Reviewer Information

• Name: Cora Hussey
• Age: 24
• Gender: Female
• Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
• Weight: 150 lb (70 kg)
• Email address: cahhmc "at" yahoo "dot" com
• Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
• Date: July 23, 2004

Basic Product Information

• Year of Manufacture: 2004
• URL: http://www.fiveten.com/
• Listed weight: Unknown
• Weight as delivered: 16 oz (455 g) per shoe, 32 oz (910 g) per pair
• Size: 9.5 US Unisex (42.5 EU)

The 5.10 Canyoneers are slip-on shoes with buckles for fit, a neoprene collar, mesh uppers, and a sticky rubber sole. They are designed for water sports that also demand cushioning and traction. For more general product information, more visual details, and more reporting on appearance and structure, please see my Initial Report. For more varied use and long term care/maintenance comments, please see my Long Term Report.

Field Testing

• Break-in Period
  • Dates: April - June, 2004
  • Location: The streets of Los Angeles, and around on various small trips in Arizona and Southern California
  • Weather: Varied, but mostly sunny
  • Elevation: Sea level

  Description:
  I wore the Canyoneers every so often around the streets where I live, and took them on a few easy and laid-back trips. I estimate I walked about 10 mi (16 km) over this time, and although most of it was on dry pavement and trail, I also encountered some wet conditions.

  Comments:
  The purpose of this break-in period was to determine how comfortable the Canyoneers were with bare feet, and to get to know them better over some easy trips. During this time, I wore them around work (I work in the field, so this included trips) and while walking places. First, I found they were quite uncomfortable without socks. The back of my Achilles' tendon began to lose skin from rubbing on the neoprene cuff within a few hundred steps.

  Next during the break-in, I brought the Canyoneers canoeing and wore them around on beaches and in the canoe to see how they did while wet. For the few short times they were in the water during this easy phase, they felt fine. They helped me hop around the rocks well, and dried quickly at night. However, they were too warm to wear in the sun while paddling around in a canoe. I had to dip my feet in the river to cool off every so often, and I had switched back to sandals by the end of the trip.

  But these short sessions were just for break in. I did not really give the Canyoneers a good hard test until the trip described below. In other words, these sessions just felt like wearing bulky and overly warm water shoes for things that they were not really meant for.

• Field Testing: Canyoneering in San Antonio
  • Dates: June 20, 2004
  • Location: Mt Baldy, Angeles National Forest, California
  • Weather: Beautiful, 75 F (24 C)
  • Elevation: 6000 to 8000 ft (1800 to 2400 m)

  Description:
  I wore the Canyoneers the whole day. The canyon was a rocky and fun 3B III rated canyon (a day-long canyon with rappelling and lots of water), and it took us about eight hours of rock-bashing shoe abuse to do. There was some rappelling and a lot of scrambling. Most of the scrambling was in water. I wore thin liner socks, and I carried a light daypack.

  Comments:
  The Canyoneers, simply said... ROCKED! Usually, I don't like to shout so, but these shoes totally boosted everything good about the trip -- foot comfort, foot warmth, stability, and (best of all) my confidence. They were still somewhat fiddly to put on and take off due to their stiff straps, but since I could leave them on all day without concern, it was not a problem. I also took them off after the trip and removed their insoles, and they dried completely within four hours (the drying time was accelerated to the four hour time by walking around in them while wet to squish the remaining water out). I will comment on each attribute below.

  Drainage

  I found the draining holes to be surprisingly effective. As the entire yellow upper area is mesh, water rushed in whenever I stepped in any water more than about 2 in (5 cm) deep. However, as soon as I would lift my foot out of the water, I could see streams of water literally spray from the drain holes. The weight of the water in the Canyoneers pushes the water out, and they self-drain really well. My feet did not dry at all the whole trip, but not once did they feel sopping or squishy, and would just be damp soon after exiting the water course.

