How to know which climbing shoes to get
The Climber's Guide to Choosing the Best Shoes
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climbing chairs are arguably the most
important piece of equipment you can buy
for your climbing and it's going to have
a massive impact on how well you perform
technique and skills in climbing today
we're breaking down the best climbing
shoes and how you can choose the right
one to fit your climbing so climbing
shoes is a big topic and actually we
have done a video on climbing shoes
before and I'll put a link to that in
the description below which has got Tom
talking about the four big
characteristics of choosing a climbing
shoe and these four were the fit of the
climbing shoe so how well it fits your
foot the opening system so if it's
velcro lace up if it's a slip-on the
shape of the climbing shoe so how
aggressive it might be in the downturn
and also the compound of the rubber so
if it's stiff if it's soft and how well
it's going to mold to The Rock in this
video I want to go a little bit more
practical and show you how they work in
different climbing contexts so we're
going to look at different contexts in
terms of a good outdoor versus indoor
shoe wear a soft or stiff shoe might be
more appropriate and and where the
closure system is going to affect things
like tow hooking or heel hooking after
we've taken a bunch of shoes for a test
drive we're also going to go through and
try and dispel some of the myths around
climbing shoes which probably impact
your choice and what you buy but
actually might not be as important as
you think at this point in the video I
want to mention two things one is that
we are not sponsored by amparallel and
they are not paying us to show these
shoes but we are good friends with dark
Ventures which is right next door to our
office in Chesterfield so they've kindly
lent us a bunch of shoes to test drive
these are all their demo shoes but we'll
show a bunch of other shoe options which
are like for like in terms of these kind
of unparalleled shoes we are here today
in the Depot in Sheffield and this is a
pretty amazing indoor wall with an
amazing comp wall at the beginning of
the center as well so let's start with
talking about a good indoor shoe and
something that's going to transfer well
to that competition style of climbing
which is more and more common in most
climbing gyms so here we have a flagship
and this is a great example of a good
indoor climbing shoe doesn't mean it
can't be used Outdoors but it's got some
features which are going to play into it
being a really good indoor and pretty
good comp shoot as well some other
examples like the flagship will be the
comp solution it's got comp in the name
it's got a design which is useful for
indoor climbing and also the Drago as
well it's going to have a lot of the
similar features to this shoe the first
thing you'll notice is it's pretty
downturned it's got this big scoop in
here which means the toe is pointing
down and as well as having a downturn
shape we can also look at it as being
asymmetrical so this means that it tends
to Bow onto the inside most climbing
shoes will be asymmetrical your tail is
going to be on the inside of your foot
but the more aggressive shoes get the
more you might find that they have this
more asymmetric shape where they bow
like a banana although it's pretty
downturned it's also going to be quite
soft so there's two ways in which the
shoe is going to be soft first is going
to be literally the rubber at the end of
the toe so it's good for smearing and
molding to different footholds the other
thing that affects it is the midsole of
the shoe so you can see in this one it's
really flexible this way in this way and
that's going to help it be more flexible
when going through smears however if you
wanted to have more tension on edges and
things the midsole of the shoe can
continue throughout helping apply more
tension into that power point of the
shoe right at the end so two different
examples and that's going to affect the
stiffness of the shoe generally and this
is not always the case of course you
want a softer shoe for indoor climbing
and that's because most of the time the
holes are quite big particularly in the
comp style loads of big volumes where
you want to be able to drop the heel and
smear even on the smaller foot holds you
can normally use the wall to smear as
well where you can just actually be a
little less accurate but of outdoor
climbing we're going to come across much
smaller footholds in most cases and you
really want a lot of that pressure on
just the smallest tiny area right at the
front of the shoe so stiffer for
outdoors generally and softer for
indoors the most obvious exception to
that rule is again climbing somewhere
like in Fontainebleau when you're
climbing on the sandstone and actually
there's way more smears than that small
edges and so actually a soft shoe might
excel in a climbing area here the next
thing that you'll see features heavily
on indoor Focus climbing shoes is a lot
of toe rubber this could also apply to
shoes that are focused for bouldering
where tow hooks and climbing on steep
train is a lot more common but
definitely indoor shoes you can see a
lot more terror but if I compare that to
a shoe which is a bit more of an
all-rounder it has a little bit less toe
Rubber and then particularly something
like a lace-up that's going to be far
less rubber again so this makes them
excellent for tow hooking which is way
more common in indoor or bouldering
Outdoors another feature that is really
helpful for indoor climbing shoes is the
opening system so this has just got one
strap and without this strap it's
basically a slip-on but this makes it
really easy to take on and off which you
probably want to be doing a lot if
you're climbing indoors or if you're
bouldering when you're resting between
temps it's actually a really good tactic
to make sure that you rest properly if
