I never got the opportunity to try out these shoes on the rocks. I wear a size 11.5 in all other shoes and the smallest they had left was a 11.5 so in combination with the aggressive shoe style and laces any slack wouldn't be a problem. Received the shoe and tried them on with on luck to even get the shoe on my foot. I then sent way for a larger size and got the 12.5 and was still to small. My feet were smashed into the shoe completely unable to move toes and only able to wear the shoes for maybe 5 minutes without having to take them off due to he pain. My piece of wisdom is DO NOT! buy these shoes unless you have tried them on and know exactly what size you need.