BD Aspect Pro - 1st Impressions, Initial Performance Review & Long Term

Some of this info will be cross posted but I plan to outline my thoughts on this new BD Boot, the Aspect Pro. I love climbing shoes, have way too many, but that allows me to have true favorites for different circumstances.

For reference my main stable is as follows although I have buckets of shoes:

TN Pros for most everything, Grandstones for below limit crack focused and casual climbing, Katana Lace for the level up of causal climbing, Red Straps for modern bouldering or UP Uprise Pro for crack bouldering.

1st Impressions: still think these are UP OEM but idk anyone in the climbing industry so that’s all conjecture.

Fit: same size as 90% of Sportiva, 100% Madrock, some Scarpa, some Five Ten. Left shoe is near performance fit OOB and right shoe is a comfortable tight fit. Shape is almost exactly my foot which fits Miura lace very well, not Miura VS, but doesn’t knurl + Asym my toes in the toebox like Skwama and Katana Laces do.

Very happy with initial fit.

Comfort: just putting them on you can tell they are comfortable to the touch inside.  I have a little air gap in my arch but when I load my toes into brick edges it goes away. I’ll need to see how this changes in iffy slabs to see if it will bother me. Contact all along the permiter is splendid. Powerful toe.

Heel cup is amazing for my feet and probably the best heel cup of a “trad shoe” that I’ve had. Tomorrow I’ll be on Tuolomne (spelling) style granite but I’ll get to boulders or gym soon to really see if the heel hook is as good as it seems. Pretty optimistic whereas other shoes it’s obvious from day 1 the HH isn’t going to be the one you reach for.

—-

Tomorrow I’ll calibrate these on 5.6-5.8 MP, and then some technical footwork 5.10-11-12+ and see how they do. The specific 5.12 asks for a stiff toe so it will be neat to see how this Aspect Pro fares up there. 

Soooo, how are they so far?

1st Day on Granite: went out to Rebolt an old Rowins / Raleigh 5.12d that is very footwork dependent. Took a nice 4th class scramble up and around with just the extra weight of an 80m coil. I bring this up bc I’ve seen how some tremendous shoes change a lot depending on body weight (load) when I have been rebolting, soling with heavy bolt pack, TRS fixed lines with pack while working.

SO, at 170-180# they didn’t show any weaknesses while I was putting them on thin edges and toe points on the way up taking harder moves before I actually climbed. The smears were better than I expected and the sensitivity was about what you would expect from a trad shoe.

I did notice the slight arch air gap I had was sucking air like i expected and wanted to see how they’d perform in that semi-loose state.

Built random anchor and lowered in over the route hunting bolts and figured out where to redirect.

The entrance of this route crosses water polished 5.8 and then enters pretty high friction but specific feet in the 5.10 range before traversing to the runout 2nd bolt crossing the smoother rock again. Since this was the first time I was wearing these shoes I was not sure how they’d react to full smears, inside vs outside, etc. it handled this 5.10-10+ section well and when I went to a roll mantle on a sloper bump everything held where I placed it with no greasing. Feels reminiscent of Five Ten / UP rubber IMO.

Now at the 5.12+ section (which is mostly footwork dependent) I took time at the stance and marked all the footholds that could be clearly used or construed as feet.

I remembered the air gap and while it hadn’t cost me anything I took the stance opportunity and cinched the living hell out of the shoes and felt 95% of that dead air go away with noticeable torque increase in my inside edge and big toe.

Long story short I went up into the crux entrance and downclimbed a few times back into the stance unsure of the sequence. Took a guess from the best features and sequence and fired it off passing a few really questionable Crystal feet, one insane outside edge down point that somehow worked, a few more tiny but positive feet and then into a stance on 1/2” wide credit card and a poor lower right foot. It would be normally generous to call this a “stance” but I was out of juice and had to use it to get some juice back.

After reading the options I dropped the relatively good left foot to a downwards pointing smear (opposite of toe forward heel down) and did a wicked high step with the right which required a dead on forward toe point. This felt like the make or break it point where a lack of sensitivity might make me slip up. Surprisingly I got into a hand foot match and exited the crux to stand on more pleasant terrain.

New shoe placebo magic? Not sure, but if these BD Aspect Pros didn’t perform there’s no way they could have passed this ultra thin foot sequence.

