![]() In short: La Sportiva relaunched the Mantra this year, bringing the No Edge back to the forefront. The thinking behind No Edge is that it matches the natural contours of the human foot, making for a more intuitive rock shoe with greater sensitivity. The sole and rand are one continuous piece of rubber. ![]() The original Mantra appeared in 1999 and was the first La Sportiva rock shoe to use No Edge technology - essentially a rounded curve where the sole “meets” the rand instead of a crisp line. I noted the Futura’s killer No Edge tech and stable toe, married with a more-forgiving, Cobra Eco-like upper that made for comfier wear at the gym - which is where I wanted to use the Mantra and is what they’re for: gyms, volumes, bouldering, steeps. However, as I broke in the Sportiva Mantras at a Broomfield, Colo., gym, testing them both on steeps and comp-style vert and slab problems, it hit me that these slippers had the best attributes of the shoes mentioned above. And I loved the Cobra Eco out of the box, but they stretched too quickly, and things got sloshy. This was great news: The Futura ticked many boxes for me, but I had to size down for precision, making it hard to get my heel clear into the heel cup and creating mild cramping across the toebox. My first impression of the La Sportiva Mantra was that it looked like a cross between La Sportiva’s Futura, a Velcro-closure slipper, and the classic Cobra Eco slipper. The Katana held its rigidity and shape over months of testing, in part due to the full-length 1.1-millimeter midsole.The new LaSportiva Mantra is a super soft and sensitive rock shoe that proved more versatile than other gym-oriented slippers. The key with such a long, thin toe is that it’s also supportive, with no flex. “The Katana was the only shoe that could meaningfully jam the right seam while my left foot edged hard on granite chips,” he said. Walsh said the shoe shone on Zap Crack, a 5.12+ crack line in Squamish, British Columbia, where the crux centers on two parallel, left-leaning seams: a right-hand seam that takes 0.1 cams and a toe jam and left-hand offset seam that you crimp. “Both vertically and horizontally, It provided unparalleled access to thin cracks and a ton of precision,” he said. “It’s my personal favorite for hard trad and vertical face.” Meanwhile, Climbing’s digital editor, Anthony Walsh, lauded the thin toe profile. Trad aficionado Clayton Laramie wore them to flash his hardest climb ever, a 5.12c gently overhanging a mixed-face-and-seam route in the Tan Corridor of Colorado’s Staunton State Park, about an hour south of his home in Boulder. The Katana Lace is among the highest-performing all-around and thin-face shoes on the market, overbuilt for durability, support, and performance in that unique Italian way. Narrower heel sole design improves heel hooking precision while maintaining the same known fit and feel.Updated heel pattern with increased rubber coverage improves grip while heel hooking.Outsole design varies between the Katana Lace Men's (full-length) and the Katana Lace Women's (half-length) to support climbers of all weights and sizes.Highly breathable tongue works in conjunction with the shoe lining for moisture management.Revolutionary tubular construction with P3® Technology provides ultimate comfort and performance.The Katana Lace is a veritable edging machine now available in Men’s and Women’s styles. The slightly downturned toe and subtle asymmetry ensures you can hook into pockets or exploit the tiniest edges while providing unrivaled comfort for the level that it performs at. The Katana Lace, despite its downturned shape, is a comfortable all-day climbing workhorse that performs well on slabs and can easily twist into thin cracks but excels outside on steep single or multi-pitch routes.
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