User Review: Five Ten Anasazi Verde

Five Ten Anasazi Verde
Above: The current Anasazi Verde, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed September 27, 2007 by DtEW

Rating:
Materials: synthetic "cowdura", lined. Stealth Onyxx rubber.
Use: gym climbing, bouldering, sport climbing
Break-in Period: around 20 hours of use, YMMV depending on feet
Price Paid: $120

The Five Ten Anasazi Verde is a great precision climbing shoe. This is to say that when sized correctly to the intended fit, the Anasazi Verde is very snug, but definitely not painful nor debilitating by climbing shoe standards. I have no problems staying in them for the 2-3 hours of my usual climbing gym session. That said, the back of my ankle becomes sore from the slingshot heel.

The toebox of the Anasazi Verde is not the same as that of the Five Ten Galileo, my prior pair of high-performance shoes. For me, the Galileo is slightly wider, and has less of a protrusion for the index-toe. I'd say that the Galileo fits my wide (E) forefoot a little better than the Verde, especially being that I do not have a particularly pronounced index toe. The Verde leaves a little more space for my index toe, so I have to make more of an effort to hold a toe-point and when edging on the outside. This is of course all a matter of fit, so YMMV.

However, the Anasazi Verde has an undeniably more solid heel. Whereas I can size a pair of Galileos to the point where I'm hating life, the heel will never feel as secure as the Verde's, even when the latter is sized comfortably (relatively). This shoe is great for high-and-sketchy heel-hooks.

(Ideal fantasy-shoe-that-doesn't-exist-yet for me would be a Galileo toebox mated to an Anasazi Verde mid/heel.)

As always, the Steath Onyxx rubber is terrific. That said, it does have an optimal temperature range. It takes about 10-15 minutes for a pair of cold shoes to come up to the temperature of your feet. When that happens, the Onyxx is great on most stuff. But it seems to me that it's a little soft for Joshua Tree NP (mostly quartz monzonite, a very rough and crystalline granite) on a warm day (mid-80s). I've heard that Mad Rock rubbers work better at those temps.

BTW, me and another user of higher-end Five Ten shoes w/ Onyxx rubber and synthetic "Cowdura" have noticed that aside from not stretching, these shoes actually get a *little* SMALLER over time. However, do not size with this observation in mind as the effect is very minimal, maybe to the tune of a 1/4 size.

If Five Ten would develop an entire line of Anasazis differentiated by different widths and toebox shapes, then I'll erect an altar to them.

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