All that being said, I never encountered a true “wine glass smear” that was make or break like the crux in LA Woman nearby that I can check out with these shoes.

I lowered and was so enthralled by the lucky performance of these boots that I ran 4 more laps on the climb hunting beta variations. I got it clean 4/5 times total but it wasn’t a foot pop that cost me but a barn door I didn’t see coming when I stood up.

Later after rigging down the fixed line I went and did a 18’ solo around 5.9+ or 10 on knobs with a true friction crux that lives on a rarely visited section and undocumented part of the mountain heading up to other anchors. I didn’t like the way the true friction crux felt but made it through.

Later I also go on a new line I would typify as 5.11+ / 12- and shared many of the characteristics of the 12d I was on earlier but involved more upper body. Still the feet were extremely critical but my beta and tension failed me until I found the right smears to cop a layback and get through that section around 5.11bc.

Long story short, these shoes DO NOT SUCK - at least on our medium grained granite. Durability? Who knows.

I did pull a few crack moves scrambling and soloing sections today and as expected they felt far more armored than Grandstones. Since it was mild terrain I didn’t get a feel for how they stick when cranked in a hand crack or thin hands. I’ll try to get in some cracks with these soon.

Should be going out tomorrow (hopefully to lead that 5.12) and get on other types of terrain too - much of the mountain is pure smearing, wrinkles, etc and that’s where I see the shoe being weakest so far, relatively of course to very comp bouldering specific TN Pros I normally wear out here that function as a smearing cheat code with Crystal sensitivity that the trad shoes common out here just don’t have.

Please let me know your thoughts and questions.

I don’t climb much limestone and we don’t have much nearby but I can likely get on decent sandstone soon and check how they perform.

TC Bros fit me very well, perhaps better so in the arch BUT these fit quite well too.

I will be ordering more pairs of aspect pros BUT I’m going to wait a few weeks to sweat these in and estimate if I need a half euro size down or a whole euro digit down for a true performance pair.

This first pair at my regular size straight OOB are in a sweet spot where I don’t cinch them and they are comfortable but not LIMIT and then if I crank the laces down they get very close to true performance fit except slight room in one shoe toebox.

:) 

Miles Johnsonwrote:

1st Day on Granite: went out to Rebolt an old Rowins / Raleigh 5.12d that is very footwork dependent. Took a nice 4th class scramble up and around with just the extra weight of an 80m coil. I bring this up bc I’ve seen how some tremendous shoes change a lot depending on body weight (load) when I have been rebolting, soling with heavy bolt pack, TRS fixed lines with lack while working.

SO, at 170-180# they didn’t show any weaknesses while I was putting them on thin edges and toe points on the way up taking harder moves before I actually climbed. The smears were better than I expected and the sensitivity was about what you would expect from a trad shoe.

I did notice the slight arch air gap I had was sucking air like i expected and wanted to see how they’d perform in that semi-loose state.

Built random anchor and lowered in over the route hunting bolts and figured out where to redirect.

The entrance of this route crosses water polished 5.8 and then enters pretty high friction but specific feet in the 5.10 range before traversing to the runout 2nd bolt crossing the smoother rock again. Since this was the first time I was wearing these shoes I was not sure how they’d react to full smears, inside vs outside, etc. it handled this 5.10-10+ section well and when I went to a roll mantle on a sloper bump everything held where I placed it with no greasing. Feels reminiscent of Five Ten / UP rubber IMO.

Now at the 5.12+ section (which is mostly footwork dependent) I took time at the stance and marked all the footholds that could be clearly used or construed as feet.

I remembered the air gap and while it hadn’t cost me anything I took the stance opportunity and cinched the living hell out of the shoes and felt 95% of that dead air go away with noticeable torque increase in my inside edge and big toe.

Long story short I went up into the crux entrance and downclimbed a few times back into the stance unsure of the sequence. Took a guess from the best features and sequence and fired it off passing a few really questionable Crystal feet, one insane outside edge down point that somehow worked, a few more tiny but positive feet and then into a stance on 1/2” wide credit card and a poor lower right foot. It would be normally generous to call this a “stance” but I was out of juice and had to use it to get some juice back.

