Black Diamond Women's Momentum Climbing Shoe Review

Throughout the past few years Black Diamond has been making a push towards the climbing shoe market. Black Diamond has pretty much dominated the US climbing market when it came to quickdraws, cams, and ice tools. Previously named Chouinard Equipment, Black Diamond has been at the forefront of the climbing industry for decades and could be considered a household name after the olympics in 2020.

Upon hearing that Black Diamond was coming into the shoe market, I was a bit skeptical. Why move away from the likes of La Sportiva or Scarpa? They're tried and true. Their athlete roster speaks for itself.

But then again, so does Black Diamond's. When I got my hands on a pair of the Women's Momentum Climbing Shoe I immediately found a few friends to put them through the wringer.

We first went to pull on some indoor plastic. These shoes are marketed as a pair that you'll be able to use from gym to crag so why not test both of those locations? The first thing we liked out of the gate was the comfort these shoes provided. You can literally where them for an hour at the gym if you size them properly. This makes them a great candidate for some mellow multi-pitches.

The aesthetic of these were a huge plus as well. I find that climbing shoe companies primarily design shoes with technical performance in mind. While this is totally understandable, it doesn't hurt to add in some good looking exterior design. For instance, the mesh design is very sleek but also offers a good amount of breathability and stretch to the shoe.

The shoe performed quite well on more vertical walls rather than on overhung stuff. This makes sense since the shoe is pretty flat with almost zero down turn.

Later on that week, we headed down to Indian Creek in Utah for a weekend full of splitter and ripped up hands. This is where the testers said the shoe performed the best. It's slim profile allowed for really solid foot jams. The benefit of it's comfort came back once again on the rope stretcher routes.

Overall, the shoe is well crafted with a modern design in mind. Both testers did say that they found the shoe fit to be a bit narrow and would not recommend it to somebody with a wider foot. This shoe also seems to be oriented to newer climbers, maybe somebody getting their first pair of shoes. For that, I would totally recommend it. If you've been climbing for a few years already, I'd encourage you to take a look at the Black Diamond Focus or Shadow.