  Sole Stickiness

  The soles were very sticky, wet or dry. The best part, however, was that they were sticky even when changing from wet conditions to dry conditions. The stickiness was a bit less than full-on climbing shoe rubber, but it fared very well nonetheless.

  I will give two examples of how I enjoyed their stickiness in demanding situations. One example involved butt-sliding down a rather steep and algae-filled chute about 13 ft (4 m) high. We had to land in water and then immediately try to scramble up and out of the super cold water. I steered down the chute Canyoneers-first, and kicked up tons of algae on the way down. Then, I plopped into the gritty hole and proceeded to scramble (with grit and algae covered soles) up the other side. And, the Canyoneers stuck! Not everyone in our group was so lucky, and most of us spent some time roller-skating around on the shelf to clean their shoes off.

  The second example was when we took an exciting detour for fun, and I went ahead to set up a hand line. I found myself on fourth-class slab terrain which normally would have made me antsy (had I been in my old tennis shoes I normally use). But, with the Canyoneers I smeared my way from tree to tree and set up the line pretty easily. The confidence boost that the Canyoneers gave me with their stickiness was much appreciated.

  Due to some previous comments from Canyoneer owners I know, I felt a bit worried about marking up rocks with the black sole. However, I am not much of a foot slider even when rappelling, and thus all the rocks I stepped on and looked at afterwards (which were as many as I could without feeling overly obsessed) had no marks. This made me feel much better, and hopefully the lack of marking will continue.

  Overall, the Canyoneers were quite sensitive and sticky. They smeared (flat-footed) very well, but are somewhat too soft to call them good at edging (side-footing, or toeing-in). The tread itself was never really extensively needed since we were always on slab-type rock or in large gravel, but in the few instances of walking on slippery dirt, the tread worked reasonably well.

  Grit Control

  The neoprene cuff worked very well. On one hand, the white liner socks which I wore were certainly not white at the end of the trip. This certainly spoke to how dirty and grimy the water was, as well as to the fact that small crystals and dirt entered and stayed around. On the other hand, not once did I have to stop and clear rocks out of the Canyoneers. My feet were comfy and protected the whole day.

  Cushioning

  The Canyoneers are soft. They kept my feet comfortable all day. I hopped around on some pretty pointy rocks, and also made some hard landings after jumping off various boulders and ledges. In all cases, my feet felt fine, and by then end of the day they were tired but by no means sore. On the hike in, they felt like wearing really warm tennis shoes -- they were pretty comfortable but not something I would want to log a lot of mileage on.

  Durability

  This is the area I am most concerned about the Canyoneers. After the one long day I used them, they have numerous scrapes and gouges in the EVA midsole, they got a few gashes in the buckle straps, and the threads holding the toe-end of the sole have begun to pull out. I show two such durability issues below. The picture on the left shows two of the heel gouges. The one on the right shows the beginning of the separation of the sole on one side. You can also see in the picture on the right that the EVA has been ripped up enough for the word "Canyoneer" in yellow lettering to all but disappear.

  

  And all of this was from a single day of heavy use. (None of this was present after the break-in period). I am not concerned enough to call customer service yet, but I will keep an eye on the condition of the Canyoneers throughout the summer.

Summary

All in all, after a good bit of easy break-in and one super-demanding day, the Canyoneers have really shone. For the first time in a canyon, I did not have to think about my footwear -- instead, the Canyoneers just worked for me. I am a bit concerned about their durability, but time will tell.

• Upsides for me so far:
  • Nice and sticky
  • Comfortable enough for hard use and all-day wear
  • The neoprene actually keeps grit out
  • The drain holes work really well

• Downsides for me so far:
  • Tightening and removing the stiff straps is fiddly
  • The EVA sole already has some dings and scrapes
  • A bit too warm to wear outside of water in summer

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Reviews > Footwear > Boots > Five Ten Canyoneer > Cora Hussey > Field Report