crack shoes

[sk]

O started climbing in sprtiva enduros brd. lasted shoes but found that they didn't have enough flexability for smaller cracks. I couldn't climb a .10 finger crack in them, so I bought mythos. and yes there is pain when climbing. and when you foot strenght will help... I don't think there is ONE shoe that does all things, so I am working on having an arsinale of shes... that said on a climb where I don't know what I am going to get or there is a variety in crack sizes, I want my mythos even if my feet do hurt at the end if the day.

[scott_harpell]

I am working on having an arsinale of shes

 

wemmon

[Greg_W]

Krueger's actually got a point here.

You say that like you're surprised -- as if I never have a point?

 

I hate to state the obvious, but it's usually the first thing overlooked ...

 

Just mildly shocked we saw the same side of something. Climbing faster does minimize pain.

[jkrueger]

I am working on having an arsinale of shes

 

wemmon

 

I think RuMR has more pairs of climbing shoes than I have biners!

[jkrueger]

Just mildly shocked we saw the same side of something. Climbing faster does minimize pain.

Miracles are like talent -- you have to start off small before you can create a masterpiece.

[sk]

I am working on having an arsinale of shes

 

wemmon

it is all about having the proper tool for the job

[Greg_W]

Just mildly shocked we saw the same side of something. Climbing faster does minimize pain.

Miracles are like talent -- you have to start off small before you can create a masterpiece.

 

[shapp]

My 2 cent:

the shoe does not matter for hand and bigger cracks as long as it is comfy and your toes must be flat with no crunching or crowding, this fit will give you the most comfort in hand and bigger cracks. The only other thing to consider is durability, obviously a stout leather boot will last longer than a slipper, but I still climb all cracks in a blown out old pair of 5.10 anaszi's (best show ever in my opinion cause the fit is so good for my foot shape). For finger cracks use slippers as many others have stated.

[Sabertooth]

My 2 cent:

the shoe does not matter for hand and bigger cracks as long as it is comfy and your toes must be flat with no crunching or crowding, this fit will give you the most comfort in hand and bigger cracks. The only other thing to consider is durability, obviously a stout leather boot will last longer than a slipper, but I still climb all cracks in a blown out old pair of 5.10 anaszi's (best show ever in my opinion cause the fit is so good for my foot shape). For finger cracks use slippers as many others have stated.

 

Anasazis are comfortable? They are just cut so small for supreme edging performance. Maybe you just got your's sized bigger. I hate mine on cracks, only use them on slabby to vertical sport.

 

Any shoe with a stiff toe box and a board last that fits well should work well for crack climbing.

[shapp]

If you haven't noticed feet come in all shapes and sizes, mine fit the anasazi's like a glove. I actually have two pairs in two sizes, tight pair and a comfy pair. I hear a lot of talk about Boreal aces. I tried some on many years ago and they just didn't fit my feet. Like wise a lot of the Sportiva shoes don't fit me well either. Bottom line is don't listen to what shoe people tell you to buy, its the personal fit, workmanship quality, and rubber type that should drive the purchase so try on as many pairs as you can before you buy that all day alpine crack shoe

[John Frieh]

First and foremost, figure out which shoe company fits you best. I’m going to guess you fit well in La Sportiva or Five Ten. La Sportiva makes a few crack models: the female mythos being one (the green one) and the focus being another (I’m assuming you want to stay away from high tops). Both are slip lasted; generally these days most high performance all day trad/crack shoes are slip lasted, but have more midsole (when compared to sport shoes) to give some support, but still make them smearable. Five ten offers the hueco as their all day high performance shoe. That isn’t to say the Moccasym isn’t an all day shoe; one could wear one all day, but ones feet would be more tired (you would have to condition your feet). Speaking of shoe types, broad lasted shoes (like the boreal ace mentioned) don’t smear well at all. They are more suited for the wider (hands) cracks. A good example would be my friend who has a pair of aces, but never takes them to smith as most of the crack climbing there requires more feet out of the crack smearing instead of the repetition hand feet plug fest of Indian creek or some routes in the valley.

 

If your interest is only in hand cracks, I would steer you away from board lasted shoes. If you hope to climb just hand cracks, you won’t be full on jamming you feet; usually it’s more of a smear or slight twist of the toe at the edge of the crack (as you can’t get your feet in further). This type of jamming will only be uncomfortable if you downsize your shoes too much (which tends to happen a lot to people crossing over from sport to trad/alpine). As you get into the bigger sized cracks and subsequently jam more of your foot, you might get some pain, but it will go away with time. The pain is due more to undeveloped foot muscles and lack of experience with the technique (at least that is what it was for me). A good way to develop foot crack technique is after climbing a crack, down climb it (assuming you top roped it). This will force you to feel foot jams more without always being to look at them and will only help your foot endurance. And its good practice for when your partner drops one of the rope 4 raps up a route.

 

One question for you though: what is your idea of alpine… that is what are some mtns you’d like to climb? Depending on the route, your footwear selection might change. A few examples:

For thin cracks, slippers are the best way to go. For anything larger, I own two pairs of Scarpa Marathons: a pair of 44s, which is one full size down from my ice climbing boot size/street size (also scarpa): in this pair my toes comfortable touch the ends (slightly bent). The other pair is a half size down (44.5): these I can wiggle my toes easily and could maybe squeeze a sock in (though I will admit I can’t climb as hard with these especially if the footwork is technical). For cragging to alpine cragging (WA pass) I wear the full size down pair. For climbs where I only want to take one pair of shoes (reduce clutter on the harness) and will rap back down to my approach shoes, I take the bigger pair and wear them on the descent (i.e. anything on Snow Creek Wall, Burgundy Spire, Chianti, etc.). Generally I can walk in the bigger pair without too much discomfort (the foam in the heel helps a lot). Lastly, I have an old pair of generator (high top scarpas from the 90s) that have been resoled enough times they are fairly roomy. These I can get a sock in them and on some climbs (Early Morning Spire, Forbidden West Ridge, etc.) I wear the rock shoes with socks in side the plastic boot shells (I leave the liners at home). I found this works great and I can leave the shells at the start of the technical section and return to them on the way down. With in the past year I have almost completely stopped doing this on most climbs now as I got a pair of Garmont Dragontails: approach shoe (2lbs!) that you can put a crampon on. I love them for any moderate snow stuff and don’t mind having them in the pack.

 

And once your past the pain and are climbing 10+, go climb Chianti. Mmmm alpine.