La Sportiva TX Canyon

I’ve not exactly been an early adopter when it’s come to canyon shoes. It took me years to move away from the old Dunlop Volleys, and like most former users I’ll have to own up to waxing far too lyrical, far too loudly, and on far too many occasions about their capacity to stick to slimy rock. When I finally did move it was to a generic trail running/walking/canyoning shoe (La Sportiva Raptor) which worked pretty well for most of my outdoor pursuits and had pretty good grip too, now I come to think about it. The Raptors served me well for several seasons, although I was needing to replace them fairly regualry. I was aware that canyon boots existed, but having a long narrow foot the Bestards wern’t really an option for me.

The TX Canyon boot became available about the same time as my last set of Raptors shuffled off their mortal coil and to my great delight they fit me well*. I have given them a pretty good run this season (must easily be 40+ canyon days) and been very impressed. They meet, and perhaps exceed, the volley stick test on all the surfaces you can expect to encounter in a canyon and on the walks in and out. They drain quickly and usually dry enough overnight that I don’t feel like I’m putting my feet into wet boots in the morning. Initially I wasn’t sold on the velcro ankle closures, but after seeing them protect the knots in the laces and not having to retie a boot this season I think I’m on board after all. No blisters or hot spots, but the stiff soles and supportive uppers took a bit of getting used to, I’m not usually a boot person so this might have been more noticeable to me.

My guess is that these are mainly designed with non sandstone canyons in mind. For the Kanangra canyons I have done in them, I found these to be basically spot on, but I’ve been a little surprised at just how much sand they can gather in the classic Blue Mountains Sandstone canyons. Don’t get me wrong, it’s manageable and I don’t think I have needed to stop to empty them before hitting a change spot or an exit track, but it’s enough that they could benefit from some sort of a gaiter.

*Be wary with La Sportiva sizing, they are remarkably varied even among the TX family and just because you are a 45.5 in the TX4 does not mean you are a 45.5 in the TX2 or TX Canyon…

Just want the numbers?

• 503g per boot (size 44)
• Expect to pay about $300

What we love about it…

• The grip
• Their durability
• The drainage

If we could change just one thing…

In the sandstone canyons of the Blue Mountains these fill with sand surprisingly quickly and so if we could change one thing it would be add the sort of gaiter found on other makes of canyon boot like the Bestard.

So how do you rate it?

I would certainly buy another pair (doubly so if they had a gaiter) and I still look forward to putting them on for a canyon, so I’m giving these 4 “Stiff soled, high topped, velcro closed” stars out of 5 stars.