4.72 of 5 stars
La Sportiva - Otaki - Climbing shoes tested
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Reviews overview
Praise vs. Criticism
Amazing, versatile shoe
I have climbed with 7 different climbing shoes and have tried on many many more. I have wide feed with relatively small heels, so my most common issue is that the shoe either has a saggy heel, or is too narrow. This is probably the best shoe I have had so far - it is a bit stiff, and normally I prefer softer shoes, but despite that, this shoe seems to perform amazingly on all types of rock and types of climbing (overhang/vertical), as well as indoors both on roped climbs and boulder problems. It does the job for me on slabs as well, but I don't climb many "hardcore" super smeary slabs, and I would guess it might not be very good for that.
I usually wear EU43, and size 41.5 of this shoe fits me perfectly(took a fairly long time to break in though).
I'll have it re-soled soon and am considering getting a second pair just so I have another while the original is being repaired.
One thing to keep in mind that it is a performance shoe that is certainly not comfortable to walk in / wear for a long time, so I would not recommend it on long multi-pitches.
- Advantages
- Good fit
- Versatile
- High edge stability
- Recommended use
- All around
- Indoor climbing
- Sport climbing
- Bouldering
I don't recommend it for limestone
I found this pair of shoes too slippery on limestone. I have been working on a project with a very used pair of shoes (wild climb pantera soft) and on my final attempts, I tried this otaki. They proved to be too slippery. Finally, I get back to WC pantera soft and I managed to send my project despite of been almost broken on the edge. Very disappointed about otaki.
- Advantages
- Good fit
- Disadvantages
- poor grip
- Recommended use
- Sport climbing
What do you think about that?
This is what other customers say:
I found this pair of shoes too slippery on limestone. I have been working on a project with a very used pair of shoes (wild climb pantera soft) and on my final attempts, I tried this otaki. They proved to be too slippery. Finally, I get back to WC pantera soft and I managed to send my project despite of been almost broken on the edge. Very disappointed about otaki.
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- Advantages
- Good fit
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- Disadvantages
- poor grip
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- Recommended use
- Sport climbing
Hey Razvan, give them some time to break in. Initially the Otaki is very stiff but with a few sessions it will develop some more edge conformity which is better for polished lime. These are primarily a stiff edging shoe so they do also need to be loaded in a different way to softer shoes - but I'd say it's primarily a matter of breaking them in as opposed to technique. Hope this helps :-)
Hi Mischa,
thanks for the free advice about technique. Limestone is not only stiff edge climbing, actually is more about rounded footholds where the smearing is likely more indicated technique to be used.
Hello Razvan,
Could you kindly elaborate on the size you've chosen? Especially if you previously had any of la sportiva shoes such as kataki or katana lace. TIA