabbing big, smeary holds. Credit La Sportiva’s “No Edge” technology—a construction method that rounds the sole up over the toebox as a single unit, instead of sole and rand being two distinct rubber sheets.

The new Mantra (version 3.0 at this point) differs from version 2.0 only in its colorway. It has the same soft microfiber upper, cushy leather insole, gummy 1–2mm XS Grip 2 half-sole, no midsole, and stretchy elastic tongue. My biggest beef with the last model was that, with no closure strap or midsole, the shoes got baggy quickly. The updated Mantra will have the same problem, but after sizing down from a 41 to a 40.5 for this round of testing, any bagginess was radically reduced, even after break-in. And thanks to the stretchy, elastic tongue, the Mandala offers an accommodating “every-foot” fit.

What makes the Mantra stand out is its incredible feedback and sensitivity (sometimes to a painful degree on sharper holds). The shoes deform nicely into innie and irregular holds, are great at grabbing on steeps (especially with larger, slicker holds), and are nimble on smears and volumes. “I loved these shoes while working a desperate, sloping V8 lip traverse at my local quartzite boulderfield,” said Walsh. “The Mantra is the closest thing I’ve come to climbing in a rubber sock, which helped me trust micro-divots as I reeled in heel hooks and smears.”

The Mantra’s weakness is precision and edging support, which left me cursing my choice of shoe on slabbier, roped gym terrain, where suddenly I lacked bite. Which is all to say, the Mantra really is a bouldering shoe, for indoors and caves and slopey venues like Fontainebleau and Horse Pens 40.

A couple years back, while I was testing the Mantra 2.0, the shoe blew out before I’d even worn through the sole—one heel tab tore and I wore a hole through my right toe. This time, however, I have not experienced these issues. Downsizing seems to have reduced any bagginess, the heel tabs have not torn, and all is well with the toe rubber too, so perhaps I just had a defective pair.

Best Long-Session Shoe

Ocun Diamond S

$135 at Backcountry

Weight: 8 oz
Upper: Microfiber
Sole Rubber: 4 mm CAT Rubber 1.5

Pros and Cons
⊕ Powerful, asymmetrical toe
⊕ Comfy, airy fit
⊕ Big, grippy toe-scumming patch
⊕ Soft, sensitive heel cup
⊗ Toebox asymmetry may not be for everybody
⊗ “Squishy” edging on jibs on vert
⊗ Toe-patch delamination

The Diamond S is a machine on boards. With a marked inward curve that’s noticeable right out of the box, this shoe lands squarely in the “very asymmetrical” category. Such shoes tend to be polarizing, but they offer a powerful position for climbers with strong toes who like articulating their foot toward and around a hold, grabbing to suck the hips in on jibs on steeps (especially on spray walls and boards).

I tested the Diamond S for two months on the 40° MoonBoard, while fellow tester Mary Andino wore it on the adjustable Tension Board. “I train a lot on the Tension Board, and this shoe excelled on the greater overhung angles,” she said. “I could use the downturned toe to dig in and hold the small crimps.”

The Diamond S has a barely-there midsole; this, coupled with the breathable mesh upper, makes it friendly for long-term wear and a great sessioning shoe. Andino reported that her feet stayed dry, cool, and comfy for five-minute bursts during her typical 20-minute blitzkriegs of 20 gym problems. She also dug the tight-fitting mid-shoe area, and found the cross straps effective at ratcheting fit.

We diverged on the heel: Andino (narrow feet) found hooking insecure at her local limestone bouldering area, Sugar Bottom, and at Illinois’ sandstone Holy Boulders, with the heel rand too narrow to stay put. I (wide feet) felt that the soft heel fit me well and liked how it spread out, rendering good sensitivity and agility with volume-type rockovers.

But we agreed that this shoe is likely too soft and asymmetrical for most climbers on vert terrain (it uses Ocun’s CAT 1.5, their softest, stickiest compound). Especially for edging and precision work, I often found myself wishing for more support. On slab, I also found it required a concerted effort and major foot force to activate.

Still, for boulderers and comp climbers looking for a squishy, highly asymmetrical shoe, the Diamond S ticks the right boxes.

