My first pair of Chili's and bought as I wanted to try something a little different from my current shoe, and in many ways they are the complete antithesis of the Evolv Defy.
At around £70 they aren't the cheapest of shoes but they feel quite robust. There is a stiffness to the sole that comes from a harder rubber and what Red Chili call the 'impact zone', the sole of the shoe is quite thick and feels relatively padded. They are fairly comfortable if jumping off stuff and getting down from the top of the crag, hopefully they will also be relatively hard wearing and long-lived. The compromise comes with the rubber, it isn't very sticky on grit smears and together with a lack of feel through to the toes means slabs are not their forte. The thick cover at the rear end does makes heel hooks seem more secure.
All this makes for an all round technical shoe, good for edging, those sharper footholds and sticking your toes into small pockets. The three velcro fasteners make for a tight fit but attention needs to be paid to the tongue position when doing them up or else they can dig into the top of the foot.
The shoes don't excite me much if I'm honest. They look and feel ok but they aren't anything special, the lack of feel through the shoe means I'm not using my feet to full advantage but this is down to personal preference.
Pros
Good for edging
Feel robust and comfortable when getting down from the crag
Thick heel rubber
Cons
Stickiness of the rubber, not good for smearing
Lack of feel
It's the shoe for you if....
you want a mid-range and mid-priced technical shoe and don't climb many smeary slabs.
NEclimber rating 6/10
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Nice constructive write up.
ReplyDeleteI had a pair of the Red Chili Durango's and they sound very similar to the Spirit VCR's. A bit stiff, lacked feel and not the best for smearing but great for edging. My current shoes the Scarpa Force Parrot are the exact opposite soft, plenty of feel and great for smearing but lack a bit of stiffness for tiny edges. I think with any climbing shoe if you want an all rounder you'll need to make some sacrifices here and there. Either that or you'll need a pile of shoes for each eventuallity which really isn't practicle.