Great shoe, bad foot

By Dan Reinhart Ranked #38 - Climbing Shoes December 27, 2007

I really wanted to succeed with these Pitons. My "standard" shoe is the women's Mythos. I have very narrow feet, and so far, the Mythos achieved the best fit I've known. But the Mythos were very painful for trad crack climbing, in part due to the superb, long lacing system. It put laces over my foot way down at the "business end" where the thinner leather and the laces became hurtful during thin jams.

So, after checking around and looking, the Pitons appeared to be a marvelous shoe for trad cracks, with extremely thick rubber encasing the toebox area. I tried a number of sizes to identify the smallest size I could stand for break-in, in order to achieve the narrowest insole.

Despite these efforts, there just wasn't any way I would be able to climb with them, not because of the shoe's build, but because my foot could not adequately fill the shoe. With the best size match, I still had about a centimeter of space between my lesser toes and the perimeter of the shoe.

I admire the build and style of these shoes, and every user I spoke to had glowing praise for them. Unfortunately, a person with an A/B foot will not be able to obtain a fit permitting safe climbing.

I'm back in the Sportiva line, trying some Barracudas, that may fit acceptably, but they will never provide the heavy coverage and protection that the Pitons would have. Those with D/E feet who want some maximum grip, grab and coverage in the toebox should be delighted with Pitons.

View Details: Five Ten Piton Climbing Shoe

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