- What's up, everybody?
I'm Miranda with REI.
Having the right pair of climbing shoes can make
or break a sending session.
So let's talk about how to choose your shoes
and how to fit them.
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So there are three main categories of climbing shoes.
You have neutral shoes, moderate shoes,
and aggressive shoes.
We're gonna start with the neutral shoes.
So neutral shoes like these guys have a straight last
so they're constructed basically being flat
from the heel to the toe and they're either gonna have
a nearly symmetrical toe box or just a slightly
asymmetrical toe box.
Neutral shoes are great for beginners
as they're generally gonna be the comfiest shoes
that you'll find but they're also really good
for slotting your toes into cracks and they're also great
for all-day comfort.
So if you're doing any multi-pitch climbing
or where you're gonna have your shoes on for a long
period of time, definitely neutral shoes
are the way to go.
Generally speaking, the rubber is going
to be a little bit stiffer on these shoes as well.
Neutral shoes, great for all-day comfort,
generally good for beginners.
Next we have moderate shoes.
Moderate shoes cover the widest range of climbing shoes.
They're gonna be a little bit less comfortable
than a neutral shoe because they have a slight
downturn at the toe and they're gonna have
a slight asymmetry in the toe backs but really
good option for just a wide range of climbing.
There are a lot of different types of moderate shoes.
So some of them are going to have the strap closure,
some will have lace closure, and they're gonna come
with all sorts of different features.
So last we have aggressive shoes.
When we talk about aggressive shoes, we're looking
at an aggressive downturn at the toe as well
as a lot of asymmetry in the toe box.
This is going to push your toes into one point
that essentially has your toes act as one big toe,
just gonna give you a better point of contact
on the rock and gives you more stability
whereas if you have five like individual toes moving around
you're not going to get as much stability
when you're climbing.
These are really great for overhangs or for bouldering
in caves as they're just going to give you a lot
of hold on small holds and they're really great
in an overhang as well because that downturn
will help you grip onto things.
I like to call aggressive climbing shoes a sending shoe.
These are the shoes that you pull out of your climbing
shoe quiver when you're ready to send the project
because they're not very comfortable and these
are generally shoes that you will rip off
as soon as you are done with a problem
or done with a route.
The next thing to consider when you're picking out
your shoes are all the features.
So the first thing we're gonna talk about are the materials.
So shoes are generally made from leather or synthetic
or a combination of both and they're generally lined
or unlined or a combination of both.
Leather shoes like the Mythos here have a benefit
of being very comfortable as well as not as stinky
as synthetic shoes but these are going to stretch
sometimes up to a full two sizes
whereas with a synthetic shoe or especially
a lined synthetic shoe, you're not gonna get
very much stretch.
Instead, you're just gonna get the shoe to break in
a little bit.
So when you fit the shoes, you'll wanna make sure
you're getting it to fit fairly close to how you want it
to fit when you're climbing whereas with a leather shoe
you can size down pretty significantly.
The next feature to consider are closures.
So some shoes are lace-up like these guys here.
The benefit of a lace-up shoe is that you can really
fine-tune the fit along the whole shoe.
So if you need it to be tighter in the toes
you can do that.
If you need to have, with these I specifically need
it tighter in the back of the shoe.
You can actually tighten up the heel rand on a shoe there.
And so this makes these really great for putting them on
for a long day of climbing.
So say you're doing multi-pitch where you just want
your shoes to be on and fit comfortably and not change
for the entire day.
There are also moccasins like these guys.
So slip-on shoes like the Moccasyms are really good
just for the ease of pulling them on and off.
Another type of shoe that you'll come across
are the strap shoes or hook-and-loop closure shoes.
So sometimes they'll have a single strap like this
or two straps, sometimes up to three or four straps.
These are also really great for putting your,
or pulling your shoes on and off quickly.
They're not gonna have as much adjustability
as you get with laces but the ease of getting them
on and off make them a great option for moderate
or aggressive shoes where you'll want
to take them off after climbing.
My preference are straps.
I prefer the hook-and-loop closure
just because it's easier to take these shoes off.
One thing to consider is that if you do take
your shoes off in-between climbs, you'll actually
make them last a little bit longer if you're not
walking around in them.
So these shoes are really great for a single pitch,
for a sport climbing, cragging, for bouldering,
which is why they're my choice 'cause I don't tend
to do very much multi-pitch.
The next thing to consider when you're buying your shoes
is the rubber.
So you have thicker rubbers or thinner rubbers
and then stickier rubbers or not-as-sticky rubbers.
Obviously, we want the additional stick from rubbers
but there's a wide variety to choose from
from Vibram to just proprietary brands of rubber
for different shoes.
A thinner rubber or thinner outsole is going
to give you more sensitivity but it's not going to be,
it's not gonna last as long as a thicker rubber.
The benefit of this is that you can feel
all of the holds and so you can really rely
on your feet more that way.
But it's also a downside because you can feel
all the holds and that can sometimes hurt your feet
if you're not used to it.
Thicker rubber or a stiffer soles such as these guys
like the Katanas is going to give you really good edging
but you won't necessarily be able to feel it on the rock
and so you have to really rely and trust your shoes
without being able to feel it.
Thicker rubber is definitely gonna last longer as well
so a lot of shoes that are designed for beginner climbers
are going to have a thicker outsole so that you can extend
the longevity of the shoe.
Thinner-rubbered shoes are also really great
for slab climbing or smearing as you can really get
more rubber of the shoe on the wall.
There are a couple other features to consider
when you're picking out your shoes,
things like the rand on the toe as well as at the heel.
So shoes like these guys that have the additional rubber
on the toe rand are gonna be really great for toe-hooking.
And then some shoes will have this slingshot
heel rand as well.
And what this does is it really engages your heel
when you're heel-hooking on the wall and this will help
keep the shoe on your foot whereas a shoe like this
that doesn't have that, if you heel-hook with this
you'll basically just heel-hook the shoe off of your foot.
So once you've decided what type of shoe you want
as well as the types of features that you're looking for,
the next thing is to find a shoe that fits you best.
A climbing shoe that fits properly should feel
like a glove or like there's a bandage wrapped
around your foot.
So your toes should be touching the front of the shoe
as well as slightly bent, not fully bent,
not so your knuckles are pressing up into the leather
but also not totally flat and able to move around
in the shoe.
This is just so that we can push your toes to the front
so you get more power on the wall that way.
You also don't want any hotspots so you don't want
the shoes so snug that you have parts where the shoe
is rubbing and you might develop a blister.
You also don't want them so loose that if they break in
or stretch out at all, you're basically wearing
slippers on the wall.
Climbing shoes fit very differently from brand to brand.
So be prepared to try on a lot of different shoes.
You might find that there's a brand that works
really well for you in one size but then a certain
style where you need to size down or size up.
So just be prepared to have quite the session
of trying on shoes.
When you do decide to go in and try on shoes
it's a good idea to do it later in the day
when you've been walking around for a while,
maybe you've gone for a short hike,
gone for a run, or best-case scenario
you've been climbing all day as your feet
are going to be swollen so you'll get the best idea
of how those shoes will feel after a long climb.
I generally recommend when people try on shoes
that they find a shoe that fits right and then they try
one size or half-size smaller than that.
This is just so you can compare those
two sizes differently and hopefully avoid
having any dead space as well of having any hotspots
between those shoe sizes.
There is no comparison to coming in to the store
and trying on shoes because like I said
they're all gonna fit differently.
So come into your local REI and talk to the experts there.
See you later.