The Sizing, the Shoe and the Smell.

By Carlos from Philly Ranked #135 - Climbing Shoes September 15, 2009

First off, these shoes are great.If you like the Defys, you'll love the Pontas-- if you're looking for something a good bit more agressive and a tad more "precise".I tend to look at my Defys as a comfortable, broken in pair of training shoes, and the Pontas as a performance pair of racing flats.The Pontas are essentially a performance minded big brother to the more relaxed Defys.I recommend getting both: wear the Defys on long Sunday mornings at the gym, and the Pontas to harder group trips to new outdoor spots (once you've spent a few weeks breaking them in on plastic, of course).DON'T size up/down/etc when going from Defys (this conversation seems to come up quite often). Going from a broken in pair of Defys to new Pontas is not going to be the most comfortable thing in the world. This has nothing to do with the sizing, and more to do with the fact that the last thing you climbed in were essentially snug Christmas slippers.If your Defys feel PERFECT (as an old pair of well fitted Defys will), then go with the same size in Pontas. Once they're broken in, you'll get the same sensitivity with an added aggressive edge you won't confuse with "too tight".That said, these things are terrific. The teeniest nicks in rock become ledges; smearing is fantastic.Note: this style of shoe (pointy, asymmetrical, big-toe emphasizing) either fits or doesn't; if you love the Optimus (round box) style, you'll probably feel weird and cramped in these (but you most likely already know that).Ok, on to the smell thing.For whatever reason, Evolv (and other synthetic, i guess) climbing shoes will start to stink really badly after awhile. At first i thought it was just guys, but my girlfriend-- who honestly never has BO and barely sweats even after hours of running/riding/climbing/whatever on the hottest days-- took her Evolvs off the other night at the gym.I was genuinely offended!To fix this, i recommend this simple solution (which works brilliantly every time):1) Spray (liberally) the inside of each shoe with Odor Eaters spray (it's cheap and can be found at any drug store).2) Pour a bunch of baking soda in each shoe and shake everything around until it's coated.3) Put them in a plastic grocery bag (sorry, California), tie it tight and place it in your freezer overnight.4) Take them out the next day, remove them from the bag and let them sit for a few hours (i let them sit while i'm at work).5) Dump the powder out into your trash or whatever (warning: it's going to smell a bunch), then wipe the excess baking soda off with a paper towel or whatever (smacking the shoes-- open end down-- into the trash works too).6) Spray with another hit of oder eaters and you're done. They'll smell great. Do this once a month or whatever (depending on how often you climb).

View Details: Evolv Pontas Climbing Shoe

Helpful Votes: 0 Yes | 0 No