New Evolv 2023 Shoes

REI has the Yosemite Bum.

Doug Chism wrote:

REI has the Yosemite Bum.

God. I always forget that the “top end” climbing shoes are now over $200

Not Not MP Admin wrote:

God. I always forget that the “top end” climbing shoes are now over $200

REI site says that includes 1 free resole, helps it be a little more palatable. 

Not Not MP Admin wrote:

God. I always forget that the “top end” climbing shoes are now over $200

Wait until they show up on euro sites for 120$ would be my suggestion. 

The Shaman Pro is also available at REI, and they have a 20% discount today for members to make the price a bit more reasonable: rei.com/product/218863/evol…

I know some of you ordered a pair already, please let us know how they fit. Just looking at it that toebox shape is enough for me to hold off for now. 

Jack V wrote:

REI site says that includes 1 free resole, helps it be a little more palatable. 

If you're a person who definitely resoles their shoes then these are essentially $150 shoes which is pretty affordable these days.

I just received the Shaman Pro, it seems very high quality. I sized it 1/2 down from street for a more performance fit compared to my other evolv shoes which are street shoe size. Wow they are tight, and stiffer than I thought. They feel stiffer than the Shaman Velcro but softer than the lace, pretty similar to the Phantom. It’s good that they fit my foot well. I can’t wait to try them out. I thought they were going to be my gym shoe but they are so stiff I’m thinking they are my send shoe for hard redpoints or small/bad feet outside. 

Doug Chism wrote:

Wait until they show up on euro sites for 120$ would be my suggestion. 

How I been doing it for years…still doesn’t change the fact that people pay $200 in the states 

I climbed in a pair of Shaman Pro HV for the first time today. Just a quick session in the gym. I haven’t climbed in any Evolv shoes in years, so I really don’t have a basis of comparison to their other models. My go-to shoe for the past few years has been the men’s Skwama in 39.5, so I’ll make some comparisons to that.

My street shoe size is roughly 9.5 and I got a 9. This feels like the smallest size I could reasonably wear. The toe box feels great — it fits my toes better than the Skwama, which compresses my pinky toe inwards a bit. I think that I have a relatively wide forefoot. 

The heel also feels really nice. The “dark spine” heel midsole that Evolv uses is a really good addition. As of right now the heel fit is pretty good, although I’d like for my heel to be just a little bit deeper in the shoe. There’s some minor dead space, which doesn’t make a big difference when heel hooking due to the dark spine midsole mentioned above, but it does feel like the heel could slip a bit if I’m really cranking down on a heel hook. I’m not sure though, I didn’t encounter any heel hooks like that today. I did have to crank decently hard on some and it didn’t feel like it was going to slip. Either way, if it stretches 1/4-1/2 of a size, I think it will help my heel get into the shoe that little extra bit that it needs to. The shape of the heel is also quite nice. Coming from the Skwama S-heel, it’s a lot more narrow and precise. 

I agree with Doug that the shoe is relatively stiff. I’m sure it’ll soften up after a few sessions, so we’ll see how it feels once they’re broken in. Edging felt pretty similar to my Skwama on more vert stuff, but I noticed that I couldn’t grab holds quite as well in the Shaman Pro when climbing steep boulders. 

One interesting thing is the Evowrap midsole. I could feel it wrapping around my foot in the shoe, especially around the arch area. It seemed to be activated more when my foot was straighter in the shoe (think dropping your heel when edging on a vertical face), but I didn’t really notice it when climbing overhangs. This may serve to allow the shoe to effectively change its stiffness depending on the terrain. What I mean by that is when climbing overhangs, it may not be activated much and this will allow the shoe to be softer, but when edging on vertical terrain the evowrap will be activated more and thus provide a stiffer platform. I’m only kind of talking out of my ass here. 

The build quality is quite good as well, and the neoprene sock liner is nice and comfy.

Overall I’m really psyched on these shoes. If they stretch a bit to allow my heel to get just a bit deeper into the shoe, I think that they’re going to be golden for me. However I’ll need several more sessions to really form a proper opinion. 

Just received my Shaman Pro LV. Hasn't had a chance to climb in them yet. Some initial thoughts on fit:

• Exact same fit as the Shaman Lace LV (and I'm assuming the Shaman LV w/ velcro closure system). I wear both in my street shoe size of 7.5M/8.5W. The fit is perfect for my feet (medium forefoot, narrow heel, low arch, longer 2nd toe) and based on the construction and materials, they don't seem like they'll stretch more than 1/4 size. If these were significantly softer, I would have sized down 1/2 size.
• The midsole is softer than the Shaman Lace, but still a medium stiffness shoe. They're nowhere near as soft as shoes like the skwama, drago, latest hiangle, etc. Those shoes feel like rubber socks once broken in. These feel more supportive.
• The closure system is my favorite version of the lace/velcro combo. There's only 1 point of adjustability, but it's enough to get a fit almost as precise as the laces. Also the straps seem more durable than the ones I've seen on the La Sportiva Solutions and Tenaya shoes.

I plan on using the Shaman Lace LV for indoor/outdoor lead climbing, and the Shaman Pro LV for indoor/outdoor bouldering. I'll comment more on performance later once I've climbed in them a few times.

Doug Chism wrote:

REI has the Yosemite Bum.

Could they really be out of size 9 so quickly? Bummer

I got some 11.5 YBs up for sale in the forum.  Brand new with the free resole for $160 if anyone is interested! 

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/123605117/fs-shoes-and-cam-evolv-yosemite-bums-nwotfree-resole-yellow-totem-nwt#ForumMessage-123613413

In an effort in saving people from buying 4 sizes and returning 3- 

I found that the TC Pro 9.5/42.5 is comparable in length to the YB 11/44.5.  (For reference, my foot measures at 42.5/9.5.) The YB is a fair bit higher volume and a little wider across the toes than the TC Pro.  

I just took a look at the Zenist Pro video. It looks like Evolv intentionally raised the heel edge to make it more like a drone heel — allowing for more precision when heel hooking edges. Imo it doesn’t look quite as good as the drone heel from the pictures though. Almost like a blend of the drone heel and a standard Evolv heel.

I wonder if they’re going to use the dark spine midsole in the Zenist heel to make it more stiff. If the purpose of the new heel design is to be better at heel hooking edges, I think it would make sense to add in the dark spine in order to make the heel more stable.