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Click here for the best climbing shoes for women with narrow feet.
| Climbing Shoe |
|---|
| Top Pick: La Sportiva Futura |
| Best Value: Scarpa Techno X |
| Best for Beginners: La Sportiva Mythos |
| Most Versatile: La Sportiva Miura |
When it comes to climbing shoes, a proper fit is paramount.
The better your shoe fits, the easier it will be to do the tricky footwork maneuvers — edging, heel hooking, toe hooking, etc. — that climbing requires. If, on the other hand, your shoe doesn’t fit well and your foot is slipping and moving around inside of your shoe, your footwork will suffer.
It can be particularly tough to find good narrow climbing shoes since lots of options are designed for normal-width or wide feet. For that reason, we’ve compiled this list of the best rock climbing shoes for narrow feet. With it may you finally find that glove-like fit you’ve been searching for.
Top Pick: La Sportiva Futura
The Futura is one of the highest performing climbing shoes on the market and it just so happens to fit narrow feet well. It is out of La Sportiva’s No-Edge line and designed to excel at every type of climbing. The No-Edge technology is based off the idea that a shoe performs best when the edge is blunt and sensitive rather than sharp and thick.
This hypothesis seems to have been validated. Adam Ondra, arguably the greatest climber in the world right now, has been known to climb in the Futura — proof that the shoe can perform on the world’s hardest routes and problems. The La Sportiva Genius, another climbing shoe in the No-Edge line, has already won a few awards even though it was just released earlier this year.
The Futura is a downturned, narrow climbing shoe which, although designed for every type of climbing, is most at home on steep terrain. The downturn and asymmetrical toe box help you toe in on overhung faces. Also, surprisingly, the shoe smears well given its aggressive nature. The only areas where the shoe lacks performance are crack climbing and toe hooking. It is near perfect when it comes to everything else.
Best Value: Scarpa Techno X
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The Scarpa Techno X is a great narrow climbing shoe at a great value. In terms of performance, this shoe does it all, and it does it all well: edging, smearing, crack climbing, and toe and heel hooking. Wherever you’re thinking of climbing the Techno X can hold its own.
The Techno X is also comfortable by climbing shoe standards since it has a mostly flat sole. Meanwhile, the asymmetrical toe box make it possible for you to stand on tiny edges. The toe box is also low-profile and encased in a fair amount of rubber which helps for crack climbing, at which the shoe excels. The shoe good for narrow-footed climbers simply because it is built on a narrow last.
This wouldn’t be our first narrow climbing shoe recommendation for boulderers. For bouldering, we’d recommend the La Sportiva Futura. The Techno X is quite versatile and can climb hard on any terrain, but it isn’t too downturned so it isn’t the best for toeing in on steep stuff.
While La Sportiva generally makes shoes that fit narrower feet, the same is not necessarily true for Scarpa shoes. Depending on the shoe, a pair of Scarpa shoes can either fit wide, narrow, or normal-width feet well. The Techno X is a great climbing shoe for narrow feet but, if you ever consider buying another pair of Scarpa shoes, first make sure it is designed to fit your type of foot.
Best for Beginners: La Sportiva Mythos
The Mythos is a classic La Sportiva climbing shoe that is a top choice for beginner climbers with narrow feet (here’s our full list of the best beginner climbing shoes). The shoe is good for beginner climbers because it is comfortable, well-rounded, and decently priced. It also has laces that extend to almost the tip of the shoe which will allow you to cinch the shoe tightly around your foot.
A comfortable first climbing shoe is, we think, important for beginner climbers since you probably don’t want to have to endure the pain of incredibly tight climbing shoes while you’re just being introduced to the sport. Indeed, save the foot pain for later :).
While they are oftentimes higher performing, painful shoes are also likely to be more expensive. Beginner climbers tend to wear through their first pair of shoes relatively quickly since they are developing their footwork, so you don’t want to splurge on your first pair only to have it wear through six months later.
While the Mythos isn’t the cheapest climbing shoe available for beginners, it is the top narrow option. It is also the most comfortable climbing shoe on this list and is well-suited for vertical face and trad climbing. You can learn about other comfy shoes in our article on the most comfortable climbing shoes.
Most Versatile: La Sportiva Miura
The Miura is a classic all-around climbing shoe. It can boulder, sport climb, and trad climb at a top level. This versatility makes it one of the best climbing shoes for narrow feet, and our pick for the most versatile option on the list. Indeed, the Miura has earned the title the “quiver of one” climbing shoe. In other words, it can be your only pair, regardless of how diverse your climbing appetite is.
In a testament to its climbing ability, professional climbers have climbed — and even free soloed — some of the hardest climbs in the world in the Miura. Unlike the futuristic Futura, the Miura has a classic edge that is good for edging on vertical or overhung faces. Also, know that the shoe can be worn on people with regular-width feet since it breaks in well.
As for performance, the Miura packs a punch. It smears, hooks, and edges well, and its narrow toe box can easily fit into pockets. The toe box is also low-profile and encased in semi-stiff rubber, ideal features of a good crack climbing shoe.
If you’d like to know more about this shoe, check out our full La Sportiva Miura review.
Other Options: The Women’s Version of Your Desired Shoe
The women’s version of a climbing shoe is lower volume than the men’s version. Typically, this means that, among other things, the women’s version is narrower and thus good for male climbers with narrow feet. If none of the above options strike your fancy then consider the women’s version of whichever climbing shoe does.
Note, however, that many climbing shoes don’t have women’s versions. This is unfortunate, but simply reality. Only the most popular climbing shoes are likely to have women’s versions, and even some of them don’t. For the top women’s climbing shoes for narrow feet you can read the list below, or you can look up the women’s version of a climbing shoe you have in mind.
Click here to shop all the women’s rock climbing shoes on REI.com.
Climbing Shoes for Women with Narrow Feet
Women’s feet are, in general, narrower than men’s feet. The above options are particularly narrow climbing shoes by standard men’s feet dimensions, but if you are a female climber with narrow feet even the above shoes could be a smidgen wide. For that reason, here are the best women’s climbing shoes for narrow feet:
Top Climbing Shoe Brands for Narrow Feet
If you have narrow feet, it might help to know which climbing shoes brands are your best bet for shoes that will fit. While all climbing shoe brands try to make shoes that fit a variety of foot widths, in general here are two brands you can consider for your future rock shoe purchases:
- La Sportiva
- Scarpa (some shoes)
If you are looking for climbing shoes for narrow feet, these brands are great starting places.
