Climbing Shoes Insane Pain vs Comfort

As always this is a purely a personal point of view, and in this instance one based a very limited amount of personal experience. However, I will call on others, more experienced climbers for their perspective.

Me and Climbing

Despite always professing that climbing vertical walls was not for me and that all I want to do is develop my scrambling skills, I find myself being drawn into climbing. In order to develop my scrambling skills I think I need to learn some basic climbing techniques. So, I am visiting various climbing walls and volunteering to assist with taking the cadets climbing whenever I can. I’ve even booked myself on a Rock Skills course in Windermere next month.

Having caught the climbing bug last November I bought myself a harness and helmet with the help and advice of other ATC AT volunteers. However, up until now I have been borrowing climbing shoes. I decided that it was about time I got my own shoes, particularly with the course next month.

Looking forward I hope to work towards my CWA as well as developing my scrambling skills. I therefore expect to spend a lot of time standing around climbing walls assisting others as well as doing some climbing myself. For this I want my shoes to be comfortable enough to wear all day. I am never going to challenge anyone on the E7 grade climbs (or however the really hard ones are graded). I therefore don’t need to be able to stand on millimetre wide ledges using just the outer edge of my little toe.

When I am scrambling outside I fully expect to be wearing semi rigid B2 style mountaineering boots, not climbing shoes.

Disappointment

Whenever possible I do most of my outdoor shopping at Cotswold Outdoors, mainly because I get 20% discount as a DofE leader but also because they tend to carry a good range of products and have knowledgeable staff.

So it was to the Bicester store that I headed last Sunday, prepared to spend some money on some new shoes.

I told the assistant my shoe size and he went off to find some shoes for me to try. I thought his parting words were “take your shoes and socks off”. Shoes yes, but socks? Apparently so. It seems all the serious climbers don’t wear any socks.

I tried on a couple of pairs, and the sales assistant kept encouraging me to try a smaller pair, in order to get my toes to crimp over and use all the space in the show, so I could grip on to that millimetre thin ledge. Each pair seemed more expensive than the last. The best part of £100 seemed a bit much for my first pair of climbing shoes.

I wasn’t convinced and the assistant suggested getting in a few more pairs for me to try. So the plan was to go back to the store today to try to find a better fit.

I must admit to being disappointed that Cotswolds didn’t try a bit harder to find out more about what I was looking for, rather than just assuming that I wanted to ace hard climbs like the pros. Does this 45 year old look like the lean mean climbing machines one sees in the DMM posters?

Seeking more information

So, I decided to ask people I trust, starting with other ATC instructors. The best advice I got back was:

Shoes should be comfortable. If they told you to wear the smallest shoe you can get your foot into, walk away and call them names

Then I decided to look online. The BMC have the following to say:

Contrary to popular belief, there are no known scientific studies demonstrating that forcing one’s toes into the crimp position, especially with the big toe angled towards other toes, improves all types of climbing performance for any, or all climbers.

(Emphasis mine)

Further, the BMC highlight:

Diabetic Foot
(And any other vascular health conditions): Wearing excessively tight shoes is absolutely not recommended.

Did I mention I was Type 1? Did the sales assistant in Cotswold ask?

Madrock say:

General Rule of Thumb for beginners
– Comfortable is too large
– Painful is too tight
– Uncomfortable is perfect

Boulders UK have a very indepth discussion of climbing shoes. This conclude with:

Pain is insane! Always buy a pair of shoes that’s comfortable, otherwise you wont want to wear them and your climbing will suffer. When the time comes to sacrifice comfort for performance, you’ll know.

UK Climbing have a good article as well. The best bit for me was:

Extra tip: Beware the young hot shot climbing shop assistant who advises you to go for really small shoes – they think everyone wants to be a rockstar, but actually comfort is key

The solution

A few days ago the latest offer from Go Outdoors dropped through our letter box. An extra 15% off everything this week.

So, on the way back from my Excel exam yesterday I stopped off at Go Outdoors in Oxford. There was no assistant to help me, so I was free to try on shoes myself. I narrowed it down to a pair of Scarpa Velocity Vs or Climb X Crux Lace ups. And despite being drawn towards the Scarpas, as a brand I know well, it was actually the Climb Xs that were more comfortable.

So I got them, and a map, for less than £50.

Result!

Conclusion

Pain really is insane, make sure you get a comfortable pair as your first pair. If you develop into an Ace then you will know when you need a slightly tighter pair to give you that edge, but until then comfort is king.