User Review: La Sportiva Tradmaster

La Sportiva Tradmaster
Above: The current Tradmaster, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed August 26, 2008 by Glsbldr1

Rating:
Use: Cracks, moderate face climbs
Break-in Period: About 3 days of climbing
Price Paid: $110

I've used this shoe on roughly 3000 ft of trad climbing in Eldorado Canyon and on California Granite. The shoe is very comfortable, with a nicely padded heel and tongue. It is a stiff shoe, but not overly so. The shoe performs well in cracks and on moderate face climbing, but not so well on thin face climbing and friction.

I noticed right away that the rubber on this shoe did not seem to perform as well as the rubber on my La Sportiva Barracuda's, and a little research at the company web site confirmed what I suspected. La Sportiva uses a different rubber, their FriXon compound, on this shoe. This appears to be the same rubber that they use on their approach shoes,my La Sportiva Exum Ridges are labeled with the FriXon Logo, for example.

Pros: Comfortable, good in cracks, burly.

Cons: Rubber is not up to the standards of the other La Sportiva models (you will notice a difference), the shoe is not very sensitive, but should last a long time.

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