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Love them so far! I haven't had them long enough to comment about their life, but I see no unusual wear. They stick like glue to even the greasiest smear and I'm super confident on dime edges. I have yet to have a foot blow off anything.

They break in very quick; it only took a couple short days of climbing. I got these shoes on sale so I ordered the smallest size in stock which was a men's 7/women's 8.5. My street shoe is a women’s 7.5 almost always, but on occasion 8 (I like my street shoes snug with my big toe grazing or close to touching the front of the shoe). In retrospect, if/when I get these shoes again I will buy a half maybe full size smaller (they may end up stretching too much as they seem to be the perfect size at the moment after only 2 week of climbing).

I used to have solutions and they just didn't fit my foot correctly and were incredibly painful, even after months of trying to break them in. I have very narrow, long, flat feet with the same width throughout and a very shallow heal which makes it very difficult to find aggressive climbing shoes that fit my entire foot snuggly. Usually I'll have multiple pockets and the width will be too big for the correct length. The Project has a little pointy of a heal for my heal shape so there is a small pocket there, but that is the only place that doesn't mold around my feet. That is leaps and bounds above every other shoe that I've tried. AND these don’t make me want to cry every time I put them on! (BTW, I might be a little sensitive about my feet…)

I only have a few complaints: 1. The heal cup doesn’t fit my tiny heal 2. The strap doesn't come far enough up my foot to apply enough opposite pressure to keep the heal cup completely on (this is either because my heal is so very un-bulbous, I might need a half size smaller, or it's a flaw in the design... If I figure it out I'll update this post). 3. Lastly, there is a metal part to the closure system on the inside of the shoe that occasionally digs in and prevents me from tightening the shoe as much as I'd like.

Nonetheless this is still by far the best shoe that I've tried yet!

The only con is that is runs pretty small (I believe it's supposed to be worn at you natural waist). I didn't like that so I ordered a large when i typically wear mediums (I wear the large just below my hip bones, which is a couple inches below my bellybutton, which measures about 34 inches).

While the sizing is weird the piece itself is incredibly versatile, very packable, and pretty dang warm. I've worn it over thin pants to keep my bum warm and the wind off me, I've worn over a climbing harness, I've used it as an addition my sleeping pad for extra insulation/padding, I've used it in addition to my sleeping bag for those extra cold nights where you need a little extra around your feet or stomach or shoulders, and also when my boyfriend is too hot to have the heater on while driving I'll used it as a little blanket. It's pretty awesome!

The color ember legacy is much more of a fire and primary color red then in the pictures on both backcountry's and smith's websites. If you are going for "holy crap red" then this is your helmet. I, however, was going for a more understated, classy dark red, so this wasn't "it". Awesome helmet otherwise!

The color ember legacy is much more of a fire and primary color red then in the pictures on both backcountry's and smith's websites. If you are going for "holy crap red" then this is your helmet. I, however, was going for a more understated, classy dark red, so this wasn't "it". Awesome helmet otherwise!