Unparallel UpMocc Review

For folks who aren't familiar with the brand, Unparallel was founded by the former head of development and production for Five Ten, after the brand was purchased by adidas. The UpMocc is a classic slipper-style climbing shoe that offers an unparalleled blend of affordability and performance. The all-leather construction molds to your foot, and the ultra sticky rubber inspires confidence on marginal footholds. Size them tight for gym performance, or size them up for all-day comfort on long multi-pitch routes.

Comfort

Out of the box, the UpMocc's uppers feel a little stiff and boxy, but they break in quickly, and the unlined uppers will conform to your foot. There aren't any frills to this simple shoe, just a high-quality leather that requires you to break it in to feel comfortable. They do stretch quite a bit, so it's worth making sure they feel snug but not painful if you're looking for a similar fit. From our experience with older shoes of a similar vein, sizing them uncomfortably tight out of the box yields a more performance-fit after the break-in. However, the new rubber toe patch on the Upmocc keeps them from stretching as much as the older Five Ten models.

The toe box on these shoes is a bit narrow, while the rest of the fit is pretty average. We sized them a little larger for all-day trad climbing, but you could size them tight for more performance. Initially, the toe box squished our toes together, but after a break-in period, our feet lay mostly flat in them. We used the UpMocc primarily on long routes, and the ease of popping them off at belays makes them all the better for all-day wear.

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Smearing

The soft-flexing UpMocc uses UnParallel's RH rubber, which is incredibly sticky. For thin, technical smears, it's easy to flatten your foot over a hold and cover it in sticky rubber. Sized tight, this shoe would be good for smeary boulder problems. Sized more comfortably, like we did, it is good for long, moderate multi-pitch climbs. Our lead tester primarily used the UpMocc this summer while guiding moderate routes at Lumpy Ridge, CO, known for its technical granite slabs and cracks.

For sustained efforts on really hard slab climbs, the lack of support does become rather fatiguing. A stiffer shoe will perform a bit better in these situations, although stiffer shoes tend to have less sticky rubber. Whether you prefer stickiness or stiffness for slab climbing is a bit of a personal preference. For the majority of trad climbers on moderate routes, we think this shoe does a fine job.

Edging

The soft flex and soft sticky rubber on these shoes does come at the cost of edging ability. They were manageable for short sections of steep climbing, but sustained efforts on edges left us wishing for more support. Sizing the shoe more aggressively would help, but it still won't make it a performance edger.

This type of shoe is pretty known for “bagging out” over time as the leather stretches. The new toe-box rubber helps prevent this, and we didn't notice much of it after months of guiding in the UpMocc. Compared to other slippers that lose their ability to edge, the more substantial toe box should help this shoe hold up better over time. Still, we don't recommend the UpMocc as a shoe for hard face climbs with lots of technical edging – it works much better for smeary routes.

Pulling

Although the UpMocc has a flat profile, it's soft and flexible, making it more usable than a stiffer flat shoe for pulling and grabbing holds with your feet. Anytime we had to pull a roof, we liked that we could curl our foot into a hold and pull ourselves into the wall. The toe rubber patch aids in toe hooks, and the thin heel allows you to feel marginal heel hooks. However, it's worth noting that for truly performance heel hooking, you'll need to size this shoe tighter, or it will try to pull off your foot.

Sized more aggressively, the UpMocc makes a good all-around gym-climbing shoe. Its flatter profile is comfortable for climbing on the lead and top-rope walls, but its softness allows you to climb in the bouldering cave and smear on volumes on the slab wall. The UpMocc would well serve anyone looking for a budget gym shoe.

Crack Climbing

The slipper is a bit of a cult classic for crack climbing. The UpMocc continues this tradition with a thin toe profile that lets you slip into super-thin jams. The sticky rubber helps gain purchase on featureless rock, like the sandstone of Indian Creek, UT. Another beneficial feature is the lack of laces or Velcro straps – the plastic cinching ring on a Velcro strap can dig into your feet, while laces get mangled by repeated jamming. Compared to a more aggressive shoe, the flat profile of the UpMocc kept our toes from getting too mangled while jamming.

In general, we preferred the UpMocc for climbing thinner cracks up to about hand-size. Much wider than that, and the lack of support made them feel sloppy. For cracks closer to fist size, where your feet may end up more flat than vertical, the lack of stiffness makes it feel like you have less to stand on. For wider off-width cracks, the UpMocc lacks the support for heel-toe cams, and the lack of padding or ankle protection means you'd better have really good technique to keep from chewing up your ankles. The UpMocc is notably great for climbing chimneys because the sticky rubber feels secure as you press your foot into the opposite wall.

Should You Buy the Unparallel UpMocc?

As an affordable all-around climbing shoe, the UpMocc is a great choice. You can size it comfortably for long multi-pitch days, or size it down for climbing in the gym. Its premium, super-sticky rubber inspires confidence on marginal rock holds and sticks equally well to plastic holds in the gym. It's not great at edging, but for everything else, the UpMocc holds its own among the best shoes on the market.

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