scrambled_legs Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 Looking for some input on rock climbing shoes. What would you recommend for an all around short to long multi-pitch crack and face climbing? Also, anyone ever have any luck resoling their old ones? Quote
cman Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 mythos are my favorites. i got a pair of la sportiva megas for alpine/long climbs, i find the mythos a little too soft for a long day of crack climbing. Â resoling works great. the only thing is you need to do it before you damage the leather. Quote
John Frieh Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 5.10 newtons Scarpa Marathon La Sportiva mythos or focus Quote
thelawgoddess Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 another vote for the la sportiva mythos. i have climbed cracks in them all day. they are the best! Quote
DirtyHarry Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 Madrock shoes are so ghetto. Avoid those California knockoffs. The Spanish and Italians know how to make climbing boots, as long as Luigi doesn't down too much red wine at lunch. Â 5.10 however makes some great shoes, as well as the stickiest rubber. I personally prefer a slightly stiffer slip lasted shoe as I climb on granite and am a bigger person. Therefore I like the 5.10 velcro anasnazi and the La Sportive Katana. The Mythos is and always will be a great all-around boot though. Scarpa makes good shoes too and so does Boreal but their rubber sucks. Quote
RuMR Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 anazasis...everything else sux balls (except for resoled miuras)... Quote
MCash Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 I have Anasazis too. Great for Smith style sport climbing, horrible in cracks. Quote
robpatterson5 Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 I like my Boreal Spiders, really comfie, work well with my feet and climb well. MEC has them cheap right now. Quote
RuMR Posted January 21, 2005 Posted January 21, 2005 mine work fine in cracks, from fingers all the way up to wide stuff...you probably have them too tight...and the funny thing, they don't have to be super tight to face climb like monsters either  one of my other favorites for both face and cracks are moccasyms... Quote
billcoe Posted January 22, 2005 Posted January 22, 2005 Thats the kind of rock shoe I prefer best. Long trad routes, comfortable, you might have to even hike down the backside and want to wear them cause it's so steep kind of thing. like Red Rocks or even Beacon Rock, and you sure as hell don't want to lug up a supurfulous pair of tennis shoes, cause if you're like me, I'm old and fat and have serious limits on carrying crap up a climb anymore. Better to haul a jacket and water, not a pair of shoes just to walk down.  The best shoe for you may be the one which you feel fits the best: however, with that caveat, LaSportiva makes what most people consider the most comfortable shoes. Right now the LS Focus are being closed out at various places and you may be able to find a pair for @ $60. The Mythos recommended by several folks are great too and have long been a topnotch shoe. Lasportivas resole nicely to at @ $40 and have a good reputation for quality. I have 2 pairs of Focus's for use for long multipitch and love them. It is real rare for a LaSportiva owner to be heard dissing that product. The stuff is great. http://www.sportiva.com/products/climbing/index.html don't see any anymore for $60 (Sierra trading post had some womens 5 for $39 the other day though) but heres some for $62.48 http://www.mgear.com/pages/product/categ...s+and+Harnesses   5.10 shoes quality ranges from barely acceptable to just real real bad. The stickyness of the rubber was generally considered by most climbers to be the best, Charles Cole has been a leader in rubber formulation, and C4 rubber is awesome, it would be rare to hear otherwise. Now most people say mad rocks are on a par with them for stickyness, but tend to cost less. So all day shoes from those cats may be the 5.10 climbalot, spire or Kaukulator or the MR Phoenix. I don't know how the MR's resole, but I won't buy another 5.10 until I stop hearing the horror stories about how their shit fell apart, which I have also personally experienced. (Not all shoes from 5.10 have that problem, some seem to be fine, so go figure) If you decide to get the 5.10's, plan on buying some Barge cement to help keep them together and you'll still toss them in the trash 5 years before you can wear out a pair of Boreals or LaSportivas. The 5.10 Newtons mentioned above are, IMO, overpriced and uncomfortable. But thats my feet and my wallet speaking, couple that which the 5.10 shit quality and you have a troika of reasons to not only walk away, but acutally run the other direction when you even hear the word "Newton". I looked at them when they first came out and passed. http://www.fiveten.com/product/laceup_shoes.htm  Boreal - makes great stuff, argueably perhaps the best quality out there, except folks say it may be the slipperyest soles on the market today. You can, however, get them resoled and resoled and on and on. My most favorite pair of all day shoes is a pair of Boreal Fire classics which may have been resoled @ 10 times in the 15 years I've owned them- who can say, but it's been a real high milage shoe for me. They were comfortable when I bought them and they still are. The leather is almost worn to nothingness, and has patches and holes throughout cause I've just worn the crap out of them. Love those shoes, hell, I can even hike in them if I want too. Although sadly, the Fires are no longer made, I know some folks who love the Aces for similar reasons. I am unfamiliar with the Spiders mentioned.  