UKC

Im certain this is actually happening and not me just being paranoid. Lately ive been noticing more and more people giving me weird looks or glances and i belive ive narrowed it down to the fact im wearing socks with climbing shoes. Given that everyone else ive looked at so far doesnt do this its the only thing i can think of that causes this type of reaction from people, either that or the harness just makes my bum look huge. Personally if i had a choice i wouldnt wear socks but unfortunately im allergic to something in the shoe that makes my feet come out in small, itchy blisters and if i scratch them i get it on my hands too.

So my question is, is wearing short sport socks with climbing shoes a taboo subject? Am i breaking some sort of climbing fashion code for which i should be mocked and ridiculed? Should i be sockless and endure endless amounts of itching and blistering?

In reply to Dave Park: http://www.alainrobert.com/photosmontagne/ar-3-buoux-8a.jpg
nuf said!

In reply to Dave Park:

Nah, Dave Macleod wears socks, and look what he climbs.

Josh.

Perhaps thats just it then, sock wearing is for the 'elite' and im just a lowly f6a climber, hence the ridicule!

In reply to abarro81:

<squeeky voice>Solo!!</squeeky voice>

In reply to Dave Park: Are they thick red ones, rolled over the top of your boots and accommodating the bottom half of your trousers?

In reply to Dave Park: What you have to remember is that many climbers are complete self centred nobends, not to mention fashion freaks. You will find this is especially the case at indoor walls. Tell them to go fcuk themselves, it's not about fashion it's about CLIMBING...

Nope, they are plain black sport/ankle socks.

In reply to Dave Park:

Socks stop yer boots stinkin'. Never again will I feel the strange gloop of old, cold sweat and dead skin oozing between my toes as I squelch towards the first route of the day...

Although some people prefer it like that.

In reply to Dave Park:

Screw the naysayers. I've been climbing in socks all winter because it's too cold otherwise. My shoes aren't technical enough and I don't climb hard enough that a thin pair of socks is going to make a difference. But in warmer weather and in my new shoes it will be socks off because I do prefer climbing without them. Just climb as you want and ignore what anyone else thinks

BTW Are your shoes leather or synthetic? It could be that changing from one to the other might take away whatever it is you're reacting to. Or maybe giving them a wash if it's perhaps the dye?

In reply to Dave Park:

Yes, it's unfashionable, as you noticed. Despite it being unfashionable I wear socks. Hardly something to worry about.

In reply to Dave Park: But do you wear socks with sandals?

In reply to GraemeA at home:


Nononononononono

but given the way my sandals (and soles of my feet) quickly develop an unhealthy ming in anything like warm and humid conditions perhaps I should. It's certainly made a difference to my rock shoes.

I have two pairs of rock shoes - my 'comfies' which I can wear with socks for longer mountain routes - when I have them on my feet all day, and my 'stinkies' which are condemned to the wall or short outcrops - and banned from within 20 feet of most people!

In reply to Dave Park:

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you!

Are you sure you haven't muddled your pills up?

In reply to Dave Park:
BLACK !!!!! Yeuch! that's it then - wear WHITE ones, and take off the knotted handkerchisf whilst you're at it.

In reply to Dave Park:
My mates take the mick but I've noticed more of them trying it (and I in turn copied a mate, who I admit to ridiculing prior to this, for wearing socks).

I don't think it has affected my (generally low level anyway) climbing. But it has had the result of my feet being much less stinky. I can't stand that rotten foot odour in the climbing wall changing area! Or even when people have half-slipped their shoes off to belay at the wall. (It isn't so bad outside; maybe it's the increase in air circulation.)

I'd just go for it - wear socks and be proud! And pretend not to notice when small children point and laugh...

In reply to Dave Park: I'm sorry but if you aren't wearing socks, tweed trousers and a wooly jumper then you aren't a real climber.

In reply to Dave Park:
Think the thing I don't understand is sports socks. Do you mean the really bulky type? I wouldn't wear those with climbing shoes as I wouldn't be able to feel what I am standing on at all.

I do have some thin socks (they are meant to be wicking socks for wearing under thick socks, but they seem to be excellent for wearing with climbing shoes)which I use when climbing outside when it is freezing.

I've taken to wearing thin socks on grit after too many bleeding ankle wounds - or maybe thats due to my lack of technique...

In reply to Dave Park: wear them outdoors if it's cold, yes.

In reply to mike_hough_uk:

I had the same problem when I bought some of the modern climbing shoes... they don't protect your ankles like EBs or PAs used to. In France people often scoff at my socks and say that this is typically English.

