Best Labor Day Climbing Shoe Deals
Labor Day weekend is upon us, which means that the leaves are about to turn, the humidity is about to drop, the breeze will soon be chilly, and all those manky sitstarts will soon be dry. REI and Backcountry understand this, so they’ve applied a slew of great Labor Day Deals to climbing shoes. If you need to re-up your footwear before the autumn season—or, if you’re on the inverse schedule, before a long cold winter of gym training—now’s a good time. Almost every shoe—and almost everything else—is discounted.
I’ve combed through both sites and hand-picked nearly two dozen of the best climbing shoes—and the best deals—on these two sites. I’ve climbed in most of these shoes—and desperately want to climb in those that I haven’t. When I don’t love a shoe—the Scarpa Quantic, for instance—but appreciate that the deal (50 percent off men’s, 60 percent off women’s) probably offsets my concerns about quality, I note it.
I’ve organized the following deals roughly in order of shoe stiffness—albeit with a brief interlude to chat about the Instinct Line. Don’t what to look for when buying climbing shoes? Check out A Beginner’s Guide to Climbing Shoes.
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La Sportiva TC Pro for $164 (was $219)
The TC Pro is a stiff, all-around rock shoe ideal for all-day wear, long routes, face climbing and cracks, and even El Cap. I’m mostly a boulderer and sport climber, but I own two pairs of TCs (one sized small, one sized for all-day use), and I whip them our just about every time I climb on vertical or sub-vertical granite. The shoes are unbeatable in places like Squamish, BC, North Conway, NH, and Yosemite, CA. Famously worn by Tommy Caldwell on the Dawn Wall and Alex Honnold on Freerider, the TC Pro is inarguably one of the most pedigreed granite shoes of all time. Read our full review here.
Deal price: $164 (was $219)—25 percent
Buy the TC Pro from Backcountry or REI
Scarpa Generator for $168 (was $224)
The Generator is Scarpa’s new flagship trad-climbing shoe—their response to the TC Pro. It’s very stiff, built for torquing in cracks and edging, and so if you’re looking for something that’ll also serve you in the gym, look elsewhere. Replacing the Maestro within the Scarpa line up, the Generator (both low and mid versions) is built to take you confidently from valley to summit via hand cracks, offwidths, corners, dime edges, and finger splitters. The best part: the Generator comes in sub categories: mid top or low, velcro or lace, and high- or low-volume fit. (They call the LV version the women’s version, but men looking for slightly narrower and softer models can and should wear them too.) Wondering how the Generator stacks up to La Sportiva’s stalwart TC Pro? Read our full review.
Deal Price:
- Generator Mid: $168 (was $224)—25 percent off
- Generator V (for velcro): $161 (was $214)—25 percent off
Buy the Generator Mid from Backcountry
Buy the Women’s Generator V from Backcountry
Buy the Men’s Generator V from Backcountry
Katana Lace for $153 (was $219)
The Katana Lace, La Sportiva’s high-end edging shoe, was redesigned in 2022—and our reviewers loved it. This is a niche shoe for thin face climbing, technical slabs with micro holds (not smeary slabs), cracks up to hands or fists, and all-day trad/multi-pitch. Even if you size big for comfort, the Katana Lace will still be stiff enough to offer traction on small face holds. This is not an ideal bouldering or gym shoe. Don’t be fooled by the gendered names: The stiffer, “men’s” version has a full-length 4 mm XS Edge outsole, while the softer “women’s” version has a split sole and a 4 mm XS Grip 2 outsole. Men can and do wear women’s versions—and vice versa.
Deal Price: $153 (was $219)—25 percent off
Buy the Men’s Katana Lace for $153 (was $219) on Backcountry
Buy the women’s Katana Lace for $153 (was $219) on Backcountry
Scarpa Arpia V for $127 (was $169)
I’m still working on my review of Scarpa’s new Arpia V, but I’ve put some 15 days into them so far, and I like them a lot. The Arpia V is a lot like La Sportiva’s Miura VS. Both are excellent outdoor sport climbing shoes that shine in the 5-30 degree overhanging range. But the Arpia V is more comfortable, slightly less asymmetrical, far less prone to changing shape over the course of its life, and a little softer—which gives it versatility on varying steepness at the expense of edging quality. Last spring, before summer sent me into hiding, I sent half a dozen dime-edge 5.12s and three 10-30-degree overhanging 5.13’s in them. They work well inside, too, but are a bit stiffer than I prefer my indoor shoes, and the double velcro structure gets in the way of toehooks, which are common inside. (They do have a small and very useful patch of toe rubber—but it’s toehooks will never be their forte.) That said, the Arpia V could be great indoor shoes for slightly heavier climbers looking for a bit more support.