Heres some generic shoe reviews: http://www.climbing.com/equipment/rsboreal/  FYI, I'd stay away from Scarpas, Red Chilis and 5.10s (despite the fact that I own shoes from them all) as I think you'd find better success from Lasportiva, Mad Rock or Boreal ........buy hey, that's strictly IMO: I have the Red Chiili Spirit model: which was the closest of the shoes they make to what you are looking for. They will not lock in a fist crack like a traditional board lasted shoe like the the Kaukulator, Focus or Fire will. I would see where if you wanted to climb strictly limestone pockets or some such horseshit, one of their shoes may be for you. They are comfortable for that kind of shoe, and the soles are a variable thickness so they have great sensitivity. That great sensitivity also makes them weak in cracks. I tried on several of their models and climbed on the store wall before I bought the Spirits, I only bought them cause I was in Paris, they were on sale, and it was before the drop in the dollar so they were relatively cheap at like @ $ 70 dollars after the VAT refund. That and I'm a gear freak too.  Anyway: seriously: your results may and will vary.  Good luck, I'd better stop now before you think I have more time on my hands than Dru. Quote
billcoe Posted January 23, 2005 Posted January 23, 2005 am i the only red chili fan here? Â It's a personal thing. Â He was looking for a short to long multipitch crack and face shoe. Â I actually like the shoe for gym climbing, and I could see if you were doing the steep short stuff at Smith you might really prefer them. For me, they are painful to stick in a crack sideways and then crank it straight like you need to do on a 2-3 inch crack, especially if you then need to use that foot jam to stand on while you place pro. It seem like a lot of the stuff I'm climbing these days is more moderate, where the crack is @ that fist size and the RC don't have the support to not be painful. Â But that's me, your results have obviously varied: There is no right or wrong, only a starting point and a bunch of wildly divergent views. Feel free to lay out to scrambled legs your thoughts on the RC. Especially for shoes, we can only talk about our own experiences, everybodys feet are so different that your climbing partner may love the shoe you hate....and maybe for the same reasons! I use to climb barefoot when I was young. I remember peeling barefoot off the higher boulder problems nearby 5-6 times and just going for it again and again until I sent: and this was before crash pads. Walking on gravel was not painful either cause my feet were so tough, but now, well now...it's the opposite for me, tenderfoot is the precise word. My point is that I might have just loved them when I was young, obviously if I could crank my foot in barefoot, the RC would have been a big time upgrade! So not only are different people radically different in opinions, but the very same people will, can and often do change their own opinions over time as well. Â The best scrambled legs can hope for on this thread is a starting point to start trying on shoes which he/she would like. So let him in on which RC's you like, they make several models, it could be the very ones which floats his/her boat.. Quote
joel20 Posted January 23, 2005 Posted January 23, 2005 Well, lately I've been leaning more towards LaSportiva myself especially since they treated me so well while I was on R&R to the states this last time around. I tend to agree with you on every point that you just made. I'm in the army and so my feet are very similar to leather at this time of writing. What I like about RC is that the leather that they are made out of is much more flexible and more comfortable to climb in all day. That's what I found in the sausilito, sometimes forgeting that I was wearing rock shoes. In the newer and more technical voodoo shoe with a hooked toe and more rigid sole I found less comfort but still the same type of leather on the upper. The leather that is used on the RC shoes is probably the reason for your discomfort in cracks. The soles and the entire shoes themselves are extremely durable which is probably the reason for the high price to performance ratio. With all that said I don't think that you can go wrong with la sportiva, but if you want something that you can train all day in the RC sausilito would be something to look into as well. Quote
joel20 Posted January 23, 2005 Posted January 23, 2005 oh and yes the soles on RC shoes vary greatly, the sausilitos are thin and flexible, the voodoos are very thick and the toes and hitting the deck in them can hurt Quote
sk Posted January 23, 2005 Posted January 23, 2005 i love my mythos. make sure you get them snug. they stretch ALOT. I think they are a great all arround shoe. I am considering something "more technical" for this comming spring though. Quote
EWolfe Posted January 23, 2005 Posted January 23, 2005 Another Anasazi fan. An awesome all-around shoe. They seem to be stiff enough in the sole for foot jams (although a bit thin on the top), and very good on thin cracks and edging. My only complaint is that the heel box is a bit narrow making hooking a little tenuous at times. Quote
jordop Posted January 24, 2005 Posted January 24, 2005 5.10 however makes some great shoes, as well as the stickiest rubber. I personally prefer a slightly stiffer slip lasted shoe as I climb on granite and am a bigger person. Therefore I like the 5.10 velcro anasnazi and the La Sportive Katana Fuk, I love the Katanas. Picked 'em up at that TNF sale. The only shoe besides the Mythos that I would actually pay regular price for. Incredible fit Quote
scrambled_legs Posted January 30, 2005 Author Posted January 30, 2005 So I take it there are a whole lot of Mythos fans and very few 5.10 fans. Right now MEC is clearing out there 5.10 T rocks for $89.00 and the Mythos are $135. So is it still worth it to fork out the extra $50?? If 5.10's only problem is falling apart then for that price it almost sounds worth it to a poor climber. I mean if they don't fall apart they're going to smell so bad that I'll go buy some new ones in a year or two anyways. Is it worth it? Quote
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