In reply to Pinky: They are thin ankle socks, quite discreet but you can still notice them.

In reply to climbingpixie:

i wear tights with my climbing shoes if it's really cold, that's M&S opaque thick tights (not the woolly ones). Makes no difference to climbing shoes and keeps me warmer.

In reply to rock waif: I thought I'd posted on this thread already but it must have been another sock thread :oS

I wear socks with my climbing shoes if it's cold. If its hot I'll sometimes wear those pop sock thingies (tights material) cos they help to keep the swelling down so my shoes stay a bit more bearable for longer periods!

When climbing indoors I don't bother with either.

In reply to Dave Park: I wear sock occasionally if it's cold but i'm thinking of going full time as I'm fed up the revolting stink climbing shoes get.

In reply to Dave Park: I am a sock wearer and proud of it. P.s. sandals are for gays or Jesus

In reply to tatty112: I bet you wear thongs though...

In reply to marie: ah the barbed wire thong...ouch....or even worse the razor blade thong

In reply to tatty112:

You must have really tough toes...

In reply to marie: nah flip flops are a bit poofy

In reply to Dave Park:It means you won't get trench foot hopefully if you wear socks,some staff in a climbing shop when i was 15 were telling me about some poeple they knew who got trench foot from sweaty shoes,they must have kept wearing the same shoes for ages.
Cheers
Tim

In reply to GraemeA at home:

Of course I do. People would see how dirty my feet are if I didn't wear socks...

||-)

In reply to Dave Park: I get funny looks when wearing my sock too!

I also get thrown out of places because of some bloody law saying indecent exposure!

Humph!

In reply to Glyn Jones:
Don't the Ewe's rear hoofs hurt your feet whilst down your socks?

In reply to Dave Park: ive got an old pair of shoes that have stretched so much i can wear thick hiking socks with them in the winter, i may look silly but i have nice warm feet while everyone else is freezing

In reply to rock waif:


That was my plan this winter but I discovered that I didn't like wearing tight with my shoes, they annoyed me more than socks. Possibly because mine are the woolly type? Instead, I cut the feet off my tights and wear them as long johns under my climbing trousers.

O.P. You can't look any sillier than I did out climbing the other week. My trousers were too long so I turned my long johns up and tucked the bottoms of my trousers into them at mid-calf level. And there's photographic evidence of this

In reply to dek:

the sock isn't on my foot

In reply to Glyn Jones:

:-0

Surely that would hurt more?

In reply to climbingpixie: yes if their hooves were down there!

But they are not, their hooves are down my wellies

In reply to Glyn Jones:

Doh, of course! Sorry, my lack of sheep-shagging experience is really showing now. You'd never think I spent 8 years living in a small Cumbrian village

In reply to climbingpixie: You probably know more about horses then!

In reply to Glyn Jones:
Is that your 'c*ck sock' then?

In reply to dek: Almost an hour to figure it!

In reply to Glyn Jones: Nah...busy washing me socks why didnt you say Willie Warmer?

In reply to dek: There were ladeez present!

In reply to Glyn Jones:

Sheep laydeez?

In reply to dek: Only woolly coated women

In reply to Glyn Jones:

Yeahhh! Welsh then?..or Aberdonian...

In reply to Dave Park: Climbing has become full of fashion conscious people, I almost feel as if some people climb just for the image. If you want to wear socks and it doesn't effect your climbing, you go for it. If it's OK for Dave M it's OK for anybody.

In reply to GraemeA at home:

Sandals + Socks = Beard

In reply to Dave Park:

Socks are fine, there are plenty of shit hot climbers who wear socks; its stops you shoes smelling, it keeps your feet warm in winter and keeps the midges off in summer. Not wearing socks is fine too, whats not fine is the idiots who want to determine what suits others.

In reply to Dave Park: I wear socks because I find it more comfortable and less smelly. I get looks but couldn't give a toss. It is usually by some fashion victim who can't even tie a knot properly.

In reply to Dave Park:
>im wearing socks with climbing shoes




You disgust me...

Yeah, the benefit is that it stops that disgusting slime from forming but the shoes can still smell pretty bad. Its quite surprising that some people can be so small minded about trivial things, especially when its hard to look good wearing tight shoes, harness, helmet and chalk all over you.

In reply to Dave Park:
I've always worn socks and even worse tuck my trousers into them. Don't people get cold feet? I suppose its a bit like those guys you see waiting for a bus on a friday night in January dressed in a tee shirt, its more important to look trendy than avoid exposure.