UKC

Thinking 5.10 tennie...

Any advance on that?

Don't really want to take boots and climbing boots!

In reply to Wilbur: Why would you need to take two pairs of boots, none of the climbing is hard enough to need climbing shoes.

It gets done in all sorts of footwear, but a lightweight boot or any approach shoe with a decent sole or even a pair of fell shoes would be fine.

In reply to Wilbur: stiff solid climbing trainer with some comfort,
guide tennie may be a bit lacking in underfoot comfort, but good on everything else
alternatives
aku stone
kayland vertigo k
raichle all degree low
la sportiva B5 or cirque pro or new trango lite low
tnf buildering or similar
montrail d7 if you can find them still

that lot will give you something to go on

p.s. ive used D7 for lots of scrambling and easy climbs, wish i could find another pair, cirque pro will probably be my next unless the trango lite low tips it

In reply to gear boy:

cheers

what's the sizing like on the montrail d7?

In reply to gear boy: They have them on planetfear. Didn't last long though...already down to just 3 sizes left.

In reply to Wilbur: Agree Montrail D7s. Very good. Jackson Sports site suggest they still have them.

http://www.jackson-sports.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=4592

In reply to Wilbur:

Ones that fit and that you can do a long day in the hills with. You won't need specialist "scrambling" shoes.

In reply to Wilbur: i bought it close for climbing use, so i think i had uk 8 or 8.5, toe was close to end but didnt bang much as laced well usually 9/9.5 in salamon/merrel stuff
fit narrow on toe but stretched in nice and lacing was excellent,
have happily done hvs leads on grit in them, but have done that in mtn/crag masters from 5.10 too

In reply to Wilbur: I did the Clach Glas Blaven traverse and the In Pinn in a pair of Boreal Tempest SL. Great grip and well comfy. I'd have no hesitation using them for the whole ridge in the right conditions.... if i was fit enough.

In reply to bawjaws: I did the whole ridge (solo) in Trezeta GTX lightweight walking boots, but changed into my rock slippers for the technical sections. If I did it again, I'd probably use approach shoes/trainers (but being a bit of a scaredycat, I'd probably still change into my slippers!).

In reply to Marc C: I did that for the TD gap. However, I've not done the whole ridge in one go, about a third or so in one go was knackering enough!

I've never felt the need to "approach" the ridge with any specialist footwear, though with hindsight, flippers and bog-snokelling gear would have been appropriate on one or two occasions.

In reply to Wilbur:

Mad Rock do an lightweight boot soled with their rubber, but I've yet to find a UK stockest to try a pair on. They seem like a good idea mind.

In reply to Wilbur:

I think a pair of kitten heels should be fine for the walk in, with something from the Manolo Blanik Technical range for the rige itself - pehaps his lemon yellow leather slingbacks with tanzanite detailing on the buckle.

In reply to John Rushby:

i only ask because my second-hand jesus creepers stolen from Ghandi's chief follower many years ago are starting to look a little the worse for wear... obviously.

Anyone know the size and fit of five ten tennies???

I.e. i have size ten feet - would size ten of the tennies do? I can't find them in t'shops...

In reply to Wilbur:
Most of my shoes are size 10 (sometimes I go up to 10 1/2), but my Tennies are size 11. Don't suppose thats much help though.

In reply to deepsoup:

bugger!

In reply to Wilbur:
It depends in a way on how you will be doing it. The walk in can be very boggy, so I'd maybe take some sealskinz socks and another pair of normal socks if you were just wearing tennies as you will get plastered on the approach and way out to the Sligachan. Can be a bit crap having soaking wet shoes caked in mud with soaking wet socks, especially as tennies have very limited shockabsorbancy for a long day so you want your feet to be as good nick as possible.
If however you are taking two days, or someone is picking up your bivvi gear from the start of the ridge, then use the tennies for the ridge, and have some waders for the approach! Having said that I've done long link ups scrambling in N wales and skye with just tennies, and found the weight difference was a real benefit at the end of the day. I'd maybe try a long ten hour day scrambling and climbing in snowdonia to test out how your feet feel in them, and indeed your ankles as they will take a bit of a bashing from the rock, and will need to be strong as you wont have much ankle support.
I'm off to skye this summer, and will be taking my tennies, but with some glue to stick them back together after they fall apart again
chiz

In reply to chiz:

cheers. good plan on the sealskinz front...

am in snowdonia in April first so i will try them out then..

In reply to Wilbur: Yeah i might be going for the ridge soon but planning to do it in my old KSB boots; I am happy enough leading server in them.... not done a lot of research yet but how hard are the hard parts of the ridge....I.E are they harder than a server or the Inn Pin as i did that in my boots a while ago?????

In reply to Richard ff:

You may need to translate that into something vaguely resembling English if you're expecting a proper answer, but the detailed description in Gordon Stainforth's book is very useful.

In reply to Richard ff:

i hear the TD gap is briefly HS..

In reply to Wilbur: That's the grade its given in the Rockfax guide

In reply to Wilbur:

Really, I asked I would have said V.Diff, Severe at most. I lead it in Scarpa Manta's, although it was a while ago.

In reply to Wilbur:
it may of course be bone dry on the boggy bits.....but it is skye. If you are staying at Glen Brittle or have a motor etc take a choice of footwear so any recce trips/water stashing is done in another pair so you dont soak your shoes before the event. scrambling for 6 hours in soaking wet shoes aint fun! and you can tailor the shoes you wear to how wet it has been

A long day in snowdonia would be a good practice, maybe start with an easy solo route up tryfan, bristly ridge and then keep stringing scrambles going up and then down. You need the down bits as thats when your toes will hurt most, and otherwise you'll run out of mountain! Knowing you've done a really long day before will help you no end when you're on the ridge, just try and keep off the grass and on the scree and rock as much as possible, look for at least eight-ten hours, plus a long walk out to the Vaynol timed to arrive just after last orders?

Preferably go on a classic wet welsh weekend wearing a blindfold and carrying a demagnetised compass and a straw for sucking water out the moss!
chiz