Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Climbing Shoes - pt 2
Trying to break into 5.11s? 5.12s?
You might need new shoes.
Part 2 of 2: Getting sensitive
Here’s the run down on shoes.
First, the single most important part of the shoe is that couple of square inches of rubber under and on the edge of your big toes. You need a nice clean, crisp 90 degree edge of rubber there that you can press and roll right into the little edges, nubbins, and creases of tiny footholds. Once that part of your shoe gets worn and rounded off — stop reading right now and go get them, hold them up to the light, and look closely at that edge right under the outside edge of your big toes — the best you can do with them is kind of smear them crudely over the whole area of the tiny features on small footholds.
Smearing will work, and smearing is an important part of good climbing. And sometimes the additional contact with the wall or surrounding rock can make the difference between slipping and not. But trying to smear bluntly over the whole area when the hold is a tiny crease or edge is inefficient, and it won’t give you the most purchase.
And whether you realize it or not, when your foot is a little less secure on that tiny edge, the rest of your body knows it and tries to compensate. The only way to compensate for slipping feets because of rounded worn out, clubby shoes is to bear down harder on the tiny handholds that your fingers are dealing with.
Now after you squeeze, crimp, or clutch a bunch of holds just a little bit harder, then that means that your forearms,which are always the weak link in this whole process, are going to flame out that much earlier.
That is, you’re going to pump out and fall off long before you finish the route. And it happened because the rubber on your shoes is worn out. But since the rubber wore off slowly over the course of weeks or months, and since you can’t really detect every bit of compensation your body is doing for the foot insecurity, you never even realized that it was the shoes that were starting to suck and not really you.
So it’s time to put away those solid beginner shoes.
What you need to look for as your technique improves, as you get stronger, as your feet get stronger, and as you get into the harder grades, are shoes that fit your foot like a glove.
Different manufacturers use different lasts to shape their shoes. One of the companies will have a last that produces a shoe that fits your foot really well. Go shopping, try lots of them on, and see how as many different pairs fit on your feet as you can.
Most likely, if you're trying harder grades you are also getting ready for a pair of thinner, softer, more sensitive shoes. As your toes get stronger and your technique gets better (you don’t drag your toes up the wall any more, do you?) one of the sportier, pointier, toe down models of shoes is going to be more appropriate for you.
With the pointy toes and sharp edges, and snugger molded fit, you’ll be able to press the shoe right down into the feature and wring every bit of purchase out of it with your feet, and that will take some of the load off your burning forearms. And that will put you at the anchors on those hard routes thinking, “wow, I never realized how important my shoes and my footwork were.” ¶ Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Trying to break into 5.11s? 5.12s?You might need new shoes.
Part 2 of 2: Getting sensitive
Here’s the run down on shoes.
First, the single most important part of the shoe is that couple of square inches of rubber under and on the edge of your big toes. You need a nice clean, crisp 90 degree edge of rubber there that you can press and roll right into the little edges, nubbins, and creases of tiny footholds. Once that part of your shoe gets worn and rounded off — stop reading right now and go get them, hold them up to the light, and look closely at that edge right under the outside edge of your big toes — the best you can do with them is kind of smear them crudely over the whole area of the tiny features on small footholds.
Smearing will work, and smearing is an important part of good climbing. And sometimes the additional contact with the wall or surrounding rock can make the difference between slipping and not. But trying to smear bluntly over the whole area when the hold is a tiny crease or edge is inefficient, and it won’t give you the most purchase.
And whether you realize it or not, when your foot is a little less secure on that tiny edge, the rest of your body knows it and tries to compensate. The only way to compensate for slipping feets because of rounded worn out, clubby shoes is to bear down harder on the tiny handholds that your fingers are dealing with.
Now after you squeeze, crimp, or clutch a bunch of holds just a little bit harder, then that means that your forearms,which are always the weak link in this whole process, are going to flame out that much earlier.
That is, you’re going to pump out and fall off long before you finish the route. And it happened because the rubber on your shoes is worn out. But since the rubber wore off slowly over the course of weeks or months, and since you can’t really detect every bit of compensation your body is doing for the foot insecurity, you never even realized that it was the shoes that were starting to suck and not really you.
So it’s time to put away those solid beginner shoes.
What you need to look for as your technique improves, as you get stronger, as your feet get stronger, and as you get into the harder grades, are shoes that fit your foot like a glove.
Different manufacturers use different lasts to shape their shoes. One of the companies will have a last that produces a shoe that fits your foot really well. Go shopping, try lots of them on, and see how as many different pairs fit on your feet as you can.
Most likely, if you're trying harder grades you are also getting ready for a pair of thinner, softer, more sensitive shoes. As your toes get stronger and your technique gets better (you don’t drag your toes up the wall any more, do you?) one of the sportier, pointier, toe down models of shoes is going to be more appropriate for you.
With the pointy toes and sharp edges, and snugger molded fit, you’ll be able to press the shoe right down into the feature and wring every bit of purchase out of it with your feet, and that will take some of the load off your burning forearms. And that will put you at the anchors on those hard routes thinking, “wow, I never realized how important my shoes and my footwork were.” ¶ Wednesday, September 19, 2007