Deal Price: $127 (was $169)—25 percent off
Buy the Arpia V from Backcountry or REI
Buy the Arpia V Low Volume from Backcountry or REI
Tenaya Masai for $127 (was $170)
I haven’t tested these ones yet—the box is in the queue—so I’m going to let Matt Samet’s review in Best Climbing Shoes For Every Style do the talking here.
“The Masai are narrow, agile, pointy boots for face climbing and thin-crack tech that excel on vertical to slightly overhanging terrain. I didn’t expect to like these shoes as much as I did—not because Tenaya doesn’t make great shoes, but because usually their best offerings are their softer models, geared toward steep, smeary Spanish tufa climbing. But they hit a real micro-edging sweet spot with the Masai. On a gently overhanging sandstone 5.13, this blend of power, fleetness, and precision had me standing on nubbins and wrinkles that often feel iffy and sloshy in softer shoes; the Masai locked in on the little holds, making the moves feel easier—a lot easier.
Break-in was strenuous, especially with my wide feet and not much give in the footbed, but I think you need to size down to experience their full precision nonetheless. (I wore an 8—EU 40.5—but am a street shoe 10, so I usually wear EU 41.) This had me climbing with the laces often undone, especially the first pitch of the day, though the shoes do soften over time. For thin face—micro-edges and pockets—and thin crack, the Masai are simply top-tier. You just need to get them on your feet first.
Deal Price: $127 (was $170)—25 percent off
Buy the Masai from Backcountry
La Sportiva Solution—$139 (was $200)
First released in 2007, the Solution might be the single most beloved climbing shoe of all time—and it’s still the she of choice for Jakob Schubert, the Austrian all-star who, in the past two years, has worn them while winning two World Championship titles, doing the first ascent of the world’s third 5.15d, repeating a V17 boulder, and taking bronze at the Paris Olympics. Don’t trust him? Well, I climbed all my hardest routes and boulders in Solutions too—and I’ve owned at least eight pairs over the last 18 years.
Deal Price: $139 (was $200)—30 percent off
Buy the Men’s Solution from Backcountry
Buy the Women’s Solution from Backcountry
Tenaya Indalo for $165 (was $220)
Like the La Sportiva Solution Comp, the Tenaya Indalo is a downturned, slightly asymmetrical, semi-stiff sport shoe that performs admirably on a wide variety of terrain types and angles—and, with the Solution, is arguably the truest all-arounder on this list. The Indalo isn’t the absolute best edging shoe we’ve ever tried (though one of our testers liked it more on this terrain than the other), nor does it glom onto smears like some super-soft slippers, but it does tackle pockets, edges, slopers, and hooks with A-grade precision. For long, varied sport pitches, or for onsighting where you don’t know what sort of foot-terrain you’ll be encounter, you’d be hard pressed to find a more capable shoe.
Deal price: $165 (was $220)—25 percent off
Buy the Indalo for $165 (was $220) on Backcountry
Tenaya Mastia for $157 (was $210)
Oh my lord, I love this shoe—and it’s definitely one of the few shoes on this list that I’d actually buy even though I test 15-20 new shoes each year. Last fall I brought four pairs of shoes on a too-brief trip to Siurana, Spain, thinking I’d test a different pair on each of our four climbing days. But I did my warm-up—and then every climb thereafter—wearing the Mastia, wooed by its combination of comfort and performance. The shoe was perfect for Siurana’s highly technical limestone face climbing: supportive enough for the tip-toe smedging but soft enough for toeing into pockets or smearing on ramps. It shouldn’t be surprising, I suppose, that Tenaya—which is headquartered in Spain and is quite popular in Europe—knows how to make a versatile limestone sport shoe. But thanks to that week in Siurana, I’m convinced that we’ll see Tenaya blow up in the U.S. market in coming years—after all, Tenaya now sponsors a number of top-shelf American boulderers, including Drew Rauna and Jimmy Webb.
I’ve got a relatively wide toe box, so the Mastia is my favorite of the Tenaya line—but our thinner-footed reviewers actually preferred the Indalo. (See above). The Mastia is, of course, listed in Our Favorite Sport Climbing Shoes—and you should go there for a full review.
