Sportiva Otaki

I've had the Sportiva Otakis for a little over a month and have put about 15 days of climbing on them: about 20-25 hours of bouldering and maybe 100 pitches. I thought I'd give some initial impressions. TLDR: it's a very nice shoe for granite-style edging and cracks.

My feet measure 10.5 and are duck shaped. Shoes that are narrow at the forefoot make my feet go numb. So I typically wear running shoes anywhere from size 11 to 12, but generally 11.5 fits right. I wear a 42.5 in the Solution and Genius, 43 in the Katana Lace and TC Pro (my feet go numb in those), 44 in the Instinct VS, 44-44.5 in the Feroce, 10.5 in Anasazi Pinks, and I got the Otaki in a 43. Until now the Instinct VS has been my favorite shoe.

The Otaki is apparently the successor to the Katana. In spite of that, I was never a fan of either the Katana or Katana Lace. I like Velcro shoes, and I love the Otaki.

In 43 the Otaki fit with my toes slightly bent at the end when new. After 15 days out they are now almost no longer bent.

The toe box is wide and low in profile. At first I thought it was a bit too low as the metal on the forward strap pressed into the outside tops of the balls of my feet uncomfortably. I almost sent them back because of that. I packed them up and everything. But I tried them on again the next morning and changed my mind. Now glad I did. After just a few days of climbing/stretch, that pressure went away.

No shoe is ideal for every terrain. In spite of that, I'm always on the lookout for a shoe that works for most of what I do: trad and sport edging, finger cracks, and steep bolted routes. The Otaki is the closest I've found for the style of climbing I like to do. I like them enough to write my first shoe review on here.

The High Country of NC is a place of edges: steep, featured stone with sharp jugs and vertical faces of razor blade holds. The Otaki has been great for it. It's stiff and they don't like to roll off of stuff.

But they excel on a certain other kind of hold too that I was curious about: those sloping shitty small irregular edges common on slabbier 5.11 and harder around here. They smear remarkably well. The Otaki is similar in shape to the Instinct VS, but I think the Instinct VS sucks at that type of edge/smear. The Instinct VS just doesn't seem to smear that well for me. The Otaki has been great for it.

The low profile toe works well in finger cracks: they are comfortable for a moderately downturned shoe. I wish they didn't have the front strap because straps tend to get destroyed in cracks. They could've made the shoe similar in strap design to the new Skwama.

The low profile of the toe also allows you to get the toe into tiny recessed slot edges that are typically good for fingertips but sometimes too narrow to get your toe into securely with shoes like the Genius that are tall and blunt at the toe.

They are downturned enough to let you toegrab at protrusions when on steep stuff and bouldering. Not quite as secure as a Genius or Solution, but good enough for me most of the time. Toehooks might be better if they had some kind of rubber or something over the toe, but they might suffer in other ways if they did.

The Otaki has a strip of stiff rubber on the inside of each heel that is advertised to help prevent heel deformation when heelhooking. I honestly couldn't tell you if I've noticed anything with it. The shoe heelhooks as well as the Instinct VS, but I haven't noticed anything special.

I couldn't tell you how they perform on pure slab. Even though NC is kind of famous for slab, it's not super common within an hour of where I live.

Anyway, I just thought I'd throw this out there because there have been no reviews yet. I'm guessing this shoe will become popular.

I just got some in the mail 3 days ago. The 39 fits amazing and seems to be slightly wider than the Miura VS. I can't wait to try them on rock.

Thanks for the review! I want to order a pair in either 40 or 40.5. My favorite shoes are the Instinct VS (all around aggressive sport & bouldering, and Katana Lace for longer and more casual sport routes. I have a narrow heel and slightly wide low volume forefoot.

Does the Otaki fit bigger/wider than the Katana Lace?

Does they Otaki fit bigger/wider than the Instinct VS?

And would you say the Otaki is just slightly softer than then Katana Lace, at least in the toes?

I am a 10.5/11 street (11-11.5 running) and wear now,
40.5 Katana Lace (fit PERFECT after break in)
41 instinct VS (really tight when new but broken in are ok for short periods)

Other shoes I have worn
40 solution (tight as hell, use to wear bouldering and curse the pain and narrow toes)
39 Python (perfect and super comfortable, also owned 38.5 which worked)
39.5/40 Futura (own 39.5 and they are too small except for quick bouldering)

To be honest, I don't remember my Katana Lace fit too well. I never liked them much, and didn't wear them too much.

The Instinct VS is higher in volume all around than the Otaki. Overall width in the forefoot between my resoled Instinct VS and the Otaki feels about the same. However, the Instinct has a lot of volume up and down that the Otaki doesn't have. In that way, I think the Otaki is more precise. In addition, I have some space in the heel on both shoes. More space in the heel of the Instinct VS. But the Instinct VS heel is basically all rubber and not as easy to deform. The Otaki heel has less air space, but it has some cloth upper near the heel not covered in rubber, so it may deform more despite the S-heel.

