Adam Ondra is arguably one of the best all-around rock climber on the planet. From dispatching the world’s hardest sport climbs and boulders to working up the Daybreak Wall on his first go to to Yosemite (it took Tommy Caldwell 7 years), it appears he can do something on the rock.
Nonetheless, Ondra hasn’t had the identical success in indoor bouldering competitions, so he designed the La Sportiva Ondra Comp to optimize his leads to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
I’ve seen loads of skilled athletes license merchandise that they had zero hand in designing. However Ondra put out content material exhibiting his involvement, and he had very particular calls for.
Trendy indoor bouldering requires standing and transferring on flat volumes that slope downward. Competitors issues additionally typically require the usage of tiny footholds hooked up to the identical low-angle floor. Ondra’s footwear crux for the Olympics was that he didn’t have a shoe that would do each on the highest ranges.
I examined the La Sportiva Ondra Comp for 4 months in its supposed atmosphere of contemporary indoor bouldering gyms. Throughout that point, I additionally examined it outdoor. For the final 2 months, it was the one climbing shoe I used, to the tune of a number of instances per week.
In brief: The La Sportiva Ondra Comp does justice to its namesake. The shoe gives the pliability, sensitivity, and grip required to maneuver dynamically off volumes and sufficient edge stiffness to energy off tiny screw-on chips. Moreover, it proved wonderful for smearing on traffic-worn limestone and “smedging” on tiny nubbins. The Ondra Comp is a good selection for high-end indoor competitors climbing and outside climbing at greater grades.
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Pliable and delicate, however has some edging capacity -
Wider toe field permits foot to unfold out and calm down when on volumes -
Good at “smedging” -
Good for steep outside climbing
La Sportiva Ondra Comp Overview
Standout Options
Form
Like many bouldering-oriented rock footwear, the Ondra Comp has an aggressive downturn, may be very delicate and pliable, and is reasonably uneven.
The shoe makes use of Vibram’s stickiest rubber, XS Grip2, and La Sportiva encased all the toe field in rubber. The Italian model utilized its P3 tensioned rand system to the Ondra Comp; the rands begin beneath the toes, crisscross beneath the arch, and proceed to the again of the heel. This rand configuration maintains the form and construction of the shoe.
‘SenseGrip’ Rubber
What is actually distinctive concerning the Ondra Comp really isn’t seen. Underneath the ball of the foot and center portion of the toe cap sits a delicate patch of rubber La Sportiva calls SenseGrip. There isn’t a midsole backing this softer space. La Sportiva claims SenseGrip delivers delicate cushioning whereas permitting as a lot sensitivity as potential.
La Sportiva put a 1.1mm Lapsoflex midsole within the Ondra Comp, however solely on the edges of the forefoot. This retains the center forefoot space delicate and delicate, and solely gives a little bit of stiffness on the components of the shoe which might be essential for edging.
Different Specs
The physique is microfiber, and the shoe is slip-lasted and unlined. An elastic insert covers the highest of the shoe, and a single Velcro closure handles foot retention duties.
Ondra’s trademark “AO” graces the closure strap and rand, and his autograph is on one of many two heel tabs. In my view, La Sportiva didn’t blast that the world’s strongest all-around rock climber had a hand in making the shoe.
Lastly, the shoe has no added PFAS, the heel tabs are recycled, and the elastic on the higher is 44% recycled.
My measurement 42 Ondra Comps weigh a verified 1 pound, 2.6 ounces per pair, and the MSRP is $219.
Match
One have a look at the Ondra Comp from the highest, and I knew it might match in another way than different sporty La Sportiva climbing footwear.
First off, the heel is visibly narrower than every other La Sportiva sport climbing or bouldering shoe. This has been a bane for me, as I’ve a really slim heel, and different Sportiva footwear have been dishevelled across the sides, a lot so that giant folds develop. Not so with the Ondra Comp — it’s the primary La Sportiva shoe that matches my tiny heel.
I’ve a large forefoot however skinny vertically. I often match higher in low-volume variations of rock footwear so long as the toe field is vast sufficient. For my “duck foot,” the Ondra Comp matches nice. The entrance of the shoe is vast sufficient that my fifth metatarsal didn’t push out previous the sting of the outsole, which isn’t at all times the case.
General, the Ondra Comp is the best-fitting La Sportiva rock shoe for my duck foot up to now.
I often put on a 42 (measurement 10 U.S. trainers) in La Sportiva sport climbing and bouldering footwear, and the Ondra Comp is in keeping with that match.
La Sportiva Ondra Comp Testing: Within the Fitness center
Ondra himself admitted that indoor competitions, particularly bouldering, should not his forte. Like every athlete on the high, he was on the lookout for each marginal achieve potential, which included constructing his personal shoe with La Sportiva.
Plenty of instances, I feel product segmentation is only a approach to dig into clients’ wallets, with manufacturers citing that the narrowest subcategories inside every sport require specialised gear. So initially, I used to be cautious that the Ondra Comp was one other try and create new channels for climbers to spend extra money.
A shoe particularly for indoor bouldering (not indoor climbing generally) made me grumpy and skeptical, particularly with the Adam Ondra hook.
Smearing Volumes
I don’t like making huge, dynamic strikes from low-angled volumes. To me, this necessitates highly effective strikes off of a slab, which feels and sounds fallacious. Each really feel insecure when rapidly making use of drive by a shoe. Smearing a flat, downfacing floor (or slab), or dynoing simply don’t compute.
