Best vertical Edging Shoes?

I'm looking for a pair of stiffer shoes that are excellent at edging to start breaking in for next outdoor season. I have heard a lot of good things about the LS Katana Lace as a good edging shoe as well as the Tenaya Masai. Anybody have suggestions for shoes that could fit the bill? Or thoughts on those two shoes?

I have Katana laces and they are the best edging shoe I've worn. Ondra also used them on the Dawn Wall so...

LS Miura VS is the best edging show I’ve used. Better than 5.10 Blancos imo. Smearing feels a bit insecure though cause of the downturn.

Boreal Aces, old version. LS Kataki (out of manufacture) is a pretty nice edging shoe and fairly good all-around. The Otaki is very similar except velcro. Both are pretty stiff for modern shoes.

Braydon Smedley wrote:

I'm looking for a pair of stiffer shoes that are excellent at edging to start breaking in for next outdoor season. I have heard a lot of good things about the LS Katana Lace as a good edging shoe as well as the Tenaya Masai. Anybody have suggestions for shoes that could fit the bill? Or thoughts on those two shoes?

Blanco if you can find them. If not the Miura VS is also an edging beast

The boostic is the best edging shoe I've ever owned. 

Another vote for the Boostic. I didn't really like them because they felt too insensitive, but they're definitely stiff/edgy. The Scarpa Instinct is my happy medium for that style of climbing.

The old testerosas. Insanely stiff and great for small edging. But I find you can’t smear or jam in cracks that well. 

Boostic. So good for edging. Once you break them in they become really good for most styles -- if you like stiffer shoes

Boostics are best, can't believe they were only mentioned by four of the last five... Blanco's are number 2. Katana Lace are great too but don't fit my feets as well.

But have you tried Boostics ...  on WEED?!

i remember reboot made a comment once, which i found very helpful.  he basically pointed out that there isn't just a single kind of edging.  there are edges that you stand on in a fairly traditional manner (think dime edge slab climbing) and there are also edges that you have to hook up onto (think of a small edge around an arete or similar feature. there are also situations where you have to toe-point dagger straight in on an edge (think small limestone pocket).  each of these might be addressed with a different shoe.  i like galileos and katana laces (although they kill my ankles).

Boostics are my magic shoes! 

I'm afraid to say miura vs's are probably one of the best shoes on the market, unbeatable edging, fantastic heel(if it fits) and stretches out into a fairly comfy yet still kick ass edging shoe. 

Kind of surprised no one's mentioned the TC pros.  New out of the box, they're too stiff for what I use them for, (and edge insanely well as a result) but eventually break in to high performance edging shoes that can still smear.  I also like the VS when I want something with downturn.

slim wrote:

i remember reboot made a comment once, which i found very helpful.  he basically pointed out that there isn't just a single kind of edging.  there are edges that you stand on in a fairly traditional manner (think dime edge slab climbing) and there are also edges that you have to hook up onto (think of a small edge around an arete or similar feature. there are also situations where you have to toe-point dagger straight in on an edge (think small limestone pocket).  each of these might be addressed with a different shoe.  i like galileos and katana laces (although they kill my ankles).

This is worth echoing.  I've had edgy moves that TCs sucked on because I was highstepping/hand foot matching and the lack of downturn was really noticeable.  The move felt way more doable two days later in a pair of Muira VS.  Additionally, this past month I was measuring the width and taper of the toes of all of my shoes because there was a pocket on a route I was trying that is 'just' narrower than the toe of the shoe I was trying to stand on it in and I wanted to figure out what else in my quiver might work.

Max Tepfer wrote:

Kind of surprised no one's mentioned the TC pros.  New out of the box, they're too stiff for what I use them for, (and edge insanely well as a result) but eventually break in to high performance edging shoes that can still smear.  I also like the VS when I want something with downturn.

The issue with tc pro's is because they're flat, the reality is they're actually just not amazing edging shoes, great edging shoes for how comfortable they are but they don't really hold a candles to a tightly fitting shoe like a miura vs. 

Hmmm.  Seems like we're using them differently.  Pretty much all my TC pros are very tightly fit.  (1-1.5 EU sizes down from my Muira VS, which are a full 3-4 sizes down from my street shoe size)

Max Tepfer wrote:

Kind of surprised no one's mentioned the TC pros.  New out of the box, they're too stiff for what I use them for, (and edge insanely well as a result) but eventually break in to high performance edging shoes that can still smear.  I also like the VS when I want something with downturn.

This is worth echoing.  I've had edgy moves that TCs sucked on because I was highstepping/hand foot matching and the lack of downturn was really noticeable.  The move felt way more doable two days later in a pair of Muira VS.  Additionally, this past month I was measuring the width and taper of the toes of all of my shoes because there was a pocket on a route I was trying that is 'just' narrower than the toe of the shoe I was trying to stand on it in and I wanted to figure out what else in my quiver might work.

Good points Max, it’s cool to see what works for you.  I think edging shoes often get underrated by people and they climb in too soft shoes, especially out West where a lot of our hard climbing is vertical.

I find a crucial factor for if I need a truly stiff shoe is if there is a small edge that is way off to the side or super low I need a stiff shoe. Inevitably the trade off is worse smearing. In that situation nothing beats Boostics or the old Red Instinct Laces, they also have the downturn so you can turn in high.  Anasazi Blancos were also nice for that, too bad 2/3 are discontinued.

I find La Sportiva‘s stiffness changes so quickly in the first 20 pitches or so it’s hard to say where they lie, they all end up ‘medium stiff’. I guess I’ll have to try downsized TC Pros, I think the sole length is long on that model, so a 41 TC is probably longer than equivalent Miura VS. 

Ironically i passed on tc pros due to them killing my ankles (in the same way that the katana laces do), but somehow i can accept wearing the katana laces once in a while.

Added to the irony is that i wear katana velcros all the time and they don't hurt my ankles. But they definitely don't edge like the laces. Very different shoes.

The boostics and the instincts kill my ankles as well. I think they all have a tight slingshot rand, and where that rand crosses the outside toe rand they create a hard spot right on my lower ankle bone and a pronouncement on the outside of my foot.

Shameless plug: mountainproject.com/forum/t…

I guess similar to katana and muira I really like my kataki's. I also have butora narsha's which I think are a bit too stiff and kinda just feel like clown shoes.