UKC

Evening all,

Lost track of what's a good shoe for climbing hard stuff at the moment? Looking for something that'll do hard trad and bouldering comps mostly. Absolutely vital it's a good slab shoe (cause I love slabs) but also able to do steep stuff. Don't want to spend a fortune. Ideally lace up.

Cheers,
Greasey

Edit: How tight is too tight? Can you still smear up friction stuff in very small shoes? I've never had a pair of proper foot crushers.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks: what do you have now? And what's hard?

In reply to wbo:

I've got a pair of boreals atm. Nice shoes but a bit slippy if I'm honest.

Hard as in 6a british tech. OK so not that hard but hard by my standards.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

You want a shoe that will do hard trad and bouldering comps?.......................... I rolled my eyes, sorry =P

Is there such a shoe? In my mind for bouldering comps generally you would want something aggressive like a Solution or Shaman or something else with a downturn.

Trad generally you want an all-arounder shoe that is okay at everything, unless you know exactly the route and what it needs. Something with a downturn is unlikely to do all that well on crack climbing or slabs.

you don't need tight shoes, that's a total myth (one i used to subscribe to, until I finally found the shoe that fits my feet like a glove)

In summary: get something like a VCR anasazi etc

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:
Shauna coxsey climbs in Anasazi Velcro and does alright

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:


A shoe that fits.






To be honest, fit is the most important thing and rest are marketing hype and what you're used to. For boudering though, people seem to use slip-on - velcro hybrids (like Ocun Oxi, La Sportiva Python, 5.10 Team) or velcro shoes.

For roped climbing, depends... short single pitch stuff, the same stuff you use for bouldering. For longer, velcro or even laces (if you have funny feet).

For what it is worth, purple 5.10 Quantums have worked like a charm on harder roped climbing (mid 7s), but then again I also managed to climb some low 7 trads on my all-day alpine rock shoes.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:


On their own? I think you want the UKRobotics forum.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

Old style Quantum's (not the new one's - they're pants and broke my heart
Anasazi pinks
Scarpa instinct lace
Miura lace

Should all do a passable job of both.

Obviously specialist shoes for each might be better but the reality is Ned fee seems to climb everything in a pair of moccs so it shouldn't make that much difference to us mortals!

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:
Have you tried the Instinct VS? It seems to work on everything.
If you are mainly a gritstone climber get the softer blue version for those smears. Harder version if you climb on other types of rock.
Also most of all make sure it fits..

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:


Almost all of them, there's very few stinkers out there from the main brands. In the spirit of recommending what you wear, I have Vapour Vs and have climbed up into the Font 7s in them and done long trad pitches in them too - never really paid much heed to them which I suppose is an endorsement. Possibly not the best smearer out of the box but they soften up a treat.

In reply to zmv:

Thanks for the genuine advice people. I tried on a pair of anasazia (or however you spell it) pinks and really liked them, bit unaffordable for me though. After trying to crack climb in my Velcros I definitely want laces! I'll have a look at the shoes you guys suggest see if I can find somewhere to try them on.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

Oh and I apologise for suggesting I could go to an amateur bouldering comp in my trad shoes! Unfortunately I don't have the cash to have rock shoes for each.

Brace yourself, I don't have a pair of approach shoes for walking to the comp either.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:



Don't worry, but stating comps often means serious business... at least thats how I read it.

Amateur comps are generally more for fun... so wear what ever fits ya. As said, I do have a few specialist shoes for bouldering (Pythons, Teams and Solutions), but then again indoors and sometimes outdoors, I have ended up using other shoes, like my Moccasyms (trad shoe) or even old Millet Hybrids (alpine rock shoe). With the exception oh heel hooking or the tiniest crystals for footholds (outdoors), they haven't really hindered me much (mid to high F6s). And indoors even less, bar the heel hookin'.

Oh, and remember that resoling your shoes about doubles their lifespan and generally cost less than half of a new pair of shoes. Just do it early enough, before they got big freakin' holes on the sole. Sure, they most likely won't be as good as when slightly worn in... but for majority that really isn't a thing to worry about.