Best Edging Shoe

Tenaya Iati

$205 at Backcountry From $158 at Amazon

Weight: 6 oz
Upper: Leather and microfiber
Sole Rubber: 3.5 mm Vibram XS Grip

Pros and Cons
⊕ Astonishing stiffness, support, and precision
⊕ Pronounced big-toe bite
⊕ Soft and breathable uppers
⊗ Pinchy fit
⊗ Sole wore out quickly

The Iati has been out awhile (since 2015), but given that it’s Alex Megos’s go-to for facey rock routes and the comp lead wall, I figured it deserved another look—and I was right. Over the course of testing, the Iati proved the stiffest, most supportive, most precise shoe for its weight on the market, making it ideal for edging projects, especially out of the box.

It’s an interesting shoe full of seeming paradoxes: an aggressive asymmetry and downcamber paired with a full-length sole that rounds up to become the heel rand; a lot of fore-and-aft flex paired with a stiff, double, forefoot midsole; and a high, narrow, boxy-looking heel cup that ends up being surprisingly pliable. What’s more, the Iati looks overbuilt, but at 12 ounces, it feels like gossamer. This, married with the stiff, pointy toebox, rendered a lot of fleetness and power on micro-holds and pockets alike, making it great for limit climbing where you need to zero in quickly on miniscule footies

I tested mostly at a new Colorado gneiss area, with highly featured, overhanging stone studded with crisp, virgin footholds ranging from full-foot ledges to barely visible micro-wrinkles. While the stiff, lightly downturned Iati grabbed and smeared well enough on the area’s 30-plus-degree overhanging steeps and at my local gym’s bouldering cave, I found myself leaning into it more for edging routes from vertical to 20 degrees overhanging. It became my sending shoe on a sustained, eight-bolt, thin-edge 5.13a on the gneiss and on a complex 5.13b that involved smearing, hooks, smedging, and a crux Rose move that required confidently standing on dimes.

The Iati shone as a top-end, all-around sport shoe with a penchant for micro-edging. That said, its light weight means less structure, and I have noticed a tendency for the forefoot to flex, and that the 3.5 millimeter outsole has worn down quickly (perhaps a result of testing on sharp, new rock). Still, overall, the Iati is a technical edging beast, especially outside.

Best Crack Shoe

Scarpa Generator Mid

$225 at Backcountry $225 at Scarpa

Weight: 10.9 oz
Upper: Eco-suede (50% recycled), neoprene collar
Sole Rubber: Vibram XS Edge, M70

Pros and Cons
⊕ Pain-free jamming
⊕ Stiff
⊕ Breathable and comfy
⊗ Toe box is bulky

As a genre, performance trad is a moving target: Given the varied terrain on multi-pitch rock, these shoes need to do everything well—from finger, hand, and offwidth jams, to technical edging and tricky smears. Bring the wrong shoe, and suddenly that key pitch feels impossible.

With the Generator Mid, Scarpa has entered the space with a solidly built, über-stiff contender.

It’s a boot that excels at wide cracks thanks to its unyielding last, high toe rand, and well-padded tongue and side-heel areas. “Scarpa did an excellent job designing this shoe as a stiff, all-day crackmaster,” said Chris Weidner, who tested on Colorado’s slippery Boulder Canyon granite and in Yosemite. “For that, it’s awesome—among the best offwidth shoes I’ve used.”

The flip side of all that support is a toe box that can feel clunky on technical face, as Weidner found on the wrinkle-edges and divot smears of the bouldery first pitch of Country Club Crack, an iconic 5.11 in Boulder Canyon. However, on the glassy, straight-in hand crack of the second pitch, says Weidner, “My feet felt zero pain while jamming—for the first time ever on this pitch.”

Climbing editor Anthony Walsh came to a similar conclusion on the 700-foot 5.12 Guy Like You on Snowpatch Spire in the Bugaboos: “The Generator Mid’s big toe box was adept at rand smearing in a sustained corner crack and for the wide stuff, but boxy and insensitive in thin jams.” Weidner solved this issue by shoving the toes in as far as they would go and twisting. Perhaps not the most elegant solution, but a maneuver that worked well and didn’t cause any pain thanks to the shoe’s generous padding.

