A Look at the New Unparallel Qubit Climbing Shoe

Unparallel recently released a new model of climbing shoe, the Qubit. Designed with a unique mix of features, the Qubit is perfect for steep sport routes and boulders. It excels at edging and toeing-in on small holds on steep faces, and it’s a toehooking powerhouse. On top of all that, it’s a downright comfortable shoe.

The Qubit sports a full-length sole with plenty of lateral stiffness through the toebox and midfoot. Its sole is made of Unparallel’s proprietary RH rubber, striking a balance between stickiness and durability. The high-volume version of the shoe uses a sole thickness of 4.2mm rubber while the low-volume version uses 3.5mm.

The shoe has an aggressive downturn and features a vegan construction, using an unlined synthetic upper with a single velcro strap closure. This synthetic construction means the Qubit won’t stretch out much over time, maintaining its original structure and fit. The top of the toebox is covered in a thick patch of texturized Unparallel RS rubber – an ultra sticky compound suitable for sticking to just about anything.

Over the past couple of months, I got the chance to test out the Qubit. I wore them on sport routes and boulders in and around Squamish, as well as in the gym. I sized my pair a half-size down from my street shoes, which turned out to be a perfect fit.

The feature I enjoyed most about the Qubit was its balance between stiffness for edging and flexibility for toeing-in on holds. There are many shoe models on the market that are stiff and rigid – which is great for standing on tiny holds – but it makes grabbing onto holds in steep terrain nearly impossible. Others shoe models are soft and flexible, allowing the use of your feet and toes like another pair of hands. However, these bendy shoes are almost always fatiguing for sustained edging and footwork on small holds.

The Qubit gets the balance between edging and grabbing just right. It’s not entirely unique across the market in its ability to both edge and grab, but it’s always a very difficult balance to strike. One feature that helps the stiff Qubit toe-in is a slight bump on the underside of the big toe. The little bump is not obvious at first glance, but it’s there, and when combined with amazing RH rubber, it makes for a powerful grabbing tool, locking onto faraway holds.

The rubberized toe cap is my second favourite feature. The RS rubber is even stickier than the RH, inspiring confidence in even the most marginal toehooks. When I first inspected the Qubit, I thought the thick rubber toe patch would make the shoe feel quite blocky. Upon use, it surprisingly did not feel clunky at all, likely due to a few subtle slits in the patch that makes it better conform to the top of the toes.

Comfort is a feature often overlooked in performance climbing shoes, and I’d say the Qubit is quite a comfortable shoe. For me, it was short break-in period of a few sessions and then the shoe was good-to-go for performance applications. The synthetic material stretches very little, meaning you don’t have to go through an extended uncomfortable break-in period like you do for many leather shoe varieties. The rand over the top of the heel cup keeps the heel in place, but it didn’t crush my Achilles.

The Qubit is definitely not the best shoe for smearing. The thick rubber, relatively low sensitivity, and high stiffness hinder confidence on delicate smears. That being said, the Qubit is not an ultra-stiff shoe – it still has a good amount of bend through the midfoot when pressing down hard. Powerful smears on steep terrain are therefore no issue for the Qubit, and the unbelievably sticky RH rubber is great for maintaining contact on friction-dependent holds. I also wouldn’t recommend the Qubit for crack climbing. While the rubberized toebox and stiffness are assets, the tall toebox prevents solid jams in thinner cracks.