Women's Climbing Shoes

So this is a post directed to the women of mountain project. I need new/more climbing shoes. I'm looking for something fairly aggressive, good for overhangs. I do not want velcro. I have pretty wide feet and am considering getting mens shoes, which I had to do for hiking boots.

Does anyone have an experience with this or any thoughts/input/recommendations? I'd like to get some feedback before I drop the money.

Thanks!

My wife climbed in the lace-up Katanas and loved them. They're pretty aggressive.

La Sportiva Testarossas. Great for heel hooks and you can crank down on the laces when needed. (I have wide feet and high arches.)

agree with the testarossas.. I've climbed with a bunch of women who use them. I also have a pair and love them. they aren't so aggressive that you can't wear them for most routes except pure slab.

Katanas seem like an excellent choice if you are looking for a wide toe box and aggressive lace ups. ;)

I'd say the most important thing would be fit of the shoe (whether is't a women's specific version or no). In my experience, 5.10 or Mad Rock tend to run wider than La Sportiva or Scarpa rock shoes (but I don't know exactly how wide your feet are). You may also want to consider the 5.10 Dragon and Quantum.

Katana Lace (only comes Unisex) is a great shoe. Toe box is not too wide and it is only moderately toe-down aggressive. I think you will like how they feel on granite.

katanas were already a top runner so I'm definitely going to try some. Thanks for the input!

Scarpa Vapor Lace is an awesome women's shoe. My GF likes them, and the velcro version. I actually know great male boulder who swears by them as well.

I have fairly wide feet in the toes, but narrow heels. I highly recommend natural leather--if you size right, you can get a good fit. I size my shoes so that they won't slip off my heels once they're broken in and then suffer through breaking in the toebox until it stretches enough to not be painful. I wear velcro muiras, but I know other women with wide feet who like the lace version.

I can't wear most women specific climbing shoes, the forefoot is too narrow. So I look for narrow men's/unisex shoes.

I tend to stick with Sportiva and Scarpa as brands. I also have an old pair of 5.10 Dragon Velcros and they run quite narrow for a 5.10 shoe.

My understanding is that the new Velcro Anasazzi don't have that stupid heelcup.

My experience is opposite of Erika's - velcro miura feel way wider than the lace-ups. I actually always have a problem with velcro shoes - they fit really wide especially the ankle part. At least with lace-ups you can cinch the shoes really tight so they don't feel like they'd fall off your feet mid-pitch.

doligo wrote:I actually always have a problem with velcro shoes - they fit really wide especially the ankle part. At least with lace-ups you can cinch the shoes really tight so they don't feel like they'd fall off your feet mid-pitch.