After reading the options I dropped the relatively good left foot to a downwards pointing smear (opposite of toe forward heel down) and did a wicked high step with the right which required a dead on forward toe point. This felt like the make or break it point where a lack of sensitivity might make me slip up. Surprisingly I got into a hand foot match and exited the crux to stand on more pleasant terrain.

New shoe placebo magic? Not sure, but if these BD Aspect Pros didn’t perform there’s no way they could have passed this ultra thin foot sequence.

All that being said, I never encountered a true “wine glass smear” that was make or break like the crux in LA Woman nearby that I can check out with these shoes.

I lowered and was so enthralled by the lucky performance of these boots that I ran 4 more laps on the climb hunting beta variations. I got it clean 4/5 times total but it wasn’t a foot pop that cost me but a barn door I didn’t see coming when I stood up.

Later after rigging down the fixed line I went and did a 18’ solo around 5.9+ or 10 on knobs with a true friction crux that lives on a rarely visited section and undocumented part of the mountain heading up to other anchors. I didn’t like the way the true friction crux felt but made it through.

Later I also go on a new line I would typify as 5.11+ / 12- and shared many of the characteristics of the 12d I was on earlier but involved more upper body. Still the feet were extremely critical but my beta and tension failed me until I found the right smears to cop a layback and get through that section around 5.11bc.

Long story short, these shoes DO NOT SUCK - at least on our medium grained granite. Durability? Who knows.

I did pull a few crack moves scrambling and soloing sections today and as expected they felt far more armored than Grandstones. Since it was mild terrain I didn’t get a feel for how they stick when cranked in a hand crack or thin hands. I’ll try to get in some cracks with these soon.

Should be going out tomorrow (hopefully to lead that 5.12) and get on other types of terrain too - much of the mountain is pure smearing, wrinkles, etc and that’s where I see the shoe being weakest so far, relatively of course to very comp bouldering specific TN Pros I normally wear out here that function as a smearing cheat code with Crystal sensitivity that the trad shoes common out here just don’t have.

Please let me know your thoughts and questions.

I don’t climb much limestone and we don’t have much nearby but I can likely get on decent sandstone soon and check how they perform.

TC Bros fit me very well, perhaps better so in the arch BUT these fit quite well too.

I will be ordering more pairs of aspect pros BUT I’m going to wait a few weeks to sweat these in and estimate if I need a half euro size down or a whole euro digit down for a true performance pair.

This first pair at my regular size straight OOB are in a sweet spot where I don’t cinch them and they are comfortable but not LIMIT and then if I crank the laces down they get very close to true performance fit except slight room in one shoe toebox.

:) 

Best shoe review on the web

Thanks for such a detailed review!

I just finished two days of SHARP basalt and the shoes look good as new, for me that attests to their durability.

The Aspects have been my go-to shoe for the last five years ... but the quality has seemed to decline a little in the last two pairs (less stiff, less durable), unfortunately ... bring on the beta: Are these worth throwing down an extra $40 for high-tops? Are they an improvement on the Aspects? :)

Did a nice 300’ 5.6 in 40 MPH wind. Used as many toe cams as possible and man I enjoy the medium toebox armor despite the lack of sensitivity of a naked shoe. Still better than have an armored car of a toe box like the general IMO. 

Ran a lap on some layback smear 5.9+ and a similar but then technical 5.11 slab with smears and razors with solid performance compared to the TN Pros I’d normally run.

Then got on the 5.12 to see how it felt (my fingers hurt from yesterday). Got up to the stance, tightened the Aspect Pros and it went first try! After the mantle I got major Elvis leg which I rarely suffer but tried to laugh it off and paddle up to build and anchor and Live lol.

Sorry for the spray but just following up - they are working very well on this old school granite. 

Keep the spray coming. :)

I can't even climb, but reading this, I want a pair!

Miles Johnsonwrote:

Did a nice 300’ 5.6 in 40 MPH wind. Used as many toe cams as possible and man I enjoy the medium toebox armor despite the lack of sensitivity of a naked shoe. Still better than have an armored car of a toe box like the general IMO.

Ran a lap on some layback smear 5.9+ and a similar but then technical 5.11 slab with smears and razors with solid performance compared to the TN Pros I’d normally run.

Then got on the 5.12 to see how it felt (my fingers hurt from yesterday). Got up to the stance, tightened the Aspect Pros and it went first try! After the mantle I got major Elvis leg which I rarely suffer but tried to laugh it off and paddle up to build and anchor and Live lol.

