Tenaya Climbing Shoes

Been wearing a pair of Masai and really like them. Anyone resole these with anything other than Grip? Would love to hear about your experiences. Thanks!

Thomas H wrote:Just an update, My Iati's I got back in November got a hole in one of the toes this weekend. I was guessing they were close but was kinda surprised. I don't think they wore out abnormally fast but would liked them to last a bit longer. I don't think I will resole because I doubt the straps will make it through another set of rubber. The strap system is the achilles heel of both these and the Oasi, although it functions much better on the Iati the straps are nearly worn out.

I thought it was pretty easy to replace the velcro straps on these shoes once they wore out, have you looked into that at all?

I just got a pair of Oasi, looking to break them in next week.

I have a pair of RA's that I loved. But washing them, they shrunk and the heel is WAY too tight now. I want to replace them, but was thinking about lace-ups. Does anyone know if the Tatanka is the same shoe but with laces? I want to make sure it fits the same.

Rich - The Tatanka is not entirely dissimilar from the Ra, but its definitely a more nuanced last shape. I'd highly recommend trying the Tarifa. Its a bit more of a "safe bet" fit wise if you can't try them on first and its really comfy.

Adam Sanders wrote:Rich - The Tatanka is not entirely dissimilar from the Ra, but its definitely a more nuanced last shape. I'd highly recommend trying the Tarifa. Its a bit more of a "safe bet" fit wise if you can't try them on first and its really comfy.

Thank you. Sadly there are no dealers anywhere within a good 8 hours from me. I have to buy online, which is always risky and requires back and forth shipping.

man, i think the ra and the tatanka are way, way different. the only real similarity is the color scheme.

slim wrote:man, i think the ra and the tatanka are way, way different. the only real similarity is the color scheme.

Thank you. I may just buy another pair of Ra's and not wash them.

Update - I heard that these things were sized a bit larger so I tried going down 2.5 sizes ( I typically wear a street show size of 11 and then 11.5 for hiking boots although my measured foot size is a 10 on the left and a 9.5 on the right).

So I figured I'd try an 8.5 US mens size on the oasi and those did not fit, couldn't get my big toe to actually lay flat in the shoe. So ended up going one size up to a 9.5 (total of 1.5 down from my standard street shoe) and those fit well with no play, a little on the tight side but that's what you would want anyway.

Took them for a spin last night and I can say these things are like the next level for being able to front point on uber small toe holds.

The shoe also has a pretty large heal rubber which makes for solid heal hooking.

The sole itself is what you would expect from vibram X rubber in terms of stickiness. The shoe is stiffer than I expected though but they haven't been broken in yet.

They are a PITA to take on and off though, not as easy to slip in an out of as my last pair of millet rock shoes but the performance increase on these outweighs the hassle of on/off.

Just pulled the trigger on a pair of Iatis! Looking forward to taking them for a test drive!

I just got a pair of Tarifas. Tried on the Oasi too. And couldn't really tell much of a difference between them. I'm coming from the Sportiva Mythos. So I'm used to really comfy shoes. Tried these on and they felt really good out of the box. But after spending 4 hours climbing with them... OUCH. All of my toes have blisters on the knuckles. Maybe I sized them wrong? I dunno. I wear a 44.5 in the Mythos. And after trying on a bunch of shoes, I've found that I'm pretty much a 44.5 across the board no matter the brand/model, which matches my street shoe size. But the Oasi and Tarifa both left me with small dead space in the heel. My heel doesn't really fill in the pocket completely.

I tried on the Iati yesterday and they seemed to be more comfy than the Tarifa actually. But my memory might be playing tricks on me. And it seemed my heel fit a little better. Hard to say.

I might try the Iati instead. Otherwise the other shoe I might go with is the Sportiva Katana VS or Lace as a stepping stone from the Mythos into more aggressive territory.

I've been climbing in the Tarifa for about 6 months now and they have been the best high performance edging shoe I've ever worn. This is coming from a Blanco, Miura and Genius shoe wearer.

My street shoe is size 11 and the Tarifa fit really well in a size 9 (I consider two sizes down my "Goldilocks" zone). Like others commented, there is a small pocket in the heel that is difficult to close up, but if you really cinch down the laces you can get it near to a vacuum seal. Heel hooks are tough if you don't have the laces as tight as possible. As for edging, I can't think of a better sport or bouldering shoe that can also work slab like a boss.

My question to you guys:
I'm looking at moving over to the Iati. Maybe it is the Tarifa with velcro? Does anyone have sizing recommendations based on what I wrote above? Also, how was the performance with the Iati in comparison to the Tarifa?

Henri Alexander wrote:I've been climbing in the Tarifa for about 6 months now and they have been the best high performance edging shoe I've ever worn. This is coming from a Blanco, Miura and Genius shoe wearer. My street shoe is size 11 and the Tarifa fit really well in a size 9 (I consider two sizes down my "Goldilocks" zone). Like others commented, there is a small pocket in the heel that is difficult to close up, but if you really cinch down the laces you can get it near to a vacuum seal. Heel hooks are tough if you don't have the laces as tight as possible. As for edging, I can't think of a better sport or bouldering shoe that can also work slab like a boss. My question to you guys: I'm looking at moving over to the Iati. Maybe it is the Tarifa with velcro? Does anyone have sizing recommendations based on what I wrote above? Also, how was the performance with the Iati in comparison to the Tarifa?

I really don't understand how people fit into shoes so small.

