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coolcat83
Jul 31, 2008, 12:50 PM
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I have a few friends that would like to try out climbing with me. they have no gear. I have extras of the essentials. but obviously I am not a shoe store. so the question i pose to you is what do you think total noobs could do in regular shoes, like sneakers/boots? I tried to play around but I started smearing and using footwork/brute strength to get up stuff that I'd normally wear climbing shoes to warm up on (5.6 face). I was thinking they could do up to say 5.4 face? but I'm not sure. any experience would be appreciated.
Thanks
edited to add, i'm thinking face because i don't want them ripping themselves up on cracks, and slab is hard imo.
(This post was edited by coolcat83 on Jul 31, 2008, 12:56 PM)
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chossmonkey
Jul 31, 2008, 12:56 PM
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It depends on the size of the footholds. Some normal shoes also climb better than others.
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lena_chita
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Jul 31, 2008, 1:15 PM
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Depends on the route and the person. My 9 yold climbed 5.7-5.8 in his regular sneakers. He isn't really into climbing, so we haven't bought him shoes. He wears rentals when he climbs at the gym, or his regular shoes when he gets the desire to climb outside.
I have definitely seen people in regular shoes getting up 5.6-5.7 at a local crag. They may not do it clean, you may have to do some tight belaying, but if it's their first taste of climbing, and they are having fun, that's all you need.
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getout87
Jul 31, 2008, 1:23 PM
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Last time I was up at Looking Glass on the Nose, we were chilling on the top and a party of two came up behind us. The second was wearing skateboarding shoes. I don't know how much falling and sliding and cussing was involved, but I guess it can be done.
For those that don't know, the Nose-4 pitch 5.8 friction climbing on NC granite.
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robbovius
Jul 31, 2008, 4:03 PM
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getout87 wrote: Last time I was up at Looking Glass on the Nose, we were chilling on the top and a party of two came up behind us. The second was wearing skateboarding shoes. I don't know how much falling and sliding and cussing was involved, but I guess it can be done. For those that don't know, the Nose-4 pitch 5.8 friction climbing on NC granite.
might not have been too bad. I have a pair of Urban Pipeline low-top sneakers ( they look like converse all stars but with suede uppers) that have solid non-featured gum rubber soles, and it blows my mind how much grip they have, especially for smearing. they hardly edge for shit (because they twist and slide around the foot), but I've climbed .5-.7 range with them on. and they cost $15. ;-)
OP: keep them on routes with big jugs and half-a-foot sized footholds, and make sure they tie the shoes as tight as they can, and send them up.
(This post was edited by robbovius on Jul 31, 2008, 4:06 PM)
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kennoyce
Jul 31, 2008, 4:26 PM
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I regularly take people climbing for their first time in tennis shoes and normally take them on 5.7 and 5.8's with no problem. The climbs are in American Fork canyon, and have big footholds, so they have no problem in tennis shoes. I would just suggest the same as before, find a climb with good feet, and keep the rope snug, they're noob's anyway so they will want a tight belay.
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hafilax
Jul 31, 2008, 4:36 PM
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It's not so bad as long as you smear or jam and avoid edging. It is definitely more difficult though.
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dingus
Jul 31, 2008, 4:41 PM
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Here's my crew doping it with regular shoes. YMMV.
Is this a great country or what????
DMT
(This post was edited by dingus on Jul 31, 2008, 4:46 PM)
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granite_grrl
Jul 31, 2008, 5:16 PM
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Like others have mentioned, it depends on the rock. When I first started climbing I didn't have climbing shoes....it didn't really bother me at the time.
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Carnage
Jul 31, 2008, 5:24 PM
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i pretty much always set routes in my new balance shoes. set stuff up to like mid 10's in em. the routes tend not to be footwork dependent though 
i prolly need to work on that.
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patmay81
Jul 31, 2008, 5:31 PM
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I took a friend up a couple of pitches of 5.9, it was juggy so she didnt have any problem with it. Other times with other friends I have given them my climbing shoes and I climbed barefoot (this only works if they have a similar foot size). Now I have quite a stock of climbing shoes- so I am basically a shoe rental... sorry, that whole barefoot climbing shoe store talk isn't a dirty form of spray is it?
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Arrogant_Bastard
Aug 1, 2008, 9:09 PM
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getout87 wrote: Last time I was up at Looking Glass on the Nose, we were chilling on the top and a party of two came up behind us. The second was wearing skateboarding shoes. I don't know how much falling and sliding and cussing was involved, but I guess it can be done.
Look here buddy. Just because you now own a pink tricam it doesn't give you the authoratay to come on hear telling stories of the Looking Glass like you're some sort of NC local.
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moss1956
Aug 1, 2008, 9:35 PM
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Thats some dope **** Dingus!
Anyways, you can also just tape your toes together with climbing tape, and it works really, really well. Maybe better than shoes. The only problem is you can scuff up your feet if fall.
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moss1956
Aug 2, 2008, 8:59 AM
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Amazing!
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stymingersfink
Aug 2, 2008, 4:09 PM
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gunkiemike wrote: stymingersfink wrote: climbing? in street shoes? nah, that's crazy. Looks like fun. But if that's not a re-creation, then he had something like 30 cameras out there along the route. A bit surprising that none of the shots picked up any of these in the background.
Having climbed that route myself more than a few times though, I will assure you that the bulk of the interesting climbing is shown in the video.
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t2stone
Aug 2, 2008, 9:46 PM
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I have found that... I can lead up to 5.9 in my (raichle) MNT~BOOTS and then when I go back and do it in (real rockshoes its much,much easyer!
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Arrogant_Bastard
Aug 4, 2008, 3:58 PM
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sungam wrote: I climbed in DCs for about my first year or so. I figured they had to be grippy to pop ollies, so why not bite the rock?
This is incorrect. They do not have to be grippy to pop ollies, it could even be a hinderance if too grippy.
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sungam
Aug 4, 2008, 4:07 PM
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Arrogant_Bastard wrote: sungam wrote: I climbed in DCs for about my first year or so. I figured they had to be grippy to pop ollies, so why not bite the rock? This is incorrect. They do not have to be grippy to pop ollies, it could even be a hinderance if too grippy.
All that happened is I had shit footwork, got fairly strong, and blew out a perfectly good pair of skate shoes.
Aint optimism the shizz?
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biffjr
Aug 4, 2008, 6:42 PM
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i have a buddy that climbs in the 5.10s in his skate shoes outdoors on sandstone... while i have climbed 5.9 in my chaco flips on basalt.
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