Sorry for the spray but just following up - they are working very well on this old school granite. 

How did these break in after a couple weeks? I'm noticing the same air gap on one of my arches that you did and thinking about whether I should size down. Thanks!

Doug Leonardwrote:

How did these break in after a couple weeks? I'm noticing the same air gap on one of my arches that you did and thinking about whether I should size down. Thanks!

I can only speak for myself but after climbing in them for I mouth about 3-4 times a week the air gap "farting" has completely gone away.

Doug Leonardwrote:

How did these break in after a couple weeks? I'm noticing the same air gap on one of my arches that you did and thinking about whether I should size down. Thanks!

I just got back from RRLV and used my comfort pair exclusively. They did not pop or fail me once on Levitation 29. I only took them off once fully at our snack belay and then popped the heels right before rapping off.

The arch-fart is completely gone now - I had forgotten about that TBH . Shoes are looking good but the outer rim is showing 2-4mm of rubber separating in a small spot from the leather.

For info purposes I won’t cement it back down to see how it progresses.

Idc what route or boulder I’m on, if a toerand jam or heel-toe helps at all I use it or feel it out so they get their kicks in.

While the crux pitch of Lev 29 was far too much for my top half to handle my feet and the BD AP never let me down. Im not a very experience Sandcrawler but the edges and smears never failed. The toebox armor made the RF Toe Rand jam of the crux pitch’s fist jam roof sequence a 0% pain crank where I know other shoes would have let me know what I was doing.

Very glad I didn’t take the half size down up L29!

While we saw hardly anyone in the hills on this trip the BDAPs get comments all the time - people don’t know what they are or are very surprised to see me wearing BD. I tell them, if they weren’t as good or better than my other options I wouldn’t be wearing them at all :) 

A little off topic but do we just want to all agree to call these the bd pros

How is the sizing of these compared to a tc pro, I'm not opposed to trying a new shoe but I'd be buying totally blind for only marginally less than tc pro's.

I generally downsize 3-4 euro sizes to get a comfy all day tc pro, should I expect the same for this?

I would like to add I've tried previous bd shoes and found a 42 to fit me like a la sportiva 38, I struggle to believe they have changed the sizing that much. Especially when you say similar to some 5:10 which for me are at most 2 euro sizes down.

Could someone get a measuring tape out please? 

What Seb asked…

If I wear a size 46 in the new version of the TC Pro (half day to all day fit), can I expect to wear the same size in this shoe for the same fit? The review seemed to imply that… “fit same size as 90% of La Sportiva”…(outstanding review, by the way).

Daniel Joderwrote:

What Seb asked…

If I wear a size 46 in the new version of the TC Pro (half day to all day fit), can I expect to wear the same size in this shoe for the same fit? The review seemed to imply that… “fit same size as 90% of La Sportiva”…(outstanding review, by the way).

I'm hesitant to offer fit advice since people are all over the map but I am wearing the same size I would wear in TC Pros for a normal fit in both shoes. This is also the UP size I would be wearing as well except most UP would have a slightly more tight performance fit at that size.  

The BD Pro half size down would be a similar experience in TC / Katana Lace / Miura in my experience done a half size down from half-day fit. 

Perhaps they fit me well - only time will tell and give a broader consensus. I didn't have to do any weird offset sizing and I agree that the older BD shoes did not match up with my normal fit very well, but those were downturned bouldering models IME. 

Thanks, Miles, another data point always helps!

just got a pair for myself, went bouldering in them. I wore TC Pros in 41 for a snug fit, which is the same as the the BD Pro 9.5. I went with the 10 for an all-day comfort fit. I like the chunky laces, they hold the eyelets nicely  

Heel rand is slightly higher up my heel than the TC, and the toes are wider/less pointed at the big toe.

the toe box is also smaller / thinner than the TC, so you’d perhaps be able to get into very slightly thinner cracks when jamming. 

The Aspect Pros are my first pair of BD climbing shoes.  Has anyone noticed the rubber taking some time to "break in?"  I've only had them out one day but the smearing definitely felt less secure and even glassy vs. the Vibram rubber on my TC Pros.  Wondering if that's just how the rubber is, or if takes some mileage before it gets really good.

 Not sure but I think that they started smearing good after 3 relatively short days