Guide Almighty

These shoes kick ass! You can ACTUALLY CLIMB in them. The Stealth C4 rubber on the soles has been molded into a unique tread and is as sticky as it is on my real rock shoes.

If you need to hike on trails, climb moderate rock, descend loose talus, and traverse the occasional snowfield.....all while not changing shoes, the Guide Almighties are the answer. Even when my itinerary involves only scree hopping or class 3 scrambling, the Guide Almighties make it so I never have to be concerned about my foot slipping. The friction is amazing. They're good hikers too. They're very light and fit well out of the box. Very little break-in time is required.

You're not going to send a personal best redpoint in these, but you will be able to climb much harder than you can in your normal hiking/mountaineering boots. For me, the Guide Almighties are good for up to about 5.9. The exception is climbs that require a lot of precision edging or finger/toe cracks.

On a slightly negative note, the toe-box is a little clunky in cracks. A sleeker design would help. Also, the shoes aren't incredibly durable. But, this is ok. You can't expect Stealth C4 to hold up to thousands of miles of hiking. But, when they wear out, you can re-sole them. I met a guy on top of Cathedral Peak who said that he had re-soled his Guide Almighties three times. The virtues of the Guide Almighties so far outweigh these two imperfections that I can't give them anything less than 5 stars.

What a bargain!! This is the ultimate approach/climbing shoe that just keeps on giving. While at the base of a climb you will be the envy of all your buddies as they wage battle trying to get their too tight fitting rock shoes on. All the while you'll be kick'n back and gear'n up. If your into long climbs on moderate grade (ie. Grand Teton) the Five Ten's do not disappoint. I find they climb just as well as any rock shoe and the Stealth rubber is for real. The toe box is a little too wide for a sustained crack climb but that's a small sacrifice for roomy comfort. From the moment I put them on in the store they had the feel of slippers with a snug fit. Try a pair on and see for yourself!! So far mine have held up really well but can imagine after enough hiking and climbing eventually the sole will suffer. I will most definetly have them resoled when that unfortunate day arrives. If you are looking for the ultimate do it all shoe that will have your friends jealous with envy, then look no further. Try on a pair of Five Ten Guide Almighty and climb with a smile.

I know a lot of people like these shoes, including one of my climbing partners whom I got the idea from. But I had a bad experience with them. First, they hurt my feet and gave me blisters. I bought them from Campmor who advertised them as waterproof. I used them (trying to break them in) on a day hike down the Ouachita Trail and my feet were soaked in minutes by trail dew. Unfortunately, it was an 11 mile hike and I had to endure the last 5 miles in pain. However, they did perform well at the crag scrambling around the Wichita Mountains a week or so earlier. After the hike I sent them back.

fair. good grip, great climbers. both of mine fell apart at the seams after 2 wearings.

I love my guide tennies. They are certainly the best scrambling shoes on the market in my opinion. No other shoe offers this combination of hiking comfort and climbing performance.

A couple of comments in response to points made by other reviewers:

- build quality and durability: I have not had a problem with my current Guide Tennies. However, I have friends who have had problems with seams coming apart, rubber de-laminating, etc. I've also had problems with older pairs of FiveTennie low tops. Like I said, though, my current pair has had no problems and are in great shape after years of hard use. Apparently, Five Ten has quality assurance problems but it varies from customer to customer. Whenever I have had problems, Five Ten customer support has been excellent.

- comfort: my guide tennies are so comfortable I'm tempted to wear them all day every day. However, my wife will not let me wear them in the house because the sticky rubber leaves black smudges on the floors.

- water proof? they were never waterproof; nor were they ever meant to be. I have put a little Nikwax on mine so they don't wet through entirely if I have to walk through a snow field or whatever.

Note that FiveTen has re-designed the Guide Tennie for 2003. I haven't tried the new ones yet. They don't look at all like the ones pictured here. The new ones do have a much lower-profile toe which should make crack climbing better.

I have used Five Ten approach shoes for years, and I have always had the durability issue. They don't hold up well under hard use. I have never had the opportunity to re-sole a pair of these, because other parts of the shoe wear out first, especially the rand around the toe area.

On the positive side, they are very comfortable, climb well, up to around 5.9 for me unless there is a lot of technical edging, they smear fairly well, work well in wide cracks, and are great for 3rd-4th classing around.

One issue I do have outside of durability is the tread pattern. The dots work great on rock, but in sand, mud, snow, or ice, the traction is limited, and this can be a big factor in a shoe touted as an "approach" shoe, as these are all part of a normal approach.

If Five Ten could improve the durability without affecting the usefulness of the shoe, I would wear them almost exculsively.