La Sportiva Climbing Shoes: A Complete Guide of Our Favs

Published September 9, 2025 04:00AM

La Sportiva has long been a dominant force in the global and United States rock-shoe market, their boots prized for high-octane performance, precise fit, sleek, aesthetic, meticulous Italian craftsmanship, and durability—easily withstanding multiple resoles.

La Sportiva’s climbing shoes have been integral to some of the world’s most difficult ascents, from the Solutions that Beth Rodden wore on the trad climb Meltdown (5.14c) in Yosemite in 2008, to the TC Pros that Tommy Caldwell wore on the first free ascent of the Dawn Wall (VI 5.14d) on El Capitan in 2015, to the Miura + Solution combo Adam Ondra used on the first ascent of Silence (5.15d) in Norway in 2017, to the Mandala + Solution combo Keenan Takahashi sported on the FA of The Gold Standard (V15) at the Buttermilks, California, in 2024.

Sportiva also makes more moderate climber-friendly shoes known for their comfortable footbeds, flatter lasts, and all-day or -session comfort, with the Tarantulace a longtime staple at gyms and crags.

History of La Sportiva

Founded in 1928 in the Val di Fiemme, Italy, in the heart of the Dolomites, La Sportiva is one of climbing’s most venerated mountain and rock-climbing footwear brands. The business began with the bootmaker Narcisio Delladio, who handcrafted his leather boots and wooden clogs for local farmers, and then, during WWII, mountain boots for the Italian Army. Post-war, an in-demand Delladio expanded his business to create a workshop, the Calzoleria Sportiva (“Sportive Shoemaker”), with La Sportiva’s modern HQ now based in the mountain village of Ziano di Fiemme.

In 1982, La Sportiva entered the rock-shoe market with the Mariacher, the iconic purple-and-yellow hightop. Today, the company makes mountaineering, alpine, and ice-/mixed-climbing boots, ski-touring boots, approach shoes and trail runners, apparel and technical wear, and of course rock shoes, of which, as of 2025, they have 48 different models across the men’s, women’s, and kids’ categories.

La Sportiva has long been a major innovator in rock-climbing footwear. They sold the world’s first commercial climbing slipper, the Ballerina, in 1983, pointing to a future in which climbers sought steeper rock requiring softer, slip-lasted shoes; the first “high-tension” (i.e., slingshot-rand) rock shoe, the Kendo, in 1986; and the first “No Edge” shoe, the Mantra, in 1999, forgoing the crisp, 90-degree edge where the sole meets the rand for a softer, more sensitive sole that wraps up over the toe.

Buyer’s Guide to La Sportiva Climbing Shoes

Mountain climbers, trail runners, and backcountry skiers—all of whom are also often diehard rock climbers—will know La Sportiva for their alpine boots, approach shoes, trail-running shoes, and ski boots. But here we’ll cover a handful of their most iconic rock shoes, plus what makes each one special.

Mandala

The Mandala represents the pinnacle of the No Edge line, which also includes the Futura, Genius, and Mantra—it’s the stiffest, most powerful, most versatile of the four shoes, with big-toe bite for edging and micro-edging, yet still tons of “squish” and sensitivity for steep rock and smears. The deep heelcup is a beast for technical hooks, and was key for Keenan Takahashi, hooking a patina crimp, on the FA of The Gold Standard. I used them in 2024 for the first ascent of a radically overhanging 5.14b in Colorado’s Front Range that included every manner of foot placement, from hooks, to smears, to jams, to driving down hard into jibs. Read our full review here.

Ondra Comp

The Ondra Comp is one of La Sportiva’s softer, more rubber-coated offerings, similar to their gym/bouldering shoe the Theory in look, feel, radical downturn, and sensitivity, but with a ribbed, hyper-large rand/scumming patch for coordination climbing. Adam Ondra also designed the shoes to “smedge”—smear-edge—with marked flex in the toebox to spread the soft Vibram XS Grip 2 sole out on tiny holds. These shoes are monsters indoors and for bouldering, but also agile on sport climbs for smearing, grabbing, and lateral/vertical footwork—i.e., drop-knees—as skillfully demonstrated by Anak Verhoeven on Rainshadow (5.14d) at Malham Cove, England. Read our full review here.

Skwama

The classic, single-hook-and-loop-closure slipper the Skwama bridges the gap between La Sportiva’s intermediate offerings and its highest-end shoes, with a milder downturn and broader fit (one of La Sportiva’s widest) ideal for longer-term wear and wider/higher-volume feet. Consider them a semi-stiff sport-climbing jack-of-all-trades. They’re tailormade for somewhere like the Red River Gorge, Kentucky, where you need smearing for slabs, jamming for cracks, precision edging for vertical lines like Zen… (5.12d), a bomber heel, a pointy toe for pockets and “innie” jibs like the iron-rock nipples nested inside the sandstone pockets, and grabbing for 45-plus-degree grottoes like the Madness Cave. The Skwamas also come in a vegan version with microfiber—versus leather—uppers. Read our review of the Skwama Vegan here.

Solution

It’s crazy to think that the Solutions came out back in 2007, but these complex, multi-paneled, multi-layered shoes were futuristic then, as now. Solutions do everything extremely well, from overhanging bouldering to thin cracks to sport, and are prized for their hyper-precision on granite and limestone jibs. They’ve been used on everything from nauseatingly thin, vertical 5.15 Ondra tech, to über-steep, bouldery routes like Stefano Ghisoli’s Arco, Italy, testpiece Excalibur (5.15c), to Jakob Schubert’s repeat of the varied V17 endurance problem Alphane in Switzerland. The bulbous, rubber-coated 3D heel locks in on technical hooks but has a specific feel that takes some getting used to. Solutions are stiff, long-in-the-toe, pointy shoes, so if they don’t fit you well, try the slightly wider-footbed Solution Comp, a softer shoe that excels on overhanging terrain.

Tarantulace

With a price point of only $99, the Tarantulace is both one of La Sportiva’s most affordable and one of its comfiest shoes. This unlined lace-up has a flat last, beefy 5mm FriXion RS sole, and supportive 1.8mm-thick LaspoFlex midsole perfect for newer climbers wanting an edging boost, or for more experienced climbers looking for longer-term wear, as with moderate multi-pitch climbs, autobelay sessions, crag laps, etc. If dealing with the laces during on-off feels cumbersome, there is also the double-hook-and-loop-closure version, the Tarantula. Neither of the Tarantula shoes are hyper-precise, capping their upper range at around 5.12, but their comfort and neutral last will see you comfortably up through the grades.

TC Pro

Perhaps the most niche, but one of the most powerful, shoes ever made is the TC Pro, designed by Tommy Caldwell for the endless cracks and insanely thin edging and crystal-standing of El Capitan granite. This semi-hightop is now in its second iteration, with some feedback also from Alex Honnold, who wore them on his mind-boggling ropeless ascent of Free Rider (VI 5.13a) in 2017. The TC Pros are stiff, precise, and supportive, with a chiseled, protruding toebox; they barely flex and offer minimal feedback—inspect your footholds visually. The shoes are engineered for comfort and support on long, technical traddy pitches, the new, flatter, more streamlined toe slots into thin cracks better than ever, and foam padding along the heel cuff and lacing/tongue zone offers ankle protection for wide cracks. If the TC Pro feels too stiff, check out the slightly softer Katana Lace (men’s and women’s versions), another thin-edging machine. Read our full review here.

Psyched on La Sportiva? These Are the 6 Rock Shoes We Recommend.