The idea of reviewing the Evolv ‘Rockstar' ladies shoes brought me out in cold sweats, since I am most definitely a boulderer preferring a hideously steep roof to a balancey slab any day. However since Evolv designed the shoe to "perform well on cracks, sport climbs and multi-pitch climbs" I roped in some climbing friends and set out on the coldest day in April to a Baltic, snowy Ilkley Quarry, or to put it another way perfect grit weather.
Normally I would expect my freezing numb toes to be painfully jammed into my bouldering shoes however the ‘Rockstars' are a great fit allowing blood to my toes whilst fitting closely. The sizes are slightly smaller than English shoe sizes so I wear a 39 shoe and have the ‘Rockstars' in a 38. The shoes have a great padded tongue and short fat laces, which I could tie easily despite having numb fingers.
With trepidation I attempted to warm up on Old Crack (VS, 4b), challenging the shoes on polished footholds and jamming in the crack. The sole rubber is firm and supportive and the full skirt of rubber provides excellent support for the sides of the foot making jamming much more pleasurable than I remember. Once down I was in no hurry to take the ‘Rockstars' off - proving their comfort even in freezing weather but with some of my initial scepticism remaining I wanted to challenge if Evolv had sacrificed performance for comfort.
Guillotine (E6, 6b) was the perfect test piece with tiny edge foot holds and dodgy smears for feet and dynamic moves (at least for the short) meaning trusting the feet is critical for success. The firm sole rubber gives great edging precision and provided support for the whole foot when using the very small edge foot holes. However, there is still some flex in the sole meaning I could smear when needed and the rubber proved to be sticky even in the cold. It took a few attempts to perfect the strange moves on this problem during which I really trusted the ‘Rockstars' and following my success on attempt five I was still in no hurry to take them off.
For a final test and battering, I tried the moves on a new route in the quarry -Optimus Prime (E5, 6b). There really are no feet for a short person on the first crux of this route and I had no problems getting the ‘Rockstars' to stick on the smears go after go after go. The colour of these shoes is a little loud for me but at least you can't miss them and they photograph really well against grey, grim grit.
The flat design of the shoes and firm, sticky, supportive sole combine all day comfort with great performance jamming, edging and smearing. However, this means they are definitely a shoe for routes and not a wise choice for overhanging and much steeper sport climbs or bouldering. Saying this I've just returning from three weeks bouldering on granite in California and I found myself wishing I‘d included my ‘Rockstars' in my kit for the hard edging on slabs that my more flexible and aggressive bouldering slippers were too soft for, therefore my ‘Rockstars' have become a permanent fixture in my bouldering bag.
