The Kataki Appreciation Thread

Kataki jockeys of the world, unite! 

Let's hear some love for dearly departed "purple c3 of climbing shoes." And if you have a pair for sale of any size or any condition, post up!

Anyone who has clicked on someone else's Kataki sale has probably seen my aggressively unsolicited bumps, gotesplaining it as my favorite shoe of all time. My hardest trad and sport onsights have been in the Kataki. I've worn them for finger cracks, overhanging face, offwidth and friction slab. I keep a pair resoled with Stealth for Wingate and Edge for granite.

To the uninitiated, imagine a softer version of the Katana Lace with a lower-profile toebox. This makes it easier to jam thin cracks and toe in on small pockets. Unlike other thin-toed shoes like Moccs or Mythos, they edge well. Just downturned enough to be helpful on steeps, not so much that they are painful to jam.

Allegedly ThE nEw aNd ImPrOvEd Katana Lace womens low-volume has similar selling points. Anyone had firsthand experience? It's been hard for me to find in larger sizes (42).

Anyways, it's 70 degrees and sunny on the last week of school and the kids are going feral, so I'm playing gote videos as they clean out their year's worth of dragon hoard. So help me procrastinate on writing my end-of-year self-evaluation.

Some of my favorite moments in Katakii:

The Kataki is hands down my favorite shoe. I fear for future generations that won't get to experience them. The women's Katana Lace is _almost_ as good, but as a size 43-wearer, the women's models don't do me much good unless I'm going hard on the downsizing :(

I wish LS fit me better. Sounds like a dream shoe. 

I have a pair of Katakis that I use sparingly but they are my favorite for hard (to me) finger cracks.  That's where they shine in Squamish.

F r i t z wrote:
Allegedly ThE nEw aNd ImPrOvEd Katana Lace womens low-volume has similar selling points. Anyone had firsthand experience? It's been hard for me to find in larger sizes (42).

I’ve never worn the Kataki but have a friend who swears by them. I think they’re still available in Europe—he gets his from Oliunid. 

The women’s katana is not any lower volume than the men’s. Sizing is exact same between the two. Differences are the spilt sole and xsGrip2 on the women’s. I see a size 42 available at Backcountry, and at 25% off. 

I never got to try the Kataki, but I use the Women’s Katana Lace as my all-arounders. They’re comfy and stiff, but not too stiff, so they work well edging and also are surprisingly descent for both smearing and steep terrain. The Testarossas usually come out when the terrain gets pretty overhung, though.

I love my Katakis. I might have snagged the last two pairs in my size on the entire internet when they were getting discontinued.

La Sportiva love.  L to R old Mythos, old Katana Velcro, Katana Lace, Kataki, brand new Mythos.

My favorite shoes for all-round, all day, esp trad routes are the old Katana Velcros.  They do anything.  But probably at easier grades than you are doing, Fritz. The Katana laces, I find a bit uncomfortable so I've put those in my gym kit exclusively for gym use.

 I do love the Katakis but I want to pull them on and off between pitches.  They are my go-to shoe for sport climbing. They are surprisingly good on slab, which you might not expect by looking at them.  I've just retired the old Mythos for use in gym cracks, and bought the new pair to break in for all day easy trad.  I'll be in Europe in July and will look for a pair of Katana Velcro there to replace mine, which can't take yet another resole.

Great edging, great smearing, great jamming. Another great thing is that although they are a low profile, low volume shoe, they still fit my wide forefoot.

I have 2 pairs. One is my go to all arounder and the other is sized for all day comfort. I might have 3 pairs soon if I can't restrain myself from those 43.5s...

Some resoled 43.5's for cheap in this post:  mountainproject.com/forum/t…

(In my experience, Katakii run a half to a full size bigger than OG Katana Laces).

The Kataki are also my favorite climbing shoes - and by a long shot! For hard sport - I have a 42 women's. For my standard day of mulipitch trad I wear 43s with socks. I swear, these are the best all purpose trad shoe ever made. When they got discontinued, I grabbed a pair of Otakis. While the Otaki's are a great shoe - nowhere near as comfortable as the Katakis and they don't jam the narrow cracks as well. Now, it looks like the Otakis are disappearing - does any know if these also got discontinued?

Up thread somewhere, I stated that Katakis were still available in Europe, but I think that's now incorrect. I looked at the most recent couple of LaSpo catalogs—one of which definitely had some Euro-only models in it—and there was no Kataki. Banana Fingers, Oliunid, etc. are down to the dregs for sizes. 

Fritz, I don't know you at all, but you certainly have the best most gote'd posts on Mountain Project.

Just got my favorite 42's back from Pro Deal Resoles! Stoked to feel no size variance, same glove-fit as always. Ticking off some new bolted lines (sans bolts) in the Upper Peninsula.

A photo of the same lucky 42's living their best life on the Fetish Arete in Canyonlands:

On the same road trip, I wore this pair on Wiggins Arete, Dolofright and the free Hindu. So much sentimental value in these kicks.

almost wept when i discovered a hole in the rand one of my katakis yesterday - almost ;-)

F r i t z wrote:

(In my experience, Katakii run a half to a full size bigger than OG Katana Laces).

So if I wear a 43 in OG Katana Laces, I'd be a 43.5-44 in Katakis, or a 42-42.5?

Katakis were my grail shoe for a while but seemingly no shop in NorCal stocked them (or most other interesting shoes, for that matter) so I eventually gave up, womp womp

Ryan James wrote:

So if I wear a 43 in OG Katana Laces, I'd be a 43.5-44 in Katakis, or a 42-42.5?

I'd suggest that you size down to a 42 or 42.5.

I'm a street size 10. In OG K-laces, I wear a 43 for flat-toed sock-compatible comfort, and achieve a similar fit with 42.5 in the Katakis.

42 is my preferred size: precise and responsive for face holds but also comfy enough for jamming.

I have a pair of 46EU Katakis that I’d sell if anyone is interested :)

M Goat wrote:

I have a pair of 46EU Katakis that I’d sell if anyone is interested :)

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/121792317/wtb-a5runout-single-portaledge-bulletproof-biners-sz-14-3-pin-tele-boots-scarpa-#ForumMessage-126132488

Anthony H wrote:

I love my Katakis. I might have snagged the last two pairs in my size on the entire internet when they were getting discontinued.

So, Anthony my friend, what size is that? And do you have heirs of that foot size or can I get in your will?

Seriously jealous. I only have 2 pairs and I alternately praise LS for designing them and curse LS for discontinuing them.