Are you looking for a durable and affordable climbing shoe? Then the La Sportiva Tarantulace might be a good option for you. The shoe is not the best in climbing performance, but it is a great shoe to get started with or for warming up.
The best prices for the La Sportiva Tarantulace climbing shoes:
What to consider before buying the La Sportiva Tarantulace climbing shoes
What type of climbing do you do? If you mostly do easier climbs while enjoying the views, these might be the shoes for you. Is tarantulace good for bouldering? Yes to some degree, but if you are a more experienced climber and if you mostly climb tough and steep boulders or sport climbs and go to a lot of climbing competitions you might be happier with the La Sportiva Solution Comp.
How to size the la sportiva tarantulace? The official recommendation for a tight fit is to go down 0,5 to 1 size from your street shoe, but maybe even more because the Tarantulaces tend to stretch. Some people are having trouble with getting the right size with these shoes so it would be great if you can test these before or order a couple of different sizes for testing.
How much do the Tarantulace stretch: The Tarantulace can stretch out from 1 to 0.5 sizes with use.
- Weight: 18.6 oz/ 530 grams
- Materials: Leather/synthetic leather, 5mm Frixion RS
- Closure: Laces with fast lacing system
- Durable
- Affordable
- Versatile
- Good for beginners
- Good for warm-ups
- Good for long and easy routes
- Can be hard to find the right size
- Tend to stretch out
- Not good for tougher climbs
- Not good for steep climbs
How well the La sportiva Tarantulace climbing shoes perform
The La Sportiva Tarantulace shoes are made for beginners and they are priced really affordably. You can’t really expect to get top level shoes with these prices, but there is a reason why the Tarantulaces are some of the most bought climbing shoes around the world.
The Tarantulaces perform better on slabs where you need to smear, as the flat design works better for that than for steeper climbs. These shoes are good option for easier multi-pitch climbs where you can keep them on comfortably and you don’t really have to worry about your feet slipping from small edges or tight pocket holds.
The Tarantulaces also work quite nicely when crack climbing as they are laced up and they have nice and thin toe parts that can be jammed into quite small cracks. If you have the budget and you do a lot of crack climbing you might want to consider the La Sportiva Katana lace shoes as they perform a lot better on most aspects.
Alternatives for the La Sportiva Tarantulace climbing shoes
If you aren’t sure about these shoes, maybe you should take a look at our review of the best climbing shoes article. In the article we recommend these shoes:
- La Sportiva solution comp – for competitions and tough projects
- La Sportiva Katana lace
- La Sportiva TC Pro – The best trad climbing shoes
- Evolv Phantom – The best shoes for bouldering
