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fearlessclimber
Feb 18, 2007, 2:12 AM
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Registered: Oct 27, 2005
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Is there a shoe that has a good stiff midsole so that it wont kill your feet while aiding los of pitches, also is there a shoe that works for that and good for swithing from aid to free?
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wallmonkey35
Feb 18, 2007, 3:24 AM
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Registered: Jul 28, 2005
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I dont know how hard of free climbing you are planning on doing, but any good , sturdy aproch shoe should work. Check out the montrai D7, Its always worked well for me.
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holdplease2
Feb 18, 2007, 4:15 AM
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If you can get a pair of scarpa lite ascents, they are the bomb. I'm on my sixth pair. They are discontinued but there are still some deals online. Here's what makes them good:
* Many eyelets for laces - you can fit them very precisely
* Vibram rubber - softer C4 stuff wears too fast from jugging and repetative use around the big toe. Their vibram rubber is dot pattern but smooth around the "smearing" part of the shoe. Perfect for switching to free.
* Stiff midsole soas to reduce fitigue.
Things NOT to get in a wall shoe:
One with an exposed foam midsole. You want the rand to cover the foam on the inside of the forefoot to prevent wear. (The whole la sportiva line is like this, in the long term not good.)
Don't get the 5.10 mountain masters, they fall apart.
A clip in loop is very nice.
A boot is going to be toooo heavy. You lift your legs up and down alot on the wall. A good sturdy low-top shoe will be fine.
I hope this helps, have fun shopping!
-Kate.
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miavzero
Feb 18, 2007, 4:31 AM
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Registered: Oct 8, 2005
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I really like the madrock fanatic. they are stiff, have a narrow toe profile and climb exceptionally well.
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fearlessclimber
Feb 18, 2007, 5:31 AM
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ill be climbing around 10 or 11 crack on the nose, the rest of it will be aid. i think ill check out the scarpas, sounds good
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flamer
Feb 18, 2007, 8:10 PM
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Registered: Oct 22, 2002
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fearlessclimber wrote: ill be climbing around 10 or 11 crack on the nose, the rest of it will be aid. i think ill check out the scarpas, sounds good
If you are climbing the nose, and you climb 5.10 and 5.11 legit...than you want to be doing it in free climbing shoes.
I regularly climb walls in free shoes...generally for speed. The only exception being if the climbing is almost exclusively aid...and short bits of easy free climbing.
But for routes like the nose...where you'll hopefully be out of your aiders more than in....you should be leading in free shoes. Try something boardlasted, my favorites have always been the Boreal ace's and ballet golds.
You should also bring along a sturdy pair for jugging..avoid doing this in free shoes at all cost's!
Most approach shoes work well for this.
josh
josh
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euroford
Feb 19, 2007, 12:38 AM
Post #8 of 14
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Registered: Aug 26, 2002
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i've been very happy with my montrail d7's. great support in the aiders, pretty solid freeclimbers as well.
beat my feet to hell on the descent though. the narrow towbox is great for crack climbing and getting your toes in the aiders, but in my case descending from the diamond with a pig on my back was asking a little much i suppose.
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stymingersfink
Feb 20, 2007, 1:41 AM
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Registered: Aug 12, 2003
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holdplease2 wrote: If you can get a pair of scarpa lite ascents, they are the bomb. I'm on my sixth pair. ... A boot is going to be toooo heavy. You lift your legs up and down alot on the wall. A good sturdy low-top shoe will be fine. -Kate.
Per her comment that a boot will be tooo heavy, I might reply: sure, it's a little heavier than the lite ascent, but it also offers better ankle support than a low-top, something I rate as important when hiking to the base with heavy haul bags, not to mention the walk-off from the top.
On the down side (if there is one) they are a little stiffer than the lite, as the nylon shank foes full length of the footbed. This makes it far more comfortable when placing one's toes against the wall, as it keeps the foot from being scrunched up. This also means the toe will wear faster on the shoe, especially if hauling over slabby stuff. I had positive resoles in J-tree give it a thick rubber toe-cap to extend the life of them, it seems to have helped.
As far as the free-climbing goes, haven't climbed harder than 5.8 on a big wall with them, but have done some 5.10 trad/sport climbs with them in LCC/BCC for practice.
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holdplease2
Feb 20, 2007, 4:06 PM
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Registered: Dec 18, 2002
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SF - Yep, the Pro Ascents are great, totally agreed. When I do walls in winter (rare these days) that's what I wear. They do give great support along with all of the features of the lite ascent. I think they also have a gore-like material.
FWIW - I've heard many good things about the Montrails, too.
-Kate.
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sspssp
Feb 22, 2007, 5:02 PM
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Registered: Jan 2, 2003
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I've picked up a pair of evolv Docon.
http://www.evolvesports.com/DOCON.htm
I haven't tried them for aid yet, but they look pretty reasonable as a big wall shoe (and a high performance approach shoe). It is marketed as a beginner/rental shoe. The shoe is stiff, the toe box is roomy, it comes with a very durable rand/toe cap (they want to sell these shoes for rentals to beginners after all).
They aren't high tech climbing shoes, but they are going to climb better than the typical approach shoe.
Unfortunately, despite what the web site says, it does not have dot rubber on the heel (would have been nice for the approach descent).
(This post was edited by sspssp on Feb 22, 2007, 5:04 PM)
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thabadcharacter
Feb 22, 2007, 5:20 PM
Post #12 of 14
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Registered: May 23, 2005
Posts: 52
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be careful sizing the montrail D7s. i sized em kinda small to perfrom better on free, but the lack of proper heel material lets the rigid outer heel cup dig into your own heel and ends p wearing through and becoming prety uncomfortable after not too long.
five ten insights have given me nothing to complain about
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graniteboy
Feb 23, 2007, 1:20 AM
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Registered: Dec 1, 2001
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Yeah, HELL...if you actually DO climb 5.11, then the vast majority of the nose is free anyway....it's not like it's an Aid climb or anything...you can do basically the whole thing free (with a couple pendulums) to the top of texas flake, then you have a short bolt ladder, a 10c crack, then another pendulum. AFter that, half of the great roof pitch is french-freeable, then it's back to free climbing to camp 5, then one thin aid pitch, then free to camp 6. a few aid moves on that next pitch, then it's free till the final overhang.....ALL TOLD, MAYBE 350 feet of Aid on the whole damned route.
So WHY are we talking about BIGWALL BOOTS????
Use some slightly burly freeclimbing shoes. And french free everything you can.
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fearlessclimber
Feb 23, 2007, 1:33 AM
Post #14 of 14
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Registered: Oct 27, 2005
Posts: 474
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ya i know i can free about 90 percent of the nose but ill need some comfy aid/free shoes for other things that are mandatory free.
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