Nov 30, 2009, 9:56 PM
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How long can you wear your crag shoes
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Just curious how long most of you can wear your normal cragging (or indoor) shoes before needing to take them off to rest your feet. I'm curious to know in part to help me gauge if I might want to put up with a bit tighter shoe, though mine subjectively seem tight.
I'm kind of excluding shoes you might use for multi pitch since often one can wear those longer.
I use anasazi velcro for everything (crag / indoor / boulder) I can wear them about 1.5 - 2 hours now that they're broken in.
um your wearing a velcro shoes. take them off if your not climbing. its not that hard! That being said most of the shoes i use (moc's, verde, and technos) i can wear upwards of four pitches in a row. Though if the feet start to hurt then i just pull them off or if its going to be a long belay. you shouldn't be walking around your crag with your climbing shoes on. quick way to wear them down
um your wearing a velcro shoes. take them off if your not climbing. its not that hard! That being said most of the shoes i use (moc's, verde, and technos) i can wear upwards of four pitches in a row. Though if the feet start to hurt then i just pull them off or if its going to be a long belay. you shouldn't be walking around your crag with your climbing shoes on. quick way to wear them down
Yep, my Venoms are slippers and i can wear them for a few pitches on trad and will take them off for long belays and for rapping if it's hot. everything else is single pitch and all of my shoes come off after every route
Even if you do take your cragging shoes off after every route, this poll might give some insight as to the kind of fit people are going with.
I had a pair of shoes I could wear for 15 minutes w/o pain. These were just too tight and I sold them.
My current cragging shoes I can leave on for 1-1.5 hours or so before they become seriously uncomfortable. I still take them off between every route outside, but I'll often leave them on in the gym.
I have some bigger floppy shoes I can wear more or less all day, which I use for moderate routes, long easy routes, or alpine.
Nov 30, 2009, 10:17 PM
Post #6 of 35
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Re: [caughtinside] How long can you wear your crag shoes
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that is true. when i wear my shoes in the gym i can leave my solutions on for a few routes... half hour or so.. venoms for an hour, miuras for 1.5 hr, testarossas 1 hr
The amount of time you can wear your shoes without discomfort isn't the best measure as to whether or not you need tighter shoes. Performance is the only real measure.
Do you feel that there are any performance gaps with your current shoes? If so, do any of them seem related to tightness? For the most part, it's that simple. The most obvious example regarding this is, do they sit properly when you heel hook? If yes, they're tight enough for that purpose. If no, they either aren't tight enough or that shoe model isn't a great fit for your foot. Obviously there are numerous other examples where fit comes into play.
I have to say though, I did my hardest climbing in my worst shoes. They were warm up shoes that somehow outlasted everything else when I got somewhat poor for awhile. They were shit, and beat to hell, but they did the trick. Better performance in your shoes means greater comfort on the rock, which in turn means a better climbing experience. That does make it a bit easier to push harder, but if your shoes are fitting fine now, dropping a half size isn't likely to make a critical difference IMO (though there are exceptions to this, as with all things).
Nov 30, 2009, 10:41 PM
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Re: [Arrogant_Bastard] How long can you wear your crag shoes
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You can solve that problem by covering both the shoes and the jacket in copious amounts of glitter. Rhinestones might work too if you've got a bedazzler on hand.
My Miura VS are 3 sizes smaller than my street shoes and I wear them mostly for sport climbing and bouldering. I take them off whenever I'm not on the rock, on some occasions I've even climbed as much as 20 feet on a sport route with a decent ledge before putting them on.
went with 4-6, just because i want to air the suckers out by then to avoid excessive build up of stink. i once tried to leave them on for 8 hours but they shot off halfway through a cruxy move, propelled on a jet of pure stench.
I think every pair of climbing shoes I've purchased has been bigger and more comfortable than the last. My first pair I was talked into getting them so tight my toes curled under my feet and I would take them off after every climb. About a dozen pairs later and my toes don't even touch the front of the shoe. I can wear them all day and hike several miles in them if I needed to. I sometimes take them off in between routes to give my feet some fresh air, but never because they're uncomfortable.
