The only knock is that they could be a bit better at edging. An updated version of a Scarpa classic, this moderately stiff and supportive, downturned shoe is designed for technical face climbing, but ...

and perhaps amass a full quiver of climbing shoes as your interests and skills grow. Whether you’re looking for an aggressively-downturned, asymmetrical shoe to help you excel at bouldering ...

choosing the right shoe isn’t as easy as waltzing into a shop and grabbing the first downturned shoe you see. In fact, the more advanced your climbing gets, the more varied — and specialized — your ...

Depending on the type of climbing you’re doing—vertical big walls, trad routes, overhung sport, slabs, boulders—you may want a shoe that is flat or downturned, stiff or flexible, with a ...

There are three types of climbing shoes on the market — aggressive, moderate, and flat. As a general rule of thumb, the tighter and more downturned your climbing shoes, the better the performance.

Moderate climbing shoes: These have a moderately downturned profile and a thinner sole than neutral shoes. Not quite as ...

And even when you use those factors to narrow down your search, there's still a lot of room for variation: Rock climbing shoes can range from flat and accommodating to aggressively downturned and ...

This type of shoe is intended for long multi-pitch climbs, crack climbs, slap routes, and slightly overhanging routes. Because they’re downturned, moderate rock climbing shoes are better at ...

Modern climbers have the opposite problem. Go to any outdoor recreation store and prepare to be overwhelmed by shelves of cutting-edge climbing shoes and marketing gibberish. That’s how I felt ...

Comfort is an especially important consideration for multipitch climbing shoes. Aggressively downturned and ultra-tight climbing shoes tend to be painful over long periods, so these traits are ...