Peformance Breakdown
For new rock climbers, looking for a good climbing shoe can be difficult. A good climbing shoe can be a great aid and help you ease into the tough world of rock climbing.
I would personally suggest the La Sportiva Finale climbing shoe. This is one of the best beginner climbing shoes that we recommend.
The La Sportiva Finale is a popular name, but how good is it really for beginners? I’ve written this La Sportiva Finale review to help give a good look into the La Sportiva Finale rock shoes. Let’s dive in and see how good these beginner shoes are.
Product Specification
- Model: La Sportiva Finale
- User Specifier: Men
- Outsole: Vibram® XS Edge (5 mm)
- Sizes Available: 34 - 48 (including half sizes)
- Leather Quality: 100% Imported and made in the Italy
- Closure System: Lace
LA Sportiva Finale Overview
The important things a new rock climber will look for in their rock climbing shoes is comfort and functionality. La Sportiva Finale is built with a combination of them.
Many beginner rock climbers are put off by how uncomfortable climbing shoes are. I’ve found them to be a very comfortable yet secure fit. Its toe box is spacious, and you won’t be hurting during your initial climbs or bouldering.
The design of the shoes makes them ideal for slab and cracking climbing. Shock is absorbed, and greater friction is achieved thanks to the rubber outsole.
You won’t be lacking in support due to the tensioned heel rand. The sticky rubber helps to improve the grip while also adding to the comfort of this.
The shoe is also excellent on heel hooks. Sufficent rubber covering of the heel makes perfect grip whic is a great support on heel hooks.
I’ve found that this makes it great for bouldering,which makes it on of the best beginner bouldering shoes. Bouldering is somewhat tricky for many beginning rock climbers to master and the La Sportiva Finale helps with that.
XS Edge rubber is used for the sole. While I wouldn’t say it offers the best grip out of all climbing shoes, it does offer a decent grip. It helps the shoe edge nicely, and you’ll enjoy a smooth time in sport climbing. You can re-sole the shoes so you can get great mileage out of them.
Overall, there are a few key things that I find that La Sportiva gets perfectly right. It is a good entry-level climbing shoe.
You’ll see that it offers a solid grip and won’t get damaged easily during outdoor climbing. This comfortable shoe is the perfect choice for climbing long routes and snug fit.
Bouldering is a lot easier to tackle with this. The ability to re-sole the shoes adds to the longevity of these beginner shoes. So, you can get a lot of use out of them.
PROS
- This is not only lightweight but also features great durability at the same time
- One of the most comfortable climbing shoes out there with a great fit and a wide range of sizes
- The rubber sole is sticky and the sticky ubber sole makes for good gripping and edging
- Offers decent performance in many situations and is affordable
CONS
- The rubber sole isn’t very sensitive, so some steep climbs are harder to make
Feature & Benefit Of LA Sportiva Finale climbing shoes
One thing I enjoyed about the La Sportiva Finale is the features it has. They all come together neatly in a package to improve the experience. Here is a list of some of the features that make these climbing shoes so good:
Unlined Leather Allows the Shoe to Conform to Your Feet:
The top of the shoe features unlined leather. This helps the shoe conform to your feet. So, breaking in your pair of La Sportiva Finale shoes is much easier. You can get to rock climbing soon after walking in them for a bit.
So, you won’t have to worry about it being too tight or too loose as the unlined leather will help you a great deal. It conforms to your foot shape quite nicely.
Along with the general design, the La Sportiva Finale is incredibly comfortable to wear, especially when you compare the pair to other rock climbing shoes.
Powerhinge Helps to Get Good Grip on Rocks:
Getting a good grip while on a rock or cracking climbing can be difficult. The La Sportiva Finale helps with that by making use of the Powerhinge.
It helps by allowing only the back half to stretch while keeping the toes in place. This puts less strain on a rock climber when climbing.
The Powerhinge works in conjunction with the tensioned heel and to support the underfoot. This helps new climbers tackle some tricky parts.The shoe is also great in Moderate multi pitch climbs.
Adjustable Laces for Easy Tying:
The La Sportiva Finale makes use of a lace-up design. Its design is simple, allowing for easy tying and untying the laces. They also don’t get in the way and don’t get stuck in the eyelets.
Moreover, the lace set up offers a good deal of freedom. You can loosen the laces up to the toe box if you want to so you can make it more convenient.
Shoe Can Be Re-soled:
Rock climbing is tough on shoes, and many shoes can get damaged in the process. While the La Sportiva Finale is durable, there are times when the sole can get damaged.
The good thing is it is quite easy to re-sole and fix the damage. You can get back into climbing fast without having to buy another.
How We tested
To see how good the La Sportiva Finale is it has been tested several times. Below we’ll detail some of the testing processes and some findings.
Preliminary Testing
The first stage mostly consisted of testing how well the shoe broke-in. It was tried for a simple jog with this. The unlined leather top helped make the break-in process much smoother and faster.
After two jogging sessions, the shoes should fit quite well and are comfortable. These are quite good for jogging or walking.
While you can speed up the process using the hot shower or ice pack method, I would not recommend it. The shoes mold into a comfortable fit easily enough.
However, the ice packs could damage the leather, which is why I suggest avoiding using it unless necessary.
Indoor Climbing
Next, the shoes were tried at the local gym. Some rounds on the gym’s climbing wall were done with this. We’ve got to experience how comfortable the shoes are. The fit is quite nice and secure.
Amongst the group testing the shoes, there were beginner rock climbers that tried out this.
One problem with many climbing shoes is that many beginner rock climbers find their feet hurting after a short session of climbing. Almost no one found that to be an issue and they found themselves quite engaged during climbing.
Both the la sportiva finale mens and la sportiva finale womens shoes are great, and both genders found their respective shoes to be satisfactory.
The purpose of these tests was to see how good the basic performance of the shoes was. We also got to see what beginner rock climbers thought.
Outdoor Climbing
What remained was the final testing, which involved rock climbing. You have to try out many obstacles like slabs, cracks, and boulders.
We wanted to see what the limits of the la sportiva finale were. To summarize the findings, we can say that the La Sportiva Finale did quite well for entry-level rock climbing shoes.
The Powerhinge and tensioned heel rand came in useful several times. Edging and bouldering were easier to tackle with this.
Crack climbing is also viable using these shoes, but it does take some practice initially. The toe box we found isn’t perfectly made for crack climbing. It is more spread out to prevent your toes from being clumped together. While it can be used, you need to be a bit careful.
One area we found the La Sportiva Finale to be lacking is steep climbing. It’s hard to be a very comfortable and beginner-friendly climbing shoe and also excel in steep climbing.
Overall, the best way to describe the La Sportiva Finale is a “jack of all but master of none.” It performs well in a variety of fields but doesn’t excel in them. They are what you need from beginner-friendly climbing shoes.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
Does La Sportiva Finale stretch?
Yes. The unlined leather allows the La Sportiva Finale to stretch.
How much does La Sportiva Finale stretch?
The stretch is minimal, about a ½ or ¼ size. If you’re worried about stretching too much, you can downsize this model by ½ size to compensate.
Final Words: La Sportiva Finale
That’s it for our La Sportiva Finale review. I would personally recommend buying this, if you’re looking to get into rock climbing. They’re affordable, and they’ll help you nicely. Every experienced rock climber started somewhere after all.