Shoe Considerations

Avoid leather for shoes and gloves when canyoneering unless your canyons are particularly dry. Wet/Dry cycles shrink and malform leather. Most canyoneering shoes don't have deep lugs and tend toward a more approach style outsole, these shoes will tend to perform better on slickrock but worst in dirt and mud. Production shoes that could be currently worth considering. Most of these entries are warnings.

5.10

5.10 Canyoneering shoes haven't been in production since before 2019. Their stealth rubber was commonly agreed on as "sticky enough". Most of the shoes in this list are not as sticky as the stealth rubber in cold and wet conditions. adidas bought the Five Ten brand in 2011. 5.10 integrated with adidas in 2017. (View History on this page for fitment guides and attributes of the various shoes.)

• See the Adidas Section for the Five Ten Trailcross Shoe

Adidas

• Adidas Five Ten Trailcross Mid Pro Mountain Bike Shoes (Stealth Phantom)
• Adidas Terrex Hydrolace (traxion / Stealth)

The Hydrolace leans toward class C environments. The lugs are small and the tread is organized in "zones", the user will want to be aware of the zone of the shoe they're using for a task. Users can expect sub-standard performance in sand or mud compared to chunky lugged shoes like the discontinued FiveTen Canyoneer boot.

Astral

• Astral Rassler 2.0 (G.ss)

The soles are thin and entirely unsupported, and should not be considered for canyoneering except in the smoothest of sculpted granite canyons. The Rassler's smoother sole is very grippy on smooth granite and rocks in general, unfortunately the lack of protruding lugs make them extremely poor at mud, sand, and chossy rock. Long days of hopping over sharp boulders with heavy loads will be problematic for all canyoneers.

Bestard

• Bestard Canyon Guide (Vibram Best Idrogrip)

La Sportiva

• La Sportiva TX Canyon (Vibram Idrogrip)

Shoe description says that these shoes are sized up a full size from the TX4 (EU presumably, e.g. 44 feels like a 45)

Dangel found the TX Canyon are only comfortable with an aftermarket insole, whether or not you wear neoprene socks. Additionally, he found they may take an excessively long time to scrub in and become sticky (One of his two pairs behaved like this). They do not keep debris out particularly. The velcro system is fussy and time consuming but does seem to hide the laces adequately.

• La Sportiva Boulder X (Vibram idro-grip)
• La Sportiva TX Guide (Vibram idro-grip)

Less volume and width than the TX3 / TX4 models. elhefe62 and dangel's feet are both too wide for them, while the TX3 fit nicely.

NRS

NRS Storm water boot (Hypergrip)

Not sticky enough for canyoneering. Dangel did find them to be comfortable and fairly large volume compared to the Sportivas, however the sole was NOT sticky enough for canyoneering despite their various "HyperGrip" marketing claims. Perhaps a good boot for desert operations. They do seem to drain and keep debris out fairly well. They have a fussy side zipper which may or may not experience trouble when it meets the sand of the Colorado plateau.

2021 Blog with some canyoneering shoe choices and pictures: https://www.canyoning.ai/2021/07/21/canyoning-shoes/

Perhaps maybe worth considering depending on sizing and availability needs:

• Fitwell Chameleon (Vibram "Solid Rubber + EVA foam midsole")
• Salewa Wildfire: Reviews seem to indicate not sticky enough. (outsole claims: "Developed for the most challenging approaches, with a mix of rocky and soft ground, such as mud and grass. Thanks to the lugs, deep and spaced apart, the traction and self-cleaning are guaranteed, as well as the grip on dry and wet surfaces, due to butyl compound by POMOCA®.")
• Scarpa Mescalito (leather upper, Megagrip)
• Scarpa Crux (leather upper, Megagrip)

A video demonstrating grip of 5.10 rubber vs a typical hiking shoe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6ENtvC-Pqc

Another video comparing various water-specific shoes on granite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ja-UH7o1Mo