Deal price: $157 (was $210)—25 percent off
Buy the Mastia from Backcountry
La Sportiva Mandala for $157 (was $209)
The Mandala doesn’t fit my heel very well (I’ve got a shallow heel and it hits my achilles), but our reviewer Matt Samet adored the shoe—as do numerous La Sportiva athletes, including boulderer Keenan Takahashi and star competition sport climber Ai Mori. So I’ll let Matt’s review speak for me.
I’ll start by saying that, while I always loved La Sportiva’s No Edge technology in the gym, I never really “got” it on rock. Instead of a crisp, 90-degree angle where the rand meets the sole as two discrete panels of rubber, the Italian shoemaker’s No Edge shoes have a toe-scumming patch that rounds over the forefoot-rand to “become” the sole. The shoes in this family—the Futura, Genius, Mantra, and now Mandala—are known for being soft, squishy, and hypersensitive. They have a unique, curvy shape that looks like a bottlenose dolphin and is good for “innie” holds like divots and dishes you can drive your big toe into, deforming the rubber into the pores. On the flip side, you sacrifice precision and edging support.
The new Mandala changes all that. It’s an excellent gym and rock shoe that feels stiffer than the other No Edge shoes, which has made it proficient at steep and overhanging edging on stone. It has more weight/heft in the toebox—finally, the “right amount” for big-toe activation on rock. And it looks and feels overbuilt and has stretched very little, so should hold multiple resoles.
Deal price: $157 (was $209)—25 percent off
Buy the Mandala from Backcountry
Scarpa Instinct VS, VSR, Slipper, and Lace
Scarpa keeps making different versions of the ever-popular Instinct—first released more than 15 years ago—and it’s getting hard to keep track of them. But these four versions are go-to’s for our staff, and our reviewers, and probably various shoe nerds in your gym.
Instinct VS for $157 (was $209)
One of the most beloved shoes of the past decade, the Instinct VS is a master of all angles. When it was first released, one of our testers (who has more than 100 shoes in his personal collection) had high praise: “I’m just gonna say it: This is one of the best shoes I’ve ever worn,” he wrote. “They’re versatile, comfortable, and outperform almost any other shoe on every kind of terrain.”
Deal Price: $157 (was $209)—25 percent off
Buy the Women’s Instinct VS from Backcountry or REI
Buy the Men’s Instinct VS from Backcountry or REI
Instinct VSR for $157 (was $209)
Built almost exactly the same last as the outstanding Instinct VS, shoe designers put a softer rubber on the Instinct VSR, making it generally preferable for gym climbers, boulderers, and route climbers who keep to the steeps. The Instinct VSR won our 2017 Editor’s Choice Award and has remained a go-to for several of Climbing’s writers and staff members—which is why it’s included in the Our Favorite Boulder Shoes roundup. But if you’re looking for elite edging performance, consider the Instinct VS instead.
Deal Price: $157 (was $209)—25 percent off
Buy the Instinct VSR from Backcountry
Instinct S for $157 (was $209)
The newest update in the Instinct line, the Instinct S, was re-released in 2022 but is Scarpa’s third version of this slipper. (Confused? You’re not alone. Don’t worry about it.) Billed as the most flexible Instinct ever, the latest iteration of the Instinct S is a moderately downturned, mildly asymmetrical slipper with a microfiber upper, designed for vertical-to-overhanging sport climbing, bouldering, and gym climbing. It nails the sweet spot for slipper fans who thrive on sensitivity and feedback, but who also want a solid dash of edging support for technical face, kneebars, and longer pitches. It is included in the Our Favorite Boulder Shoes roundup.
Deal Price: $157 (was $209)—25 percent off
Buy the Instinct S from Backcountry
Instinct Lace $157 (was $209)
The stiffest (and least popular in gyms) shoe in the Instinct Family, the Instinct L is an excellent steep-ish sport climbing shoe. They take a little while to break in, and they work best with narrower feet, but I personally loved the fact that I could customize their stiffness with the laces. When trying something edgy and vertical, I’d cinch them down tight. On steeper climbs, I’d tie them loosely, or not at all, to give my midfoot more flexibility to bend into incut holds.
