La Sportiva Miura - Women's Review

The Miura has been a member of the La Sportiva quiver for over ten years. These shoes have incredible edging power, a slight downturn, and a sole versatile enough for both smearing and footholds that require precision. They excel in all styles of climbing, making them one of our favorites across the board. We are also perhaps overly excited about the new turquoise touches and cool geometric pattern on the new shoes, but these changes did not affect the performance of these shoes at all.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

The fit of the Miura can be all over the spectrum, depending on the size and the overall shape of your foot compared to the shoe.

What separates the women's Miura from the men's version, other than their new jazzy color and pattern, is the padded heel of the women's version. This makes the heel fit snuggly, and the shoe feels more secure overall. Some shoes, dug into our heels at first, which was a downside to their overall comfort. We've heard reports of men purchasing the women's specific model for the padded heel. That said, the Miura's can also cause some heel pain at first if they are sized to a performance fit. We found especially with this new model that they dug into our heels quite a bit until they broke in, so consider yourself warned!

The unique toe box is another area that can either make or break the overall comfort of these shoes. There seems to be a lot of material in this area, so it can be hard to fill out the shoes entirely, even if they are sized small. This isn't typically a huge problem regarding comfort, but good to keep in mind when trying on the Miuras and breaking them in. The break-in period on a pair of Miuras that are sized small can be quite painful, but after some time, the shoes will start to feel more comfortable. With a leather upper lined with synthetic Dentex, don't expect them to stretch as much as an unlined shoe.

Sensitivity

The Miura combines the edging ability of a stiff shoe with the sensitivity of a shoe with a soft sole. This combination makes them a great shoe for precise footwork, throughout the lifetime of their rubber soles.

Initially, the rubber is crisp, making them great for edging. As they break in more over time, the toe becomes more and more sensitive. This makes the Miura an incredible smearing shoe. Some shoes had comparable sensitivity to the Miura, but were much more downturned, making them less-than-ideal options for vertical to less-than-vertical terrain. What makes the Miura exceptional is that it can perform well for different styles of climbing - all while maintaining their sensitivity.

Edging

In addition to having incredible sensitivity, the Miura is a powerful edging shoe.

La Sportiva's "powerhinge" technology wraps the entire foot in rubber and connects to the slingshot rand, giving the foot support, even when standing on small edges. The design is supposed to keep your weight into the wall more and on the toe, providing security on small holds.

Crack Climbing

These shoes are not the world's best crack climbing shoes, though they work well for specific types of cracks.

Since they are downturned and reasonably narrow, the Miuras can be painful in cracks that require continuous foot-jamming (think Indian Creek splitters) - though if sized up, can offer comfort in cracks. But, for discontinuous cracks and places, like Yosemite, where footholds outside the cracks abound, the Miuras perform well. They also work well in finger cracks, since the toe is narrow and tapered.

Pockets

The asymmetrical toe box and slight downturn make the Miura a shoe that can hang on mildly overhanging climbs, but this award winner shines on vertical, technical walls.

When climbing super steep terrain, we preferred a more downturned shoe. The stiff sole of the Miura made it a good all-day shoe for vertical climbing.

Ease of Use

As a lace-up model, these take a little longer to put on than slippers or Velcro models, but the advantage of laces is that they allow for a slightly more customized fit.

You can make them tighter in the forefoot and looser around the ankle, or vice-versa. We think these laces cinch quickly compared to other lace models, though they are a tad more challenging to put on than some of the other lace-up models in this review.

Value

This shoe is expensive. It is a high-end performance shoe made in Italy, which drives the price up. However, it is an amazing shoe for just about any style of climbing, so we would say it is worth it. One of our testers has a concept he calls "Cents per Send," meaning even if you have to spend a lot of money on climbing shoes, if they help you climb better, then you are essentially only spending pennies for every climb where you succeed. Is it worth a few cents to send your projects? We think so. We are more than willing to spend a little more on a shoe that will take us up challenging pitches and that we will love for a long time.

Conclusion