Tenaya Tarifa

Have been using these shoes for a couple years and bought several pairs. 

I always get questions about these, so I figured it would help to make a post about them.

6'1" 160 pound male. Size 10 street shoe and 42.5 eu/ 9.5 us size Tarifas. Wide feet with somewhat high arches.

Pros:

• Slim profile makes them fit into pockets really well
• Softness of the rubber helps smearing
• Midsole is decently stiff for standing on edges during long routes
• Break in time is super quick, I find with La Sportivas it takes me weeks to feel good in a shoe. With the Tarifa's they were good in a week.
• Durability of upper materials is good, haven't noticed issues
  • Durability of rubber is pretty average
• Personally, I find the heel fits really well and that the heel hooking is super bomber.
  • Many people hate the heel

Cons:

• Performs terribly bouldering
  • (I mean Non slab/vert boulders)
• Fails on overhands where you have to claw your feet in. 
• Difficult to fit wide feet if you have never worn tight shoes
• Cannot personally wear them for multi-pitching

I recommend this shoe for most, if not all, limestone sport climbing. I love these for vertical walls. Moderate overhangs are great, but anything at or above 45 degrees is too steep.

If you've tried these, let me know what you think! 

Always love to talk shop about gear.

Have you done any crack climbing in these?  I'm curious how much protection there is for the lil toes since the rand looks like it doesn't go up too high.  

Sean Fleuriel wrote:

Have you done any crack climbing in these?  I'm curious how much protection there is for the lil toes since the rand looks like it doesn't go up too high.  

Honestly not the best for crack climbing since they are so soft. Would hurt quite a bit

I love these shoes and exclusively climb in them! For what is worth, my experience has been a bit different than the reviewers':

- I have wide feet and am able to aggressively size these, they certainly fit me better than scarpas. I'm size 10.5 street shoe and comfortably go down to 8.5 on these with minimal break in time.

- I mostly climb overhanging terrain and these shoes are great: they've done ok at places like staunton, rifle and the red river gorge

- Most of my bouldering has been done in Tarifas without issue. 

- I size them up for multipitch climbing in places like eldo where I still want aggressive shoes. 

Sean Fleuriel wrote:

Have you done any crack climbing in these?  I'm curious how much protection there is for the lil toes since the rand looks like it doesn't go up too high.  

Sorry for the delay, haven't logged in in a while. In my experience they hold well in cracks due to their stiffer midsole, but they are quite aggressive and thin, causing them to rarely be used in crack climbing situations for myself. 

I don't tend to crack climb hard stuff, usually just easy 5.8 multipitches where I would rather have something comfy.

I don't wear my Tarifas very often, but for the right climb (vertical to gently overhanging technical edging) there is nothing better. They feel so precise and solid. I don't love the heel but it's serviceable. 

Sean Fleuriel wrote:

Have you done any crack climbing in these?  I'm curious how much protection there is for the lil toes since the rand looks like it doesn't go up too high.  

I’ve crack climbed in Tarifas extensively, especially due to my TCs no longer fitting as well and to find something less blunt for thin cracks with mixed results. Can be painful in mid sole in larger sizes starting with ~3s and not much protection for toes. Great for all day performance on mixed style terrain (eg Red Rock). I jam in them all the time.

Favorite shoe for all disciplines at the moment. Super comfortable and not sized particularly aggressive. A general complaint I’ve heard is the toe stitching leads to shorter rubber life and fewer lifetime resoles (two pairs have had stitching blow at resoler).

I also use the tarifas as an all-around performance shoe. I wouldn't choose it for pure crack climbing but if you are smearing and edging as much as you are jamming it is great. The toe box is petty tall so thin jams are harder, though you can do a combo smear/jam with the rand rather than sticking your toes in. As Jonathan mentioned, I found sizes 3/4 not very fun on the little toes. But overall passable in cracks.