Review: La Sportiva Nago Rock Shoes- Women

After two months of using the worn out climbing shoes at my local gym, I finally bought my very own! I was nervous at first since I did not want to commit $100 dollars towards a pair of shoes that I could end up resenting, but after hours of researching, I found the perfect pair. Since these were my first pair of rock shoes, I avoided going all in and purchasing a pair that was way out of my price range. Being a new climber and spending $200 on a shoe did not seem practical. I spent hours comparing the differences between La Sportiva's Nago and La Sportiva's Tarantula. I hate to say it but my "inner-girl" was making me bias towards that pretty teal color instead of the grungy green. I went with the Nago and got to use my REI dividend towards them so that brought the cost down a little. (Cost is a big factor when you're only in high school).

Anyway, my first time trying them out was about a month ago in the gym. I don't know if it was the confidence boost or what but i could immediately climb almost a 5.9 when before i was struggling on a 5.7. The shoes gave me a great feel for the holds and I felt like I was really sticking to the rock. Since I'm 5'11" i am cursed with big feet, making it almost impossible to find women's shoes that fit me. Luckly I squeezed into the size 41 pretty easily, though it was a tight fit. After about a week the leather/rubber stretched about a half size larger and now they fit PERFECTLY. I normally wear a 10 in women's shoes, but remember that the rock shoes should fit pretty snug in order to get a good feel for the rock. Last weekend I tried them out at a crag near my house and they worked excellent on the rock. I highly recommend these to any beginner climber. Also, my boyfriend has the same shoes in men's and loves them as well.

PS: A nice tip to clean off the dust or dirt from the rubber to make them stick to the rock better is to put soap and water on a toothbrush and scrub the bottoms until they're good as new.