Five Ten Anasazi LV - Women's Review

Combining comfort, sensitivity, and edging prowess into one Velcro slipper makes the Five Ten Anasazi LV a favorite for comfortable, all-day trad climbing. These shoes can stand on small edges or be comfortably wedged in hand or finger cracks. Their Velcro closure makes them incredibly easy to take on and off.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

The women's model of the Anasazi is the “LV” version, meaning Low Volume. It is similar to the unisex Five Ten Anasazi VCS, but it has a narrower and subtly longer toe box, a higher arch with a lower instep, and a lower heel cup, all designed with the intention of fitting female feet better. The well-padded tongue flaps make the shoe adjustable for different foot widths and also add comfort to the top of the foot for climbing cracks. The Cowdura, or synthetic suede, used by Five Ten in the Anasazi makes them soft and comfortable after they break-in. The heel is the only area where trouble could arise since it is tight around the top and can be baggy in the lower part of the heel. Though the heel didn't fit exactly right, we did like that it came up high in the ankle, protecting the ankle bone on burly offwidths.

Sensitivity

The Anasazi scores highly in our sensitivity metric. They stuck to any surface, and we could feel the micro-edges and features through the toe.

Five Ten C4 Stealth rubber is known for being super sticky, and the Anasazi make no exceptions. The Anasazi seems made to fit comfortably when sized tight, and the sensitivity increases as your toes push into the front of the shoe. After sizing it fairly small, we found that it stretched just a little bit over time, and ended up fitting our foot exactly and comfortably. Their relatively flat shape makes them comfortable, but they are stiff enough to be able to stand on small holds without tiring your feet out too much.

Edging

Since they work well when it comes to sensitivity, it is no surprise that this shoe can also perform well as an edging shoe.

The rubber is sticky, and there is plenty of it. This makes the Anasazi a decent edging shoe, even though they do not provide very much support in the midsole. Their lack of support in the midsole is somewhat made up for the stiffness in the toe box, directly under the balls of the feet. Here, we found the shoes provided ample support and enough stiffness to feel confident on small edges when the crack systems ran out. That said, the consensus was that the Anasazi is categorized as a soft shoe overall.

Crack Climbing

In our opinion, it is in this category that the Anasazi excels. Regarding durability, we have found that Velcro shoes or slippers work better in cracks since the laces are often the first place to wear out on lace-ups. The Anasazi is also well padded on the top and has a decent amount of rubber on the sides of the toe box, which helps in wider cracks form hand cracks to off-widths. Compared to the Velcro closure system of the Anasazi, lace-up models experience more wear if used for continuous, repeated jamming. The Anasazi is closely related to the Five Ten Moccasym, which is a unisex model designed specifically for crack climbing. These slippers are the tool of choice for the splitter cracks of the Utah desert.

Pockets

Five Ten categorizes the Anasazi in its “moderate” classification, meaning it not nearly as aggressive as a more downturned model, but still has enough shape to hold its own in technical terrain.

It does better on vertical terrain than on steep terrain but can hold its own in pockets. The Anasazi also lacks the asymmetrical toe box that is ubiquitous among sport climbing shoes nowadays. This taper allows these aggressively-shaped shoes to fit into tiny pockets with ease - something that the bulkier toe box of the Anasazi simply can't do.

Ease of Use

It doesn't get much easier than a Velcro slipper with a padded split tongue. Other slipper-style shoes match the Anasazi in the ease of use metric. The Velcro closure on the Anasazi are especially easy to use and not over-designed, like some of the other models we tested. The Velcro is durable, and there is ample padding in the tongue, so you can cinch these shoes down a ton for a true performance fit if you desire.

Value

Like most shoes from major brands, the Anasazi is an investment. The rubber seemed to wear out quickly, which means these shoes would need to get resoled after frequent use, adding to the overall cost. More durable and, in our opinion, better overall shoes come at this price. The design of the Anasazi is not all that revolutionary, and their construction makes them a decent, middle of the pack model.

Conclusion