Evolv Rock Star Climbing Shoes
January 4, 2011
The big problem with these shoes is that just about everyone at the climbing wall, crag, gym, or boulder is wearing these shoes. This is an issue when it comes time to sort out the shoes after the traditional post-climbing barefoot Ultimate game. I took a Sharpie to mine, decorating the leather upper so that I could tell them apart from everyone else’s shoes.
There’s a reason everyone’s wearing these, and that reason is that they are awesome. Far and away the most comfortable climbing shoe out of the box that I’ve ever used. The difference is noticeable in the fit especially; the low cut of the heel making me realize that most other shoes have uncomfortable high-cut heels. I never would have noticed this otherwise. They are comfortable enough to leave on and laced while belaying and still let you climb to a very high standard. The Evolv rubber is about as sticky as it gets, and consequently smearing is where these shoes excel. Edging is decent; not the best ever in my opinion, but definitely adequate. Whatever loss of edging precision is more than made up for in comfort. The only move that this shoe really didn’t perform well involved toe pockets; maybe my sample pair is a little too large, but I had a tad too much room to be able to trust my toes as much as usual. Of course “as usual” means a tiny pair of curved-last slippers that are so painful to wear that I make my belayer hold me up off the ground as I take them off while dangling from the rope rather than contact the ground in those torture devices. My point is that perhaps I could go down a size in the Rock Star, still be comfortable, and get better toe performance. I don’t know because even I am not cheeky enough to ask for a second sample pair in a different size (though some might find the mere mention of this in the review to be a passive aggressive way of doing just that) simply to see if I can fit that toe pocket better.
So, buy a half size down, is my recommendation, and then please write and tell me if the toe pocket performance is adequate. And speaking of sizing, one of the very cool things about the Rock Star is that it’s billed as a “female-friendly” shoe rather than a “women’s specific” shoe. Why is this cool? Because it’s marketed both to women AND men of a certain foot shape, but it’s clearly female-leaning. After decades of “unisex” gear that is really just men’s gear, this is a welcome change. And a great shoe to boot. (heh. Boot. Get it?)