you find that you're getting out of
breath and you're not getting good
quality attempts a good tip is just to
take off your shoes and see the temps
because it's going to fall to rest
longer another example of a shoe that
you might see used indoors is this which
is a slip-on it's the unparalleled Mock
and this is going to be a really
comfortable fit really easy on and off
it's not aggressively downturned and
it's not too asymmetrical so it's a nice
comfy fit and you'll see people using
this as a training shoe probably with
this one you're not going to be doing as
aggressive heel hooking or climbing as
much in the Steep train but that's not
to say you can't there are still very
good climbers which do use this on all
sorts of terrain and make very good use
of it personally I'd say the biggest
benefit of this is just comfort and
convenience so if you're looking for a
training shoe this would be a good
option if you are an outdoor climber or
you do a lot of outdoor climbing and a
lot of indoor climbing and training you
probably have a shoe which is a bit more
versatile or what we might call an
all-rounder shoe this is a good example
of the all-rounder shoe it's the TM Pro
it's going to be stiffer than something
like the flagship it's got a little bit
more stiff through the midsole and the
Rand up here can help pull some tension
into the shoe as well it's still
convenient on and off and work well
indoors too but that little bit of
stiffness is going to help on smaller
edges when you're climbing outside some
other examples would be the last
sportiva ataki or the Instinct by Scarpa
again they're going to be a little bit
more stiffer they are popular for an
outdoor climbing shoe but you'll see
them used indoors as well so a good
all-rounder at this point it's probably
worth bringing in a lace-up option as
well and just looking at the differences
of what you're going to get out of
something that's like a slip-on or
velcro or a lace-up shoe so for me
anyways the big benefit of going for a
slip-on is more rubber over the toe so
better for toe hooking however if you're
on a lace-up you're going to be able to
get a more secure or personalized fit
throughout the shoe particularly around
the top and for me I'm pretty bad at tow
hooking but I'd say Hill hooks is a bit
of my superpower so I want to make sure
I've got an excellent shoe for Hill
hooking and that's why you'll typically
see me climbing in lace-ups so I can get
a real tight fit around the heel again
this is probably a bit of a personal
choice as well do a lot of climbing on
the Grits down here in Sheffield and
there's loads of heel hooks probably
less tow hooks or maybe I just don't
look for them as often so the lace-ups
help me climb specifically on the type
of rock I want to perform on here we
have the uprise VCS which just means
it's the velcro uprise and this as you
can see is much less aggressive than
some of the other shoes less downturned
less asymmetrical and this is also a
full-on velcro shoe so when we open it
up you'll see you get a much bigger
opening and this can make it a really
comfortable option and also very
well-rounded it's not pushing into any
really aggressive category in terms of
its shape or its stiffness this type of
shoe often gets lumped into the beginner
to intermediate category however fitting
a shoe into a certain category from
beginner to expert is not a very helpful
way of looking at it because there's
lots of very good members which
performed very well and shoes exactly
like this this is what brings us into
probably the most important part of a
shoe which is just how well it fits your
foot a very well fitting beginner shoe
is going to be better for you and your
climbing than a poorly fitting expert
shoe so making sure that the shoe fits
your foot it's probably the most
important part of a climbing shoe so
make sure that works before you start
thinking about is it better for indoors
or Outdoors is it enough downturn is the
stiffness right what's the open
enclosure like so make sure it fits the
foot and something like this might be
one of the best fitting shoes for you in
addition to that a shoe like the uprise
here is a pretty good middle ground of
all of those things that we've looked at
as well so it makes a really good
all-rounder shoe so if you don't have a
particular specialism if you want it to
be good indoors and Outdoors if you're
not worried about having a down 10 shoe
it's probably a good place to start with
something like this but also if you're
one of the climbers like me and I know
some of the other people here at lattice
we have a bunch of different shoes
having something like this in Your
Arsenal shoe is always helpful to have
in addition to the more specialist shoes
in addition to the fit you'll see that a
lot of climbing shoe brands now offer
the same shoe in a low volume version so
if you have a narrower foot low volume
might work well for you so while it's
worth experimenting with the higher or
lower volume versions of a shoe to make
sure that it fits well it's also worth
remembering that you're going to have a
softer or stiffer shoe as well some of
them will use a softer rubber compound
or some will just be a thinner layer of
rubber if it's the low volume version
which means if you are a heavier climber
if you're taller and you weigh more then
you might want this stiffer compound or
the stiffer shoe and if you're a light
climber you want that softness so that
you have the same sensitivity compared
to someone that's heavier wearing the
stiffer sheet it's not always the case
that it's softer depending on the brand
but it's something thing you should
probably check out in the specification
if you are looking for a softer shoe
onto some myth busting and the first one
is that downtown shoes are more advanced
shoes and at least this is what I was
always told when I first started
climbing like the big aggressive shoes
were for advanced climbers and I had to
earn the right to wear them I don't
