Approach shoes need to pull double duty: be burly and supportive enough to carry your fat ass up to the crag, but then be easy enough to slip on and off in between pitches or boulder attempts.

The new Five Ten Five Tennie strikes that balance really well—and they look pretty fly while doing it.

I’ve gotten more (good) comments about the retro magenta-green palette of my Five Tennie than just about any other approach shoe I’ve worn. I was skeptical about the color scheme in online photos, but they look much better (I think) in real life. Note they also come in far more traditional colors, and if you’re a totally boring person you might like those instead.

Five Tennie Performance

Performance wise, the Five Tennie is a supportive, comfortable, no frill shoe. There’s not a lot of complicated technology to talk about with this shoe. The sole is basic. The tread pattern is basic. The lacing system is basic. Essentially this is just a normal sneaker with a bit of sticky rubber on the sole.

The one aspect I really like is the sock-like upper that hugs my foot without the need to tie down my laces tight. This simple feature makes it so I can slip the Five Tennie on and off without bothering to tie or untie my laces, which is obviously nice when you’re doing pitches with your partner. Who would you rather climb with, someone who spends 10 minutes tying and untying their shoes while sitting on your rope tarp as you respectfully wait to just pull the damn rope? Or someone who doesn’t do that. Yeah, I want to climb with that person.

Sizing

I normally wear a size 10 street shoe and with the Five Tennie, this size fit perfectly. I’ve read lots and lots of online comments from people who say that this shoe runs really large. Although that wasn’t my experience, I’d recommend you beware. You might want to order your size, as well as the next two sizes down when you purchase online and then return whichever ones don’t fit. (Let’s be honest, no one buys from stores anymore).

$120 at Adidas