In terms of performance it only makes a difference of a few letter grades on a few climbs where edging is very important. But most of the cragging I do is at Joshua Tree or Idyllwild on either slab or crack. Having extremely tight shoes makes it harder to smear up a friction slab because you get less rubber on the rock, and jamming tightly bound feet into a crack is just downright painful. I guess if you mostly climb overhanging V7 crimpfests where you need to toehook impossibly small edges to keep from swinging off, then tight shoes are essential. But for most climbers out there, tight shoes aren't doing as much for them as they think. Try letting your feet have some space. It will make the climbing experience much more enjoyable.
I sometimes forget to take my shoes off because I'm having such a jolly good time. Often, I'll get off a route and get right to belaying my buddy. I don't realize how much they owie until I take them off. But, that's why you need to find yourself a good man to give you a foot massage at the end of the day!
My bouldering/gym shoes are super tight and since I'm in the process of working them in they are extremely painful but they are the first shoes I've owned that I can heel hook with. I'm sure I'll be able to wear them for a couple of hours once they're worked in but I didn't buy them for that use so it's not really a consideration. My goal is good performance and enough comfort that if I take them off after every climb, at the end of the day they don't cause undo discomfort as to affect my climbing.
I also have all day shoes for cracks and moderates.
I can wear both my main shoes for 1-1.5hours. That said, I CAN wear these shoes for that long, but I don't like to. I don't like to fit my shoes very tight, but I'm used to wearing them for that long (I spent the vast majority of my time cragging).....makes my toes sore by the end of the day.
Dec 1, 2009, 3:44 PM
Post #19 of 35
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Re: [granite_grrl] How long can you wear your crag shoes
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Variable, but I leave them on during a multipitch route and the descent if I haven't brought walking shoes along. I've seen people who have to get out of their shoes practically before they've anchored in(on multipitch), and have to admit I always though "princess."
I always thought it would be rather unfortunate to have something happen if I took them off mid route and watch helplessly as one of my shoes hucked itself into the void....
But all my shoes are pretty much all-day ones, and the thing that makes a difference is more about if my toenails are rubbing against the leather, or possibly a day where I had too much salt intake or something.
Variable, but I leave them on during a multipitch route and the descent if I haven't brought walking shoes along. I've seen people who have to get out of their shoes practically before they've anchored in(on multipitch), and have to admit I always though "princess."
I always thought it would be rather unfortunate to have something happen if I took them off mid route and watch helplessly as one of my shoes hucked itself into the void....
But all my shoes are pretty much all-day ones, and the thing that makes a difference is more about if my toenails are rubbing against the leather, or possibly a day where I had too much salt intake or something.
That is what a sling attached to the anchor is for.. then your shoes don't fly away. perhaps if you climbed routes that did not have giant ledges for feet the whole way up you'd appreciate shoes that you cannot always leave on for many hours in a row. but once again harpie can only see things in her own little world.
"princess"? folks who beg for partners every week shouldn't throw stones eh?
Dude - you should try to get over whatever compulsion it is you have that drives you to be such an asshole at me(and others). It's not good for emotional well being, and, in turn, your physical self.
Dude - you should try to get over whatever compulsion it is you have that drives you to be such an asshole at me(and others). It's not good for emotional well being, and, in turn, your physical self.
my emotional well being is quite fine thank you. Physically i'm doing great, climbing well. IT band has been bothering me on the bike but i don't think talking on the internet is the cause of that.
Dude - you should try to get over whatever compulsion it is you have that drives you to be such an asshole at me(and others). It's not good for emotional well being, and, in turn, your physical self.
my emotional well being is quite fine thank you. Physically i'm doing great, climbing well. IT band has been bothering me on the bike but i don't think talking on the internet is the cause of that.
Have you considered blogging about it? 9 out of 10 doctors recommend it.
Dude - you should try to get over whatever compulsion it is you have that drives you to be such an asshole at me(and others). It's not good for emotional well being, and, in turn, your physical self.
my emotional well being is quite fine thank you. Physically i'm doing great, climbing well. IT band has been bothering me on the bike but i don't think talking on the internet is the cause of that.