Best Powerful Tech Shoe

La Sportiva Miura VS

$199 at REI $199 at Backcountry

Weight: 9.1 oz
Upper: Leather/recycled textile/recycled rubber/Vibram rubber
Sole Rubber: 4 mm Vibram XS Grip 2

Pros and Cons
⊕ Stiff, pointy toe box
⊕ More accommodating fit than previous iteration
⊗ Smearing can be insensitive and clunky
⊗ Toe patch is too small

I was a diehard Miura lace guy in the 1990s, and a Miura VS guy in the Aughties, grooving on the pointy, powerful, feedback-focused big toe. This held especially true on routes from 80 to 120 degrees, particularly on limestone and granite where you dig into micros. For some reason (too much damned shoe testing?) I drifted away from the Miura, so I was curious to see the VS re-released for 2024, with a few subtle tweaks: a narrower heel cup, made with recycled Frixion Eco rubber; a new mesh tongue that uses 100 percent recycled fabric; and the relocation of the lowest hook-and-loop strap farther back, to protect against both wear and pinching.

The new VS felt decidedly more comfortable, especially across the top of the foot, where the inline tongue didn’t cut into my foot even when I ratcheted down the straps. Heel-hooking on both rock and plastic felt stable, as did heel-toes, thanks to Sportiva’s P3 midsole, which first appeared on the Solution back in 2007 and has a muscular torque that holds your foot in a power position.

The precision toe was as good as ever, and worked like a charm on a technical, gently overhanging granite 5.13a near Lyons, Colorado, with crimps and narrow slots for feet. Climbing’s Anthony Walsh noted the shoe’s otherworldly precision needed to be experienced to be believed, saying it let him stomp on tiny footholds on 70–120 degree granite.

A few dings: The shoes felt more asymmetrical (banana-like) than I recalled, which forced me to climb bowlegged and was distracting on lesser-angled terrain. The new VS also felt stiffer than the old model, which translated to middling smearing on rock, if not downright unreliability on gym volumes. That said, the Miura VS was fluent on both techy face and thin cracks, plus the shoe feels overbuilt and should withstand multiple resoles.

“Sliding into the updated Miura VS was like rediscovering an old friend,” said Potter—a friend that he hopes will be a key part of his sport quiver for years to come. The Miura VS also comes in a women’s version with a softer XS Grip 2 sole versus the XS Edge on the men’s.

How to Choose Climbing Shoes

Many brands offer entire families of rock shoes, including a variety of closure styles (think: lace, Velcro, or slipper) for each model. All these choices can make it overwhelming to pick out a new pair. But really, there are no wrong answers—only the wrong fit or the wrong tool for the wrong job. Here are some parameters to help refine your search.

Intended Use

This is a big one, and it has two facets: Both your intended use with the rock shoe and the brand’s intended use when they designed it. These don’t necessarily need to match up, but it’s better when they do. So first consider what you want the shoes to do for you. Then, take a look at the shoe’s product information for any overlap. Aiming to do techy, vertical sport climbing? Make sure your shoe is designed for edging. Rock shoes are super-niche these days; shop accordingly.

Gym bouldering/board training: For gym bouldering or board sessions where you’re frequently removing the shoes, you want a slipper or a Velcro-closure shoe that makes for easy on/off. For versatility—meaning, facility on both radical steeps and with volume smearing on comp-style problems—look at soft shoes with only a mild downturn; you do need jib-standing power, but you’ll mainly be smearing, hooking, scumming, and glomming, whether it’s on the holds or the actual wall surface.

Gym lead climbing: It’s rare that I see people wearing lace-ups in the gym, as they’re often too stiff and tough to get off quickly between laps. Instead, you want a jack-of-all-trades that’s on the softer side, usually a slipper or Velcro shoe one notch up in stiffness from your gym-bouldering shoe.

A semi-stiff all-rounder gives you options on your gym’s lead terrain, which can vary from vertical to very overhanging. Some climbers like shoes they can keep on for the duration of their session, and there are now purpose-built shoes just for such long-term wear (e.g., the Scarpa Veloces).

