UKC

I bought myself a pair of La Sportiva Pythons in 40 1/2 (my street shoe is 44-43 1/2) as my second pair of shoes. I was looking for an agressive shoe but not too agressive and my friend recommended them. My friend recommended me to go down 2 1/2 - 3 sizes down because they stretch alot. Now, i've been breaking them in for the past three days and they are already stretching. My problem is that i can hardly walk because the toes are curled up in the toe box and it really hurts the top of my toes. I expected it to hurt, But not this much. When im not walking, the shoes fit snug and doesnt hurt. How do you know when they fully stretched? And are they the right size?

In reply to CallumKX: if they don't hurt when you climb there fine as they are not walking shoe!!

In reply to CallumKX:

i think the general rule is to go for a shoe that is 2 sizes smaller.
they need to be very tight but your feet will ajust to the pain and keep you toe nails a short as you can that helps i find.

In reply to blakejacob:



There's no such thing as a general rule for climbing shoe fit because they are all different shapes and the sizing regimes differ significantly between manufacturers. My last purchase came down to a choice between two pairs - one La Sportiva, one Red Chilli. Same style of shoe, exactly the same fit - but two full sizes apart.

In reply to CallumKX:


Presumably you bought them for climbing not walking. If you can climb in them and better than you could climb in shoes that hurt less then they're probably ok and doing what you bought them for. One problem with really curled down toes is that bit by bit they get mashed when you fall especially while bouldering. I have dreadful toe pain these days when I climb, almost certainly the result of thousands of small hits on the the mat and a few big ones wearing toe crunching shoes. I'd gain a lot more performance today having toes that work properly than I ever did back then by wearing too tight shoes.

They're fully stretched when they stop stretching (or in the case of old Pink Anasazis when the stitching starts to fail to relieve the remaining tension). Sorry, seems facetious but it's not meant to, if they're too small they may never fit you right. On the other hand, 3 days is not a lot of breaking in time, you might be lucky.

These days I buy them snug but not painful, with use and age they get a little baggy but it makes no real difference at the noddy grades I climb.

jk

In reply to CallumKX:

Your shoes are too small. You should purchase a pair of shoes that are comfortable and don't destroy your feet. Trust me Ive been there, got the T shirt and the bunions. I now buy shoes that are the same size, and in some cases bigger than my usual walking shoe size. The shoe wont make you a better climber all though it may give you a small advantage on steeper ground. A painfully small shoe will hinder your climbing and wont last as long as the excess pressure on the joints of the shoe will eventually give way.

In reply to CallumKX: Why do you need an aggressive shoe? What grades are you climbing. Anything below E3, V5 or F7a and there is just no need. Anything over that and you have to remember that the likes of Fawcett were putting up harder routes in shoes we would laugh at today.

Something that fits well is usually amble for all but the hardest of lines. Why spoil the enjoyment of climbing by imposing a constant pain in your feet whilst you climb?

Also recommend you try wearing socks. They stop your (sweaty) feet slipping inside the shoe as well as reducing smells.

In reply to CallumKX: It's really not just about size, and just cos someone else loves the shoe doesn't mean it's right for you. I have pythons and i love em. My street shoe size is about 43.5 as well and my pythons are 38.5s, and they don't hurt anywhere, and didn't even when they were new. It's not just about size it's about shape, if your ratio of toe length to the rest of your foot is wrong then your toe knucles'll be jammed up in the wrong part of the shoe and it'll hurt, if your feet are too wide it'll hurt with your toes crammed together(pythons are super narrow) and any number of other ways the shoe can just be the wrong shape for your foot. Sounds to me like they're the wrong shape more than they're too small.