Ok, so we all remember that bizarre period between the mid-90’s and the first couple of years of the 21st century when it seemed every top-end European rock boot manufacturer was systematically “picked off” by that rampaging shoe designer, and Phil Oren nemesis, Marius Morstad. Marius – who is obviously a knowledgeable guy – seemed to be on a quest to cram every climber on the planet into one incarnation or other of his infamous “banana boots” or “boomerang shoes”. And so it was that the normally traditional values and slow to change attitudes of La Sportiva and Scarpa were blown aside in a whirlwind of fancy looking designs, bagfuls of bravado and a cunning smoke screen of impressive podiatrist speak, not to mention promises of untold riches! Although, when the dust finally settled Marius was gone and they were left with a warehouse filled with uncomfortable Turkish slippers (minus the tassels) and very few orders to balance out the production costs and high value advertising campaigns.
All right, all right, that may be me be being a little simplistic, and perhaps I’m being a little unfair on old Marius, as there were (and always will be) a number of other manufacturers who managed to conjure up some jaw-dropingly un-sellable boots entirely of their own accord, and to be fair some of those old designs weren’t quite as bad as I make out. My point is that the world of rock boot design had a frivolous over flirtation with radical designs and overly down turned shoes, lost (I suspect) a fair bit of cash, and came out the other side somewhat the wiser – in fact, perhaps it’s now commonplace within rock boot manufacturing circles to have ditched the phrase “beware of Greeks baring gifts” and substituted it with, “beware of Norwegians baring rock boot schematics”?
“So what was the point of this nostalgic trip down memory lane”? I hear you bellow. Well it was my blathering semi-serious attempt to prepare the ground for a look at the next generation of toe-down climbing footwear and more specifically the Five Ten Dragon.
To be honest it’s taken me a while to pluck up the courage to get back in the ring with a pair of rock shoes which have the combined potential to dislocate my index fingers, just through pulling them on, but when I finally got round to it I found myself testing two different models, the aforementioned Dragon and the newly released Evolv Talon (currently on review).
In truth the toe-down rock boot phenomena never really left us, it merely settled itself into the appropriate position in the retail market strata, i.e. the layer specifically designated for elite climbers and gear junkies. A good example of a relatively recent addition to the field - which is essentially a lost leader from a commercial point of view but has an ardent fan base amongst the big guns of the sport - would be the Five Ten V10. This impressive foot tool has an incredible list of hard bloc sends to its name, with the Dragon's well designed, precision toe box and curved last making it almost unparalleled on hard, steep, edge-orientated ground. Its one Achilles heel (oh, guffaw) was the poorly fitting heel cup, which notoriously popped off at inconvenient moments. It was time for a rethink…
The Dragon is essentially a V10 with laces, an all encompassed (in rubber) heel and a marginally stiffer last. These seemingly minor modifications make a big difference. The laces make “heel pop” a rarity allowing the climber to purchase the shoes slightly larger, knowing that any adjustment needed after stretch will be possible. As such the shoes can be worn slightly less toe-down (if desired) making them more usable on varying terrains, thus broadening their shelf appeal.
Even fitted pretty tight I actually found the shoes much more versatile than I had initially expected, with the last design giving the levels of toe power you would expect, plus, once worn-in the shoes are also decent on more vertically inclined ground. The sensitive midsole offers the feel of a soft shoe with the curved last generating good levels tension throughout, resulting in excellent rigidity on the inside and outside edges of the toe box.
Where?
The Dragon is most suited to steep training board style crankin’ on pockets, edges and prows, although, as I eluded to above, its soft forgiving upper and laces give it a more rounded finish and she’s still a very acceptable animal on vertical walls and cracks. Just don’t go trying a run-out slab in a tight new pair of these puppies… you may come a cropper!
Fit and Construction
As you would expect the toe box is pretty asymmetric with a much more “pointy” feel than the Anasazi range (although it is more akin to the Velcro in width and not as narrow as the Verde), the heel is narrower than that of the Anasazi’s and does take a few sessions to bed in, after which it feels good. Like the original V10 the first incarnation of the Dragon had a heel cup which was not encased in rubber, the new batches are now all fully encapsulated. The sizing is a little wayward in comparison to the more popular Onyxx Anasazi’s and you’ll need (on average) to move up an entire UK size up from your Verde’s or Velcro’s.
Specification
- Colour: Red
- Upper: Cowdura synthetic
- Lining: Low Stretch Synthetic
- Closure: Lace
- Sole: Stealth HF
- Rock + Run Price: £75.00
Who?
Despite its versatility/usability when compared with other similar footwear the Dragon is still a niche shoe. As I pointed out in a recent review of the Scarpa Booster this is primarily a “specialist secondary shoe”, basically meaning that it’s the sort of product you would purchase to use along side a more balanced piece of footwear, such as the Five Ten Onyxx Velcro, La Sportiva Miura or Boreal Stingma, to be pulled out as and when the need arose. So the ideal Dragon customer would be capable of operating in the mid to high French/Font grades and be looking to add to his/her arsenal of footwear - A sack containing a pair of Velcro’s, Miura’s and Dragon's would cover most eventualities for the globetrotting beast.
Conclusions
In closing I’d have to say that old Marius was obviously on to something, and it was purely the scale of the phenomena he over estimated. As with all things the Darwinian principle eventually came to bear on those lumbering leviathans the Paranoia and Mirage facilitating the evolution of modern toe-down boots. In the Five Ten Dragon and V10, Evolv Talon and Scarpa Booster we see great examples of top-end rock shoe manufacturers designing products for a specific niche and not losing sight of the reasons why they became top-end manufacturers in the first place, and for this they must surely be commended.
Purchase the Five Ten Dragon's here.
