UKC

With the new NIAD Moccasym, Five Ten have done away with the things that made the original so popular, laments Rob Greenwood. 

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Good, balanced review.

Have all the manufacturers made their lasts narrower?  My go-to Katanas got noticeably narrower a few years back.  Us duck-footed people need a bit of width!

I think the latest incarnation of all the classic 5.10 shoes are an absolute mistake. The shape changed, the feel changed, the comfort changed. I've climbed in velcros for 25 years. I now need to find a different shoe. 

T'is a good review but I want to know what's the trad route Rob is doing in the photo? 

Lots of long term 5.10 users are finding the newest versions of all the old classics are now not good for their foot shapes. I wonder if there are a bunch of us who could never find any 5.10 models to fit us back in the 1990s and 2000s (I so desperately wanted some Anasazi Velcros because clearly not having some was clearly the only thing stopping me from repeating Meshuga! 😆) might now find they fit!?

Did you ever use the copperhead? A much older attempt to update the moccasym with a half lace and a bit of a toe patch and a bit stiffer sole. They were my absolute favorite trad shoe especially for thin cracks (which where I climb often disappear and finish with hard face climbing). Mine have finally given up the ghost and I wonder if these might fill a similar niche. 

Narrow Buttress (VS 4c) orStraight and Narrow (HVS 5a) if he wanted the harder start

Cheers BCL! Checking the logbook I see I've actually done it twice which just shows my memory is appalling. 

BTW I continue my hobby of climbing 6as and VS all over the Peak - following in your footsteps! Because I have you in my partners list your comments are always at the top of the logbook page. Yesterday I did Right-hand Crack (VS 4c) and Elliott's Buttress Direct (HS 4b) at Gardoms and agree with your comments for both, although some aggressive toe jams greatly helped at the top of Right Hand Crack, and made it less hard than I thought it was going to feel. Cool route I thought.

Hello Toby. Likewise I notice we frequently tread the same ground. 

Wollock (HVS 4c) should go on your list for your next visit to Burbage North...... a little bold, with the first gear relatively high, but very rewarding. Peter's Progress (VS 4c) too. Barry Manilow (VS 4c) as well (not great, but it's there to be done).

I can't help but notice that Fall Pipe (VS 4c) has been missed out too...... combine with Zapple (HVS 5b) perhaps?

Perhaps our paths will cross again soon. Best wishes, Nik 

Thanks for the recommendations. I had this weird feeling I have done Peter's Progress and I even had the "memory" of who I climbed with it as well - a friend who was visiting from Finland. But looking back in my logbook I've worked out where my confusion comes from - I'm mixing it up with Milton's Meander (VS 4c) at Stanage - both routes are rightward traverses out of straight up routes that I have done - Paradise Wall in the case of M's M and The Knight's Move in the case of Peter's Progress. I know why Peter's Progress is in my memory though, it traverses once you are passed the supposed crux of the Knight's Move, and HVS 5a. Every time I've been there and looked at it , I've thought "how can you have a VS 4c that leaves an HVS 5a above the crux of the HVS 5a?!?!"

Funnily enough Fall Pipe is on my wish list of VSs with stars on eastern grit that I haven't got round to yet. Right-Hand Crack was on that list until yesterday as was Green Crack (VS 4c) at Stanage that I climbed last Wednesday. A couple of weeks ago I also finally led Heather Wall (VS 4c), which I've seconded three times I think, the first one 25 years ago - but have now finally 'done' properly.  The full Zapple I fell off in 2000, and that day just managed it by the still excellent Zapple Left-hand (HVS 5a) version. I wonder if in the intervening two decades my certain increase in weight might have been offset by any increase in technique or low-cunning? I will have to go and find out!

Meanwhile to not totally hijack a 5.10 shoe review thread, as noted above, over the decades I've never found 5.10 shoes that fitted my feet, until 18 months ago when I was asked to review the beginner-intermediate/all-day 5.10 Kirigami. I've found the Kirigami to be fantastic and have climbed as hard as I climb (not very, but HVS/E1, 6b) in them. I wonder if their (I think) wider fit than in the past is what Adidas has done across the range, which is leading to old 5.10 users finding all the new models hopeless on their foot shapes?

Rob, have you tried the Unparallel Duel or Mocc as a comparison to the new NIAD Mocc and the OG Mocc?

I have a pair of the Duels and they are pretty soft and comfy, as well as fitting my feet better than the OG Moccs. They were ideal for doing the kids circuits in Font with my daughters last week. If the UP Mocc are a slightly stiffer version, I would have thought they would be an ideal trad shoe but your review of the NIAD Mocc implies otherwise?