Hi,

I am looking at some Five Ten Via Ferrata and I don't know anything about the brand/shoe. Has anybody heard of these shoes? Anybody tried them?

Five Ten are a well respected brand - I think they have a rock shoe pedigree - but for quite some years have been producing approach shoes and the like which generally inherit things like sticky rubber soles and some other features from the rock shoe world so they're a bit different from more mainstream brands. Don't know the specific model you mention though, sorry.

I've got a pair from R+R on sale but only had them a few weeks but have worn them to work everyday since. Build quality etc is a good as the several pairs of 5.10 approach shoes I have had and all have been pretty good. It depends what you want them for I tend to wear them when walking into crags during the summer instead of taking my walking boots. I tend to buy a new pair of approach shoes each year and my innov-8 mudrocs have just died but were excellent also. At the price they are on R+R (not sure how much off hand) and with previous 5.10 experience seemed ideal for what i wanted.

Tried a pair on in Rock and Run in Ambleside at the weekend. They have them for £45 down from I think £70.

Looked very sturdy for an approach shoe, great grip on them.

I didn't end up buying them, just didn't feel great on me straight off. Personally I felt I would get blisters from rubbing around the ankles for a while (quite solid shoe) and have to wear them in. Plus I'd bought crampons already and didn't really NEED them as my 2/3 season boots are fine for anything up to a shambling run.