Performance sport climbing: This is likely the largest category on the market, with each brand offering multiple options. Sport climbs come in all flavors, from radical, steep cave climbs to techy faces. Consider the venue—your local area or where you’ll be using them frequently.

What attributes do you need? Radical asymmetry and gummy rubber for grabbing on über-steep terrain? A pointy toe for micro-divots and pockets? Look for a shoe with a stiff outsole and a flat, neutral sole if you prefer to climb on vertical or slabby terrain. Look for a slight downturn and medium-sticky rubber for grabbing power on semi-steep routes. Look for a major downturn, asymmetry, and squishy rubber for cave climbs.

And look for a shoe that ticks most or all of these boxes to only a moderate degree if you’re looking for a quiver-of-one.

Bouldering: There are lots of high-end bouldering shoes on the market. Most are designed to encase the foot in rubber, for fluency with futuristic, non-big-toe-focused moves like heel-toe cams, toe scums, and so on. They tend to have an aggressive fit—an asymmetrical “banana” shape and a radical downturn—that helps you bite into small holds on overhanging terrain. They also tend to have a softer, gummier feel to them and, as such, are not meant for edging-intensive climbs or long-duration wear.

Trad climbing/all-around: In general, shoes designed for trad climbing and all-around wear are flat-lasted so your feet and toes sit in a neutral, less activated position. That makes them more comfortable on traditional and multi-pitch climbs. These shoes are meant to be stiff and supportive, so that the small muscles in your feet and calves don’t fatigue on long, vertical leads.

Trad shoes will often also have higher heel cuffs or ankle protection, for wider cracks. They can be very precise, but will typically lack flexibility and sensitivity that you’d find in a sport-climbing or bouldering shoe.

Fit and Break-In

Fit is personal, and varies from shoe to shoe and genre to genre. If you really love a particular shoe, you may even consider buying two different sizes: a looser, more forgiving fit for warming up, longer pitches, multipitch climbing, and gym sessions; and a tighter pair for sport climbs and boulder problems at your limit. A few rules of thumb:

Selecting for your foot shape: Some brands make shoes that favor wider feet, and some make shoes that favor narrower feet. So you may find some brands are perfect for you, while others suck. However, many shoes now come in regular and low-volume (LV) models, or may be labeled as men’s and women’s versions; it pays to try both options on.

There may also be a difference in midsole support between the two versions: a thinner or half midsole for lighter climbers (this is common in women’s shoes), and a stiffer, full-length one for heavier climbers (more common in men’s shoes).

General sizing guidelines: Some brands sell shoes meant to be worn more or less at your street-shoe size, and some sell shoes meant to be sized down—check the manufacturers’ websites for more information. Even better: go to a shoe demo or retail store before you commit.

For me, with wide, high-volume feet that are street-shoe size 10, I’ve figured out the following guidelines by brand, which may help you on your search:

• Black Diamond (9.5, a half size off my street shoe)
• Butora (9.5, a half size off my street shoe, though sometimes 10)
• Evolv (10, the same as my street shoe)
• Five Ten (10, the same as my street shoe)
• La Sportiva (40.5 or 41, roughly four European sizes off my street shoe)
• Mad Rock (9 or 9.5, one size off my street shoe)
• Red Chili (9.5, a half size off my street shoe)
• Scarpa (41–42, roughly two to four European sizes off my street shoe)
• Tenaya (41, roughly four European sizes off my street shoe)
• Unparallel (10, the same as my street shoe).

Again, these are just guidelines, but after intensive shoe testing for the past 20 or so years, they continue to serve me well.

Sizing down: You never want to size so tightly that you lose circulation, even during break-in. In a perfectly fit shoe, your big toe will sit flat or slightly curled—not taloned over—at the very tip of the shoe, and your heel will slide all the way into the heel cup. If your big toe or other toes are so curled you can barely weight the shoe and/or your heel doesn’t drop down fully, the shoes are too tight. With performance sport and bouldering shoes, you also want to hear a vacuum Whoosh when your heel drops into the heel cup. That signifies a conforming fit.

