Five Ten Anasazi Verde Review

Name: Five Ten Anasazi Verde
Brand: Five Ten

Five Ten Anasazi Verde Review (Five Ten Anasazi Verde) — Five Ten Anasazi Verde
Credit: Fiveten.com

Price: $140 List

Manufacturer: Five Ten

By Chris McNamara ⋅ Founder and Editor-in-Chief ⋅ Apr 19, 2010

View at Five Ten

Our Verdict

Everyone loved the pink Five Ten Anasazi Lace-Up. The Anasazi Verde is the new one that retains much of the old design with a new heel design intended to be more comfortable with less dead space. This shoe is stiff as a board and ideal for tiny micro edging. This shoe uses the new Stealth Onyxx rubber. The Five Ten Anasazi Lace-Up Blanco uses the traditional Stealth C4 Rubber.

REASONS TO BUY

Great edging

Sticky rubber

Great in shallow pockets

REASONS TO AVOID

Expensive

Not most sensitive

Now that most performance shoes have a down-turned toe, these seem old school compared to something like the Five Ten Arrowhead. But for people who want a performance shoe with a more conservative and traditional design, this one is hard to beat.

We would use a slightly softer-soled shoe like the Five Ten Anasazi VCS as the everyday sport climbing shoe and save this one as the redpoint shoe. Both are technical climbing masters. The Anasazi Lace-Up is ideal for more experienced climbers. For beginning climbers, we would recommend a cheaper and more comfortable shoe like the Mad Rock Flash.

Discontinued
This shoe is no longer available.

Our Analysis and Test Results

Likes

The Five Ten Anasazi Verde is a great shoe for tiny edges. It's been around forever (in slightly different variations) and has put up a ton of super-hard redpoints. It has a better heel design than the old Anasazi Lace-Up. This shoe performs well whether it's at a micro edge or a shallow limestone pocket.

Dislikes

It has such an aggressive shape that it is not ideal for long climbs unless you get it really big. We wouldn't do that because the whole point of this shoe is to have a tight, high performance secret weapon for those climbs at your limit where you need every little advantage. It's not a comfortable shoe (but it is not supposed to be). Get it tight and feel every micron of the rock! Like any lace shoe, it takes a bit to get on and off. That is one reason we do most of our climbing in the Anasazi VCS. Either you have to make an effort to keep this shoe clean or accept that it will show all the wear you have put it through. Synthetic uppers don't last as long as leather. If you climb a lot of cracks they wear out fast.

Best Application

This is a technical face climbing shoe, best for thin granite and small pocketed limestone. It's ideal for experienced climbers looking for an edge. It's not an entry level shoe both because of its price and stiffness.

Value

This is one of the more expensive shoes available. That said, because I usually use it as a redpoint shoe, it should last forever. I would not use it as a workhorse shoe for everyday climbing. Better to go with a cheaper Velcro shoe like the Evolv Defy for that.

— Chris McNamara