think this is true and this is at least
hopefully what we've tried to get across
at the beginning of this video is that
the downturn shoe is useful for certain
things but you can still look at someone
like Steve McClure who climbed 9B in a
very flat shoe which looked way more
like this so it doesn't mean that you
need to be more advanced to climbing
shoes like this but there's just certain
styles of climbing where this might be
more useful myth number two is that you
need to buy a training shoe now I
already mentioned this earlier in the
video that a lot of people might wear
something like this for training there's
some good climbers which have a shoe
like this for their board climbing
because they have to work on good
pressure through the foot because it's
not got that down turn which might help
you get more pressure however there's
also a good rationale to say that you
should train in the same shoe that you
want to perform in so that you're
getting to know the tools of the trade
and you don't suddenly jump to a
different shoe for your outdoor climbing
whereas you do all of your practice and
training in a different shoe for your
indoor climbing obviously there are
still benefits to having a training shoe
for example your outdoor performance
shoe or maybe your indoor performance
shoe might be quite aggressive it might
be quite tight fitting and there's
obviously upsides to having that and you
don't want to be doing lots of training
sessions particularly anything that's
lots of mileage on Boulders or endurance
in uncomfortable aggressive shoe so you
might want to buy a more comfortable
shoe to do other types of training in
however the point here is that you need
to practice your training in the shoe
that you want to perform in as well not
everyone is going to want to buy two
pairs of shoes as well because that's
obviously going to cost more so a tactic
I have used is to save your old shoes
when they've still got a bit of rubber
left but you've needed to buy a new pair
of shoes so that you've still got a good
edge and a nice tight fit and then use
your old shoes which are all baggy now
they're all worn in and they're quite
comfortable for your training anything
that's going to require doing lots of
Boulders or endurance training that shoe
is going to come in pretty handy this is
an example of my pretty tattered neutral
lace it's seen better days but this is
my go-to shoe for pretty much everything
it's a good all-rounder I love its heel
hooking but it needs to be replaced at
this point and I'm going to hold on to
this for a bit longer and I'm going to
use it for my training shoe anything
which I want it to be nice and
comfortable because it's all baggy now
and I can be good for my endurance
training or big Bolder mileage sessions
the next myth is that climbing shoes
need to be uncomfortable and this comes
from the idea that you need a really
tight fitting pair of shoes which I do
agree with to some extent you don't want
any dead space in the shoe you want it
to be snug so that you don't get any
movement and you ask still applying good
pressure through the foot however with
modern shoe design and Technology we
don't need to have a really really
aggressively tight fitting shoe if it
fits your foot well you can let a lot of
the shoe design do the work for you they
have the Rands applying tension in the
right places and you don't need it to be
really unbearably comfortable get the
right fitting shoe and just make sure
that it's comfortable for a training
session if you're crying by the end of
your session your shoe is too tight and
you need to upsize in fact if your shoe
is too tight you might find that you
start performing less well in the shoe
upsizing a little bit might find that
the shoe performs better for you
particularly if you find that you're
losing all of the sensation in your toes
because you have no blood going there
anymore sensitivity is an important part
of climbing so that you can feel what
your foot is doing the next myth is that
lace-ups are no good for bouldering
which is not true of course this is
still a very good bouldering shoe it's
got a great downtown and very technical
and it's got tow hooking rubber which is
a little less common on lace-up shoes so
this is a good example of a bouldering
shoe and it comes with its own perks
yesterday is going to be less toe rubber
it's not going to be a super specialist
at toe hooking However the fact that you
can get a better fit particularly if
you're struggling to find a shoe which
really works for you lace-ups normally
have that ability to get a really
specialized fit for your foot and my
biggest perk is that lace-ups always
help really tension in the heel when you
get it nice and tight around the top of
your foot and of course bouldering can
be very heel hook intensive so you might
find that a lace-up suits you better for
your bouldering I hope everything that
I've mentioned in this video is only
taken as a guideline and not literal
truth because actually at the end of the
day the best shoe for you and your
climbing is the one you enjoy climbing
in most and fits your foot well there's
no perfect outdoor shoes no perfect
indoor bouldering shoe it's always is
going to vary on that individual and how
well it fits them you'll find people
climbing in a shoe which looks a bit out
of place but actually they learn to
climb really well with it we see root
Setters getting up really hard stuff in
their setting shoes or in their trainers
and they just have learned how to climb
in trainers really well the same can be
said for a soft shoe Outdoors or a stiff
shoe indoors people will make the most
of the shoe that they like climbing in
and that fits them well having the right
shoe is all well and good but in order
to make the most of it you need to have
good footwork so go and check out this
video over here and we'll see you next
time
[Music]
thank you
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