Shoe stretch: Neither do you want loose or baggy shoes, except maybe for warming up and long gym sessions. If they feel too comfortable out of the gate, they’re likely too big and will slip on smaller holds, especially as the shoes stretch. Most synthetic-upper shoes stretch only a little (a quarter size), while shoes with leather uppers can stretch up to a half size.

Break-in: Some models—especially the $200-plus-dollar high-performance shoes, with their many sewn upper panels, special materials, and tension rands—are meant to have a long break-in period. That’s why those plastic sheets come with the shoes: to facilitate sliding tight, new shoes on over your heels. (You can even climb with the plastic hanging out the back if you need to—hell, even Adam Ondra does it!)

With a tight-fitting pair, I’ll usually wear them at home, using the plastic sheets, for a night or two in front of the TV, then do a few gym sessions with the sheets in, as needed, and then finally take the shoes on the rock.

How We Test Climbing Shoes

• Number of testers: 4
• Number of products tested: 23
• Number of vertical feet: 34,800
• Lowest grades climbed in the rock shoes: V0 and 5.10
• Highest grades climbed in the rock shoes: V10 and 5.14
• Most accessible testing venue: The lead tester, Matt Samet’s, home climbing gym: circuit walls and a Grasshopper Wall with 40° MoonBoard; also The Campus, a new boards-and-bouldering gym a 10-minute walk from his house
• Least accessible testing venue: Stanley Headwall, Canadian Rockies
• Number of times our lead tester threw his shoes at the rock because he’d punted on his project again: This year, zero!

To test climbing shoes properly, you need to consider both a shoe’s stated niche—and test on the appropriate terrain—as well as take it outside its comfort zone to see if it has any surprises. It’s also critical to evaluate a shoe on as many climbs as possible, both for feedback and to break the shoe in to see how it really performs. (Any reviewer who offers an opinion after a few gym sessions is half-assing it.) I’ll also climb the same route or problem repeatedly in different pairs, to see how they stack up against each other on the same footholds.

Five testers—experienced climbers ranging in age from our 20s to our 50s—considered 23 rock shoes, narrowing our final selection down to 11. We tested on moderate terrain down to 5.5, and on difficult terrain up to V10 and 5.14; we tested on rock-gym routes and boulder problems, and light-up board walls; and we tested on trad climbs, sport climbs, and multi-pitch alpine rock climbs. We pretty much covered all rock types—sandstone, limestone, granite, basalt, quartzite—as well as all angles, from slabby to caves, on cliffs from Colorado, to Washington, to New Mexico, to Nevada, to Illinois, to Iowa, to Massachusetts, to the Bugaboos, to Kentucky.

The main factors considered were fit, break-in, and comfort, as well as performance attributes like precision, edging, smearing, hooking, scumming, and jamming—wherever the rubber meets rock. We also considered durability, i.e., how well a shoe holds its structure after heavy use. Does it stay pointy, precise, and sharp, or does it “slop out” as it breaks in? Are the uppers and other components still intact? How much does it stretch?

We didn’t test any pure beginner shoes; most of the shoes tested start around $170 and run into the $200s, so would be considered intermediate-to-advanced offerings for climbers of some experience—and with the trained-up foot muscles to show for it.

Meet Our Lead Testers

Matt Samet

Matt Samet, a freelance writer and editor, has been an avid rock climber since the mid-1980s, the era of high-top Firé rock shoes. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he primarily sport climbs, boulders, and trains on his home wall, and has been testing climbing gear for the past twenty-plus years.

Mary Andino

Mary Andino, PhD, is an editor and writer whose residence in Iowa dictates that she regularly travels across the Midwest to backpack and climb. Primarily a sport climber who loves technical sequences on vert, she cites Jackson Falls in Southern Illinois as her favorite local crag.

Anthony Walsh

Anthony Walsh is a senior editor at Climbing Magazine. Based in the infamously chossy Canadian Rockies, he generally tries to spend his rock season elsewhere, pulling on premium Squamish granite and Okanagan gneiss.

Steven Potter 

Steven Potter is a former digital editor at Climbing Magazine. He’s been flailing on rocks since 2004, holds an MFA in creative writing from New York University, and has contributed hundreds of stories to Climbing, Outside, and Ascent.

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