Shoe recommendations for slimmer heels
Hello!
The climbing community in my area is nearly nonexistent so there aren't many places to try on a variety of shoes. I'm looking for aggressive/performance shoes with a LV heel cup specifically.
I usually wear a size 45 (US 11) street shoe, started climbing with a size 45.5 Scarpa Helix, and then quickly transitioned to a size 44 Scarpa Drago XT. I recently wore through the rubber/leather on my dominant toe and considered sending them to be resoled but I was never a fan of the heel fit. While I love the aggressiveness, softness, and fit on my toebox, the heel was always fairly baggy. It's baggy enough that air will occasionally get trapped in the shoe and get pushed out like a whoopie cushion when walking on flat ground, lol.
I was looking at the Evolv Phantom Pros, as I heard they have a slim heel, and was also considering Scarpa Instinct VSR, La Sportiva Solutions (/Solution comp), as well as Madrock Drone 2.1s. But like I said, I have no real way of trying these on before buying.
Posted Jan 14, 2026, 12:00 AM UTC