Goody New Shoes - LaSportiva Katanas

My old faithful 5-10 Spire's have finally had their day. They were a great shoe for the beginner, but after almost a year of heavy use, they've all but lost their friction and they're curving up badly at the toes. As I'm starting to push higher grades - I'm regularly bouldering 5B problems now, and I'm pushing 5C - the holds are getting smaller and smoother, and I need a more technical, pointy-toed shoe in order to progress.

So after an agonising wait until pay day, I finally bought a pair of LaSportiva Katanas. The shop assistant said that a lot of people end up with Katanas because you can go really really small before they get too uncomfortable, and he was right - I'm a UK size 11 in normal shoes, and as of yesterday I am now the proud owner of a pair of size 8 Katanas.

They certainly made a difference straight away. I cracked a 5A screw-on-smears-only boulder problem that has been bugging me for a while, and felt confident enough to try an arrête-and-features-only 5B toprope route. I got about halfway up before admitting defeat - I think laying back against an arrête is a technique I'm going to need some tutoring in - but compensated by going straight up a 5B bolt-on route on the same rope, without much trouble.

On the other hand, I found I was almost fighting against the shoes for flat smearing. They're very concave and pointy, which makes them perfect for tiptoeing on tiny holds, but it was quite hard to get enough of the sole in contact with the surface to get a decent flat smear. Excellent friction when I did get good contact, though. So much so, that I almost had problems switching feet on holds, because the foot I was standing on had too much grip to slide it off.

And painful? feck me are they painful to walk in! They're so pointy-toed, I had to walk on the sides of my feet, looking like a ricketts-stricken coal miner. I also found I had to take them off while belaying, to restore the circulation to my tingling toes. Mind you, I'm sure that's entirely down to me choosing to go so far below my normal size, and I'm expecting them to relax a little after some more use.

I'm sure I'll get used to them soon, and where better to test them out than good-old Stanage next weekend.