Five Ten Ansazi VCS Sizing, Will They Stretch At All?

I can't decide between two different sizes of Anasazi VCS and could use some advice from those of you who've had them. I wear 8.5 street shoes, and believe I have a semi wide foot shape (Scarpas seem to fit me a lot better than Sportivas). I got two pairs of the Anasazis, 8.5 and 9. The 8.5 seem to fit my foot the best but the toe box is definitely tight and my toes are fairly significantly curled. The size 9's are much more comfortable but the downside is there seems to be a decent amount of dead space in the toe area (I am able to curl my toes and slide them back a fair amount inside the shoe), and when I am standing on a small edge there is considerably less support than the 8.5 pair. Do you guys think I should just keep the 8.5 and hope they will stretch a bit? I've heard conflicting info on them stretching. Most things i've read said since they're synthetic they wont, but the guy at backcountry said the uppers will stretch a bit. What do you guys think? Was planning on using this pair for lower angle bouldering, slabs, and multipitch climbs, so I want to lean towards keeping the larger size, however it seems like i'll lose a considerable amount of performance if I do. Any insight is greatly appreciated. 

I generally prefer comfortably sized shoes, however the Anasazi VCS are one of the rare pairs I enjoyed downsizing. I usually wear 10.5 street shoe and 10.5 or 11 in Five Tens (I like to wear socks), used a pair of Ansazi VCS size 10 for bouldering and do believe they stretch enough to downsize without being unbearable. Seems to me they stretched a bit, or at least conformed to the shape of my foot over time.

That being said, go with the bigger size if you want them to comfortably wear for longer periods of time. I would not wear my downsized VCS on a multipitch.

Sam Cieply wrote:

I generally prefer comfortably sized shoes, however the Anasazi VCS are one of the rare pairs I enjoyed downsizing. I usually wear 10.5 street shoe and 10.5 or 11 in Five Tens (I like to wear socks), used a pair of Ansazi VCS size 10 for bouldering and do believe they stretch enough to downsize without being unbearable. Seems to me they stretched a bit, or at least conformed to the shape of my foot over time.

That being said, go with the bigger size if you want them to comfortably wear for longer periods of time. I would not wear my downsized VCS on a multipitch.

This is good to know. What about the Anasazi VCS makes you enjoy downsizing them? Glad to hear that they should at least stretch a little. I may just keep both pairs and use the larger ones for multipitch, but at the same time it seems like i'm really losing a lot of edging capability in the larger size. I guess thats the trade off. Thank you for the insight.

The size 10 are a perfectly tight fit for me and I feel like I have more precision, power, and sensitivity through my toe than when I'm wearing my comfortably sized Anasazis. I also liked that they were quick and easy to get on and off even when sized tight, and that the upper stretched enough to accommodate my wider forefoot. All in all I thought it was a great shoe for bouldering in Joshua Tree. I wear 10.5 for roped climbing and don't feel like it makes a big difference when it comes to the grades I'm climbing. Tight (but tolerable) shoes seem to make a big difference for me when it comes to bouldering even though I'm only climbing up to v4. 

Sam Cieply wrote:

The size 10 are a perfectly tight fit for me and I feel like I have more precision, power, and sensitivity through my toe than when I'm wearing my comfortably sized Anasazis. I also liked that they were quick and easy to get on and off even when sized tight, and that the upper stretched enough to accommodate my wider forefoot. All in all I thought it was a great shoe for bouldering in Joshua Tree. I wear 10.5 for roped climbing and don't feel like it makes a big difference when it comes to the grades I'm climbing. Tight (but tolerable) shoes seem to make a big difference for me when it comes to bouldering even though I'm only climbing up to v4. 

Okay cool, this pretty much confirms what I thought. The weird thing though is I just climbed in them for the first time (the smaller size) and they actually don’t feel that tight anymore. They actually feel significantly less precise in the toe box than my vapors. Do you have a bit of dead space above your toes at all/ are you able to wiggle and slide your toes around inside your shoe or is it pretty tight for you? I’m feeling I should maybe even downsize now to .5 size below my street shoe. 

No wiggle room in the downsized pair, you can see how knuckled my toes are and I really don't find them uncomfortable at all.

I tried a pair of 9.5 and I could squeeze into them no problem, but I could tell that climbing in them would be no fun so I sold them. I should mention these are the older made in USA models I'm talking about, and I think it's possible that the made in China ones fit a little smaller. My size 11 made in China Pinks look and feel the same as my size 10.5 made in USA Pinks, and I had the same experience with Hiangles.

10 street for me, 9.5 Anasazi vcs. They're my comfortable, mellow(+) / slabby route shoes ... but not my all-day multi-pitch shoes. Imo if your toes aren't curled at least a tiny bit, there's dead space & the shoes are too big to edge well. (But maybe that's just my foot shape). They stretch some but not lengthwise.