I'm a street size 11/11.5. I tried on the Oasi, Tarifa, and Iati. We are basically the same size but you wear a size 9 Tarifa? WTF. I can't even get my foot into a size 9, let alone tie them or climb in something that tight. I have the Tarifa in 44.5 and if I come off the wall while bouldering it feels like I might break a toe. I can't climb in them, they're too painful. But yes, I have the same dead space in the heal.

In any event, the three shoes all feel the same to me. The Iati felt a little more comfortable.

Wait...you wear Mythos in your street size?? And they stay on your foot?

FourT6and2 wrote: The Iati felt a little more comfortable.

How was the performance in comparison to the Tarifa?
Can anyone else comment that has sized down the Tarifa and iati?

So, my journey on downsizing was about 2 years, but it has been amazing for my performance. Granted, if I'm cruising on some multipitch, I'll change over to my Blanco which are only 1 size down. Why do I do it? To eliminate any gap between my toes and the rubber. Having this seamless attachment of the rubber to my toes give me supreme confidence in micro edging. It's pretty awesome and makes me a better climber.

FourT6and2 wrote: I really don't understand how people fit into shoes so small. I'm a street size 11/11.5. I tried on the Oasi, Tarifa, and Iati. We are basically the same size but you wear a size 9 Tarifa? WTF. I can't even get my foot into a size 9, let alone tie them or climb in something that tight. I have the Tarifa in 44.5 and if I come off the wall while bouldering it feels like I might break a toe. I can't climb in them, they're too painful. But yes, I have the same dead space in the heal. In any event, the three shoes all feel the same to me. The Iati felt a little more comfortable.

I think it comes down to fit. I let my friend try on Masai that were too small for me and he could barely fit in them. Then he got a pair of Ra that fit him perfectly but that I could not even come close to fitting my foot in...

Ted Pinson wrote:Wait...you wear Mythos in your street size?? And they stay on your foot?

They are pretty tight actually. And I've found once the break-in period is over, they shrink about a 1/4 - 1/2 size. A lot of people say, "OMG they stretch 2 sizes!" I have not found that to be the case. My toes are curled a tiny bit in them after about 18 hours of use. When brand new, my toes are flat. I'm on my second pair now and just like the first, they have shrunk a little. Once the leather works in a bit, it absorbs moisture from the air and from your foot. And the leather thins out and hardens slightly, shrinking to conform to your foot. If you downsize, the leather will stretch. If you size appropriately the leather will shrink a little. Just depends on which side of the fence you want to be on.

I might try the Iati in a 45 and see how that goes. The Tarifa in 44.5 are just too painful to wear even on one warm-up route. It's really disappointing because out of the box they were as comfortable as my Mythos. I think leather shoes work better for me since they conform to your foot a little. Whereas synthetics don't. The Iati has at least some leather.

I am a size 12 in the Masai (for all day comfort and guiding) and I dropped down to a size 10 in the Ra and Iati. Ill let you know how the Iati feel after the weekend. ;)

So I have a pretty wide, flat forefoot...with fairly narrow heels. Normally, Scarpa and Five Ten are my jam. Pulled the trigger on the Ra's and took them up a super varied route in Red Rock this weekend, requiring decently difficult face climbing and competence in the cracks. The Ra's excelled in this role.

In my opinion, they have the right blend of stiffness/softness, as well as mid-sole flex, to be a wonderful shoe for anything from slab to gently overhanging climbing, and seem to do fantastic on smedges and edging. Took them out sport climbing the day before (mostly easy stuff) and the gym before that to break in, not so great on the wildly overhung terrain, or using the toe to pull hard on smaller holds, but I didn't expect that from this shoe since it isn't incredibly aggressive.

I haven't seen many folks talk up the ability of this thing for varied trad climbing, but especially on routes where performance footwear is mandatory and varied climbing is found, they excel.

Quick question though - the Oasi's don't fit me and I am looking to snag another pair of Tenaya's in the near future. Are any of the other lasts as broad as the Ra or are they all as narrow as the Oasi?

Thanks!

I was wondering the same thing about the Tenaya shoe line after I bought and really liked a pair of Ra's last year. I haven't used the Ra's on a lot of varied trad lines because they rub a little too much on the top of my big toe knuckle to keep them on for multi pitch.

Anyways I picked up a pair of Masai's because they are marketed as their comfortable do-everything for long multi-pitch climbing shoes (and they were on sale). I too have a wide flat foot and narrow heel. These fit me better than the Ra's and are very comfortable. The heel is similar to the Ra which isn't the best for me but I haven't found a heel that really works on my foot yet. They climb really well so far. I broke them in on easy multi pitch in Red Rock a couple weeks back. I am concerned about the laces getting trashed while jamming cracks but I guess that's why they give you an extra pair of laces.

Here are a couple pics of the bottom of the shoe. You can see the Masai isn't as in-cut in the mid sole and will let your fit lay more flat. Hope that helps.

Weston L wrote: Quick question though - the Oasi's don't fit me and I am looking to snag another pair of Tenaya's in the near future. Are any of the other lasts as broad as the Ra or are they all as narrow as the Oasi? Thanks!

The Masais are fantastic, great fit. Still a bit narrow for my flippers but the design totally works for me. Also, if you are looking for a more high performance shoe, the Iati has a relatively wide forefoot and narrow heel. Every bit as good a performer as the Oasi with a better fit IMHO.

Grammy