I deal with transferring slowly, with no sudden drive technology, in order to not upset my tenuous foot placements on slabs. However I gave it the faculty attempt, and I admit that I may really feel the La Sportiva SenseGrip impact beneath the center of my forefoot straight away.
The shoe is extraordinarily delicate and versatile, so I may contort my foot and shoe to realize essentially the most floor underfoot. And proper the place the shoe bent on the ball of my foot, I felt the floor texture when standing on volumes.
This wasn’t like super-sensitive slippers I’ve used, or a naked foot towards rubber really feel. There was a small quantity of cushioning, like sporting a skinny sock in mentioned slipper. The SenseGrip materials delivered a contact of consolation, nevertheless it bottomed out in order that I may really feel what was beneath the outsole.
This sensitivity gave me extra confidence in my foot’s capacity to energy off flat, edgeless, low-texture surfaces. If I lacked adhesion, suggestions warned me as an alternative of unknowingly peeling out.
The Ondra Comp’s comparatively vast toe field allowed my foot to calm down and unfold out when standing on volumes. This allowed extra of my foot to really feel related to the quantity’s floor, including confidence.
The one factor I needed for was a bigger SenseGrip space. It felt like an oval part beneath the center of my forefoot, however I may have used extra of it laterally. However perhaps that’s the restrict whereas nonetheless offering some edging energy.
Edging/Smedging
Delicate, delicate footwear often lack edging energy. Whereas the La Sportiva Ondra Comp isn’t an edging powerhouse, it did it nicely for an indoor competitors climbing shoe.
The 1.1mm Laspoflex midsole on the outer edges of the forefoot, together with the three.5mm Vibram XS Grip2 outsole, offered stiffness that I felt was a major step above slippers — however decrease than La Sportiva Resolution Comp. It was inflexible sufficient to outperform slippers when edging screw-on chips on vertical partitions.
The outer rim of the forefoot is way stiffer than the SenseGrip portion, nevertheless it was pliable sufficient to “smedge” nicely. This implies smearing with the sting or the transition of the sting to the outsole to place essentially the most floor space on minimal options.
Heel and Toe Hooking
As I famous, this was the primary time a La Sportiva sport climbing or bouldering shoe was slim sufficient to hug my heel. That, by itself, made it a greater heel hooker than every other shoe from the model.
The heel is pretty minimal and shaped from the P3 rand wrapping round and mating with an extension of the outsole. A further patch of rubber partially fills within the hole between the rand and the outsole. There isn’t a heel cup.
The heel was enough for all however the smallest options or, sarcastically, the flat, slabbed-out surfaces of the smoother volumes. Different footwear with full-textured heel cups fared higher for these tougher heel hooks.
Nonetheless, the ribbed toe cap felt like dishonest on toe hooks. The feel and rubber compound had been very grippy, even on slopers. There’s a middle longitudinal rib of the SenseGrip materials, and I felt it cushioned the blow of swinging toe hooks.
Nonetheless, I used to be not sure if it helped with sensitivity. The remainder of the toe cap was very delicate and offered nice suggestions, particularly when slowly releasing a toe hook to stop physique swing.
Bouldering Outside
Though La Sportiva and Ondra state that the Ondra Comp is for contemporary indoor bouldering, I speculated that they’d make wonderful footwear for my native limestone crag.
My traditional hang-out has steep, pocketed sport climbs that favor highly effective motion. About half the routes have been in motion because the late ’80s or early ’90s, so they’re well-trafficked. Fashionable routes have holds that actually really feel like bars of cleaning soap.
The routes at greater grades typically have tremendous minimal footholds on the backside. I suspected the traits that helped the Ondra Comp carry out nicely on plastic would switch nicely to this cliff.
I used to be stoked to search out that was true. If the route was common, the ft had been bigger however worn easy. The delicate SenseGrip space of the forefoot gave me the suggestions to not really feel “blind” on it. On tougher routes, tiny footholds typically had the sharp edge worn off. The shoe’s capacity to smudge was essential to creating use of those hardly seen options.
The toe on the Ondra Comp was pointy and skinny sufficient to suit into most pockets typical of limestone. Its softness and pliability allowed me to “claw” my foot and pull my hips in on steeper sections.
Like different footwear with toe bins encased in rubber, the Ondra Comp may really feel sizzling on hotter days, and the all-black shade didn’t assist when the solar out. I made a degree to place them within the shade throughout belays.
Over the past 2 months of testing, I refused to climb on this space in something aside from these footwear, regardless that I personal a library of footwear that aren’t “indoor bouldering footwear.”
La Sportiva Ondra Comp: Last Say
When La Sportiva despatched me the footwear, the advertising calling out the Ondra Comp as a specialty indoor bouldering competitors shoe made me form of upset. “Do we actually want one other class of climbing footwear?” I puzzled.
Certainly, the footwear carried out extremely nicely on the parkour-like, competition-style boulders in my native gyms. The softer SenseGrip space made me really feel safe on low-angle quantity surfaces, which I wrestle with essentially the most. The considerably laborious edge space tenaciously smedged tiny chips and edged higher than different delicate bouldering footwear on vertical or barely overhanging issues.
The La Sportiva Ondra Comp was additionally a pointy and efficient device for my native steep limestone sport crag. The attributes that made it so good indoors made it a wonderful selection for my explicit crag.
I wouldn’t view the La Sportiva Ondra Comp as an indoor bouldering shoe; I might contemplate it an awesome sport climbing or bouldering shoe for each indoors and outdoor.