First look gave me the impression that the Con-series shoes were simply re-designed versions of the Hooker series. But upon closer examination and stuffing me toes in them told me that they are radically different in terms of last and camber.
Concept
Contact
A couple of sessions in them made me realize that they are poles apart from the previous Shark slipper. Personally loved the Sharks for their softness and sick toe-hooking rubber uppers but they were kinda on the broad side for my feet and the rounded toe box didn't particularly favor tiny pockets. However, the new Contact is a different animal altogether. Firstly, this slipper fit like a glove, leaving me skinny feet with no dead space. The radical camber create a beak-like point at the area of the big toe and this allowed me to focus alot of power onto the tip of the shoe when pinpointing on tiny foot chips thus bumping up precision a couple of notches. Furthermore, these puppies performed pretty well on the pockets of Malibu's volcanic tuff and with the new rubber, I didn't feel like my feet was ever gonna give on slick foot holds. As with any slipper, the Contact has all the wonderful properties of convenience for bouldering and softness for toe grabbing. But the softness and ease of putting it on comes at a price.....you'll need a strong foot if you plan to stand on your toes for extended periods of time on longer routes and when it comes to heel-hooking, the aggressive teeth on the heel will rip the heelcup right off your foot.....so either downsize (Ouch!) or keep the Mad straps on.
As for looks, the Con-series ain't nothing much to shout about but hey....I'm a pragmatic guy...FUNCTION before fashion. Plus being priced below $90, it's a real bang-for-the-buck!
But at the end of the day, the Super Locos are still my SENDING SHOES...FLAME ON!!!
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