The Otaki will likely be my all around shoe for a while for unknown trad and sport routes. I'll retain the Instinct VS for overhanging bouldering due to the more aggressive toe and rubber on the top of the toe. And the jury is still out on if the Otaki will replace my Anasazi Pinks for slab and general crack climbing.

Interesting, sounds like maybe the 40.5 would be the way to go. I found the Instinct VS to be fairly low volume. The heel, there is some dead space if I went with a more comfortable size but these are some of the best fitting shoes for low volume feet I have found. Lots of my shoes are too small because I cram my foot to get rid of dead space. The heel of my Katanas is not that technical for me at that size. I tried a 40 first but it was super brutal on the toes.

My local gym only has a size 45 of the Otaki in stock so far and they look wide and voluminous but considering the size its really hard to tell.

Haha...sounds like a shoe for me and my pencil feet to avoid. KL/TC Pro fit well but Solutions are hella baggy unless I go toe-crushing tight.

I think the rand tension of the Instinct VS is to blame for some of the feeling of scrunched up feet. The Instinct VS seems to force my big toe forward and downward. The Otaki is more relaxed in spite of a similar downturn profile

How do you guys with Size 10+ street shoes wear a 40.5 in climbing shoes? I'm a 9.5 street shoe and my size 41 Solutions break my toes off, completely broken in had them for 2 years and even threw them in the oven twice. My Muira VS are a 41.5 and only the heel is a little loose (bc I have narrow heels and wide forefoot) after maybe 25 pitches. I guess my feet just swell up a lot while climbing, after a couple pitches even my broken down Finales feel tight.

I climbed in my new Otakis tonight for the first time and I'm really impressed. They broke in right away with zero discomfort. I wear a 10.5-11 street shoe, 44.5 in most of my non-climbing sportivas, and I thought a size 41 in these was perfect for climbing routes. Easily the most comfortable shoe I've worn and performs extremely well on all terrain. They toe-hook better than I expected too.

They don't really compare to anything else on the market. Stiff/supportive without compromising sensitivity. The heel works excellent and doesn't twist/deform when you crank on them. Edging is excellent and confidence-inspiring. I can see these working really well on technical/vertical terrain like Shelf Road or Smith. Fit is on the large side for sure. Genius fits about a half size small, these fit about a half size large. A 41 in these is more comfortable to me than my 41.5 Solutions. The toe-box is wide and snug at the same time.

These are going to become a classic for sure. Looking forward to the lace-up version. Great Katana replacement, superior in every way, although I think I like the simple yellow/black old Katana colors more.

ChadMartino wrote:How do you guys with Size 10+ street shoes wear a 40.5 in climbing shoes? I'm a 9.5 street shoe and my size 41 Solutions break my toes off, completely broken in had them for 2 years and even threw them in the oven twice. My Muira VS are a 41.5 and only the heel is a little loose (bc I have narrow heels and wide forefoot) after maybe 25 pitches. I guess my feet just swell up a lot while climbing, after a couple pitches even my broken down Finales feel tight.

I know I am on the more extreme side of sizing but I've seen many skinny/lean people with feet to match need to downsize a lot. I read an Adam Ondra quote that he has size 44/11 feet and wears a 38.5 Futura comfortably and a 39 is his biggest size in all the Sportiva shoes he wears. Personally, my feet are such low volume I often have to stack or put in thick insoles in regular shoes just to get the right length size not be too roomy. There is lots of space in climbing shoes for me to scrunch my foot into an aggressive shape more easily. I fought for awhile to find shoes that had a fit that worked for me. Futuras were great but curled my toes a little too much to get a non sloppy heel and then the Instinct VS came a long which while brutal initially I get a great all around performance fit from after break in. I also never leave shoes on in between climbs so that helps too.

I've actually gone up in sizes over the years due to a few reasons but partially due to injuries changing what kind of climbing I can do. I am a big heelhooker and technical footwork climber anyways but it also helps compensate for upper body injury limitations so shoes are important to me.

ChadMartino wrote:How do you guys with Size 10+ street shoes wear a 40.5 in climbing shoes? I'm a 9.5 street shoe and my size 41 Solutions break my toes off, completely broken in had them for 2 years and even threw them in the oven twice. My Muira VS are a 41.5 and only the heel is a little loose (bc I have narrow heels and wide forefoot) after maybe 25 pitches. I guess my feet just swell up a lot while climbing, after a couple pitches even my broken down Finales feel tight.

I also wear a 9.5 (42.5 Euro) street shoe. But my sizings are:

Testarossa, Python: 38.5
Miura VS: 39
TC Pro (Single pitch techy granite): 39.5
TC Pro (general purpose multipitch): 40

Even the tight ones, once broken in, are plenty comfortable to wear one pitch at a time for a 5-10 pitch cragging day. The multipitch shoes are comfortable for 2-3 pitches at a time, after which it is nice to pop them off to belay. A true "all day alpine rock, with socks" size for me would be probably 41.

Shows how variable sizing can be.

a fully detailed review of the Otaki with plenty of photos here:

https://olympusmountaineering.com/2021/02/14/la-sportiva-otaki-climbing-shoes-review/

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