Deal price: $157 (was $209)—25 percent off
Buy the Instinct Lace from Backcountry
La Sportiva Skwama Vegan for $139 (was $200)
Though the Skwama is softer than the Solution line (both iterations), and therefore doesn’t edge quite as masterfully, it’s still a highly versatile shoe that performs well on everything from vertical basalt sport climbs to technical limestone cave boulders to marathon gym training sessions. I sized up a half size, which meant they were comfortable on day one. This worried me, since the leather version would have stretched out and been too large once broken in, but after two months of heavy use, my Skwama Vegan’s feel just as high precision as they did out of the box. In sum: A high-performance slipper-velcro hybrid that’s excellent for just about everything—and animal friendly to boot. It’s included in the Our Favorite Sport Climbing Shoes roundup.
Deal price: $139 (was $200)—30 percent off.
Buy the Men’s Skwama Vegan from Backcountry
Buy the Women’s Skwama Vegan from Backcountry
Scarpa Vapor S for $149 (was $198)
Scarpa’s Vapor S is a comfortable, performance-oriented slipper that excels equally well on systems boards, polished limestone, slabby volumes, and edging terrain. Unlike most slippers—and most shoes on this list—it’s a relatively flat shoe (better for the flat-footed among you) and quite wide. But it’s also incredibly versatile—great for paddling up caves in the red river gorge and torquing up cracks in Squamish. They appear on our roundup Our Favorite Sport Climbing Shoes, but Aidan Roberts also wore one on while working on Spots of Time, the UKs first V17 boulder. Read our full review here.
Deal price: $149 (was $198)—25 percent off
Buy the Vapor S from Backcountry
Scarpa Quantic for $74 (was $185)
The Quantic is an interesting new shoe: a low/medium-end all-arounder that does all right at everything but truly well at nothing. The real bonus is that the shoe is (a) comfortable, and (b) cheap. It does far better in the gym than on rock, but I sent some outdoor V9s in them, and other testers climbed as hard as 5.13. Almost all of us raved about comfort, and it’s a good training/gym session shoe as a result—the kind of shoe I actually wore a lot more than my performance shoes because it just felt better. As their designer, Heinz Mariacher, says, “My intention was to offer a multi-purpose performance shoe, a mix of lightness, sensitivity, and good precision,” representing a step up into more advanced footwear for newer or intermediate climbers.
Deal price:
- Men’s: $92 (was $185)—50 percent off
- Women’s $74 (was $185)—60 percent off
Buy the Men’s Quantic from REI
Buy the Women’s Quantic from REI
Scarpa Drago & Drago LV for $164 (was $219)
I have never (alas) climbed in the Drago, so—after first noting that the shoe (a) is the most popular high performance shoe on the international competition circuit, and (b) has climbed many of the world’s hardest sport routes and boulders outside—I’m going to take a back seat to our lead testers: “The Drago defies standard climbing-shoe dichotomies. It’s a performance model that’s comfortable. It’s aggressively downturned yet supple enough to smear on the smallest of smidges. It’s super soft, yet can toe on tiny edges as well as, if not better than, stiff edging-specific shoes, due to the midsole. It was designed as a specialized sport, bouldering and competition shoe, yet makes an excellent all-arounder; just don’t try to crack climb in them.”
What’s the difference between the Drago and the Drago LV? Width! Climbers with narrower feet should go for the LV version.
Deal Price: $164 (was $219)—25 percent off
Buy the Drago from Backcountry or REI
Buy the Drago LV from Backcountry or REI
Scarpa Veloce and Veloce L for $131 (was $174)
I’ve not worn the original Veloce, but I love the Veloce L (L is for lace). It’s one of the few new climbing shoes that, as a tester, I might actually go out and buy despite the surprisingly burdensome stream of new products that appear on my doorstep each month. Both the OG Veloce and the Veloce L are soft shoes, designed for the combination of comfort and smear performance desired (or so says Scarpa) by beginner and intermediate climbers who spend most or all of their time at the gym. But I loved the Veloce L on everything steep and/or smeary—from board and volume climbs in the gym to limestone caves, vertical cobble climbs, and steep basalt sport routes. If you’re looking for edging performance, though, run like the wind away from this shoe. Read my review of the Veloce L—called Scarpa’s Latest Shoe Made me Feel Like a Con Artist—here for more.
Deal price: $131 (was $174)—25 percent off
Buy the Veloce L from Backcountry
Buy the Women’s Veloce from Backcountry or REI
Buy the Men’s Veloce from Backcountry or REI
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