VAPOR HOMMES

I started climbing last year and have struggled for months to find any moderate to aggressive shoe that was a good fit for my narrow foot. As I transitioned into higher grades into the gym and outdoors a shoe like this became necessary. After going through many highly recommended models with no luck, I finally found these lace Vapors! For any woman with a small heel and narrow foot - these are the holy grail. My heel hooks have never been more secure and they allow for delicate footwork where needed. These perform like a dream and I often even forget to take them off at the crag because they haven't bothered me much after breaking in. I'd say they can feel restrictive after 3-4 hours of straight wear, but otherwise I have zero complaints and will be a devotee of this model.

The flat last, stiff sole, and relatively broad toe box make it a relatively comfortable shoe for long days. I recommend sizing them so that your toes are flat and not curled. The PAF rand doesn't irritate my achilles as much as "traditional" rands, and I appreciate not having to pop my shoes off for every belay.

The toe rubber makes these relatively comfortable to jam into mid-sized cracks (ring-locks to thin hands). The blunt non-chiseled toe box makes it hard to get the shoe into thin cracks. The relatively thin microfiber upper doesn't really provide any padding in wider foot jams. You will feel sharp crystals through the upper. My uppers are wearing relatively quickly from jamming. I personally prefer having a more chiseled toe box and padded leather uppers for crack climbing.

The stiff sole edges well, but isn't very sensitive.

It has taken awhile but now I really like this shoe for multipitch climbing that doesn't involve a lot of foot jamming. I just got back from a 5 pitch route at Monitor with two bonus pitches thrown in on the raps. I never felt like I needed to take my shoes off, great comfort. This shoe really allows my big toe to be forward and get onto small edges and stand up with confidence. They are also just soft enough, I am not a real soft shoe fan, to handle the inevitable smearing on slabs.

As sizing goes I am a 44.5 in old (and better version) of the boostic, a 44 in the Instinct Lace and went with a 44 in this shoe. Besides granite I have used them on some very compact sandstone routes and a little on limestone. They do okay with each of those types for me. The forefoot seems to land somewhere between the boostic and Instinct, not quite as wide as Instinct.