The Evolv Pontas Lace: A Rock Shoe Review

The Shoe

The Pontas Lace is the lace-up version of the Pontas, the first of super-climber Chris Sharma’s signature shoes from Evolv. Like the Pontas, the Pontas Lace is built on a flat last with an asymmetrical toe profile. The Pontas Lace has cotton lining as well, and like most Evolv shoes has an upper made of a non-stretch synthetic material. The big differences between the Pontas Lace and the Pontas are the laces, obviously, and the midsole.

The Pontas Lace has a 2mm stiff, half-length midsole, and a full-length 1 mm midsole. This provides much more stiffness and edging power than the 1.5 mm ¾ length semi-stiff midsole of the Pontas. The lace-up version also has extended rand rubber around the toebox and the sides of the shoe, to facilitate with jamming, toe hooking, and scumming. This rock shoe retails for $129.

My Experience

I was recently able to try out a pair of the Pontas Lace at a shoe demo. I only got to wear them for a single day of climbing, but it was enough to know that the Pontas Lace is a great shoe and that I want my own pair.

The lace-up version of the Pontas is, unsurprisingly, an edging machine. One thin dime might not even shine these shoes, but it would provide enough edge to comfortably stand on. The Pontas Lace edge as well as any shoes I have ever used.

I was worried that the stiffness and thickness of the midsoles would create a shoe that was good for edging but not much else. I was wrong. While the Pontas Lace is not the most sensitive climbing shoe ever, I was still able to feel the rock. It felt nimble, not clunky, and it smeared quite well. While this rock shoe is best suited to vertical edging, it performed well on steeper routes. The extra rand rubber also helped the Pontas lace to excel at toe hooking, scumming, and foot jamming. While the Pontas Lace is at its best at edging, it is surprisingly versatile.

Bottom Line

The Pontas Lace is a great climbing shoe. If you are looking for a shoe for edging routes or crack climbing, then you should consider the Pontas Lace.

The review of the Pontas that uses Velcro instead of laces is found here. To read reviews of other rock climbing shoes from Evolv, click here, here, here, and here. For a review of a different type of shoe from Evolv, read this. For reviews of climbing shoes from different companies, click here, here, here, here, here, and here. If you need some other rock climbing equipment, you can read reviews of helmets here, here, and here, and a review belay devices here, here, and here.

If you are new to climbing then you should know that getting the right shoes for you is important if you want to have fun and success on the rock. To help make sure you get the right shoes for you, you should read this article to find out how to pick out a pair of climbing shoes, and then read this article for an overview of several good shoes for beginning climbers. Be safe, and have fun climbing!