Sam Cieply wrote:

No wiggle room in the downsized pair, you can see how knuckled my toes are and I really don't find them uncomfortable at all.

I tried a pair of 9.5 and I could squeeze into them no problem, but I could tell that climbing in them would be no fun so I sold them. I should mention these are the older made in USA models I'm talking about, and I think it's possible that the made in China ones fit a little smaller. My size 11 made in China Pinks look and feel the same as my size 10.5 made in USA Pinks, and I had the same experience with Hiangles.

Thanks for the photo and for sharing. The ones I have are made in the USA, which is weird since I got them directly from Adidas last week (I would've thought these would be the USA ones). But after actually climbing in the 8.5's and testing the toe on small edges, I definitely feel like i'm more of a size 8. With the 8 I have zero wiggle room in the toes. Definitely moderately/highly uncomfortable and I can tell theres a hot spot on the side of my big toe. How uncomfortable were your size 10's when you first got them? I'm starting to wonder if these just don't really fit my foot shape. I read though they are a good option for people with wider feet, so maybe I just need to break them in over a few sessions? Really wanted to like these shoes but im not sure anymore.

Jon Rust wrote:

10 street for me, 9.5 Anasazi vcs. They're my comfortable, mellow(+) / slabby route shoes ... but not my all-day multi-pitch shoes. Imo if your toes aren't curled at least a tiny bit, there's dead space & the shoes are too big to edge well. (But maybe that's just my foot shape). They stretch some but not lengthwise.

This seems to be my exact experience. I tried climbing yesterday in 8.5 and they just edged horribly compared to my vapors (a little too much dead space in the toe area). My toe was curling back into the shoe a bit, and it left zero support on tiny edges. I have a pair of 8's which have zero dead space but the toe box is super crammed and uncomfortable. I know you mentioned they wont stretch lengthwise, how uncomfortable were yours when you first got them compared to now? 

They did need a few sessions to break in, but I never found them very painful, maybe they just aren't right for you. I also liked the Tenaya Ra if you're looking for something similar with a slightly different fit, I size them the same as Anasazis.

I love the Anasazi's - been wearing them for years, comfiest shoe I've found for my feet so far. Probably gone through about 8 pairs in the past 6ish years - mostly VCS, some VCS pros, also have had the lace-ups and the guides. I usually don't try to size them super tight, I can fit in the 9.0s but always opt for the 9.5s. I haven't noticed them stretching much, and I like that I can wear these all day without any issues. I did accidentally put on my friends 9.0 or maybe 8.5 Anasazi's and do a route in them, and sorta-noticed they were tighter than usually but not really until I got down. So I'd say go for bigger, comfier, I personally haven't seen any noticeable performance difference of the slightly tighter Anasazi's - and I climb into the low 5.12s with them just fine (sport, trad, cracks even), so take that for whatever it's worth.

Sam Cieply wrote:

They did need a few sessions to break in, but I never found them very painful, maybe they just aren't right for you. I also liked the Tenaya Ra if you're looking for something similar with a slightly different fit, I size them the same as Anasazis.

I'm hoping these will just break in and be not too painful, but i'm definitely curious about the Tenaya Ra's. Haven't heard of them before. Looking at the shape of them from the top, they do seem like they would possibly fit my toes better. May have to try them. Thanks for the suggestion.

Daniel Kat wrote:

I love the Anasazi's - been wearing them for years, comfiest shoe I've found for my feet so far. Probably gone through about 8 pairs in the past 6ish years - mostly VCS, some VCS pros, also have had the lace-ups and the guides. I usually don't try to size them super tight, I can fit in the 9.0s but always opt for the 9.5s. I haven't noticed them stretching much, and I like that I can wear these all day without any issues. I did accidentally put on my friends 9.0 or maybe 8.5 Anasazi's and do a route in them, and sorta-noticed they were tighter than usually but not really until I got down. So I'd say go for bigger, comfier, I personally haven't seen any noticeable performance difference of the slightly tighter Anasazi's - and I climb into the low 5.12s with them just fine (sport, trad, cracks even), so take that for whatever it's worth.

So unfortunately I tried climbing in the larger pair and there’s just too much room in the toe box to edge well. There’s no support compared to my vapors which are a perfect snug fit. The next size down Anasazis are just painful in my toe box sadly. I think it’s because my foot is asymmetrical and the toe shape on the Anasazi VCS on the big toe side turns in pretty dramatically. The way it crams my toes together makes it super painful to stand on small edges. Do you think it’s worth even trying to break them in/do you think they’ll stretch out width wise in the toe box? If not, have you tried the Anasazi laces? I’m assuming they have the exact same toe box shape, but maybe not? Thanks for the insight. 

To each their own (foot)!. I think the lace ups are a little comfier, but I find all the Anasazi's fit my feet really well. If neither half-size fits you well, maybe it's just not the shoe for you

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