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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
What’s in Your Shoe Quiver?
I’ve reached the point where I need to replace my current Miuras, so I was taking stock of the shoes I currently use. When I worked at Climbing Magazine I got a lot of shoes for free, but most I thought were crap compared to my trusty Miuras. You’d get an occasional 5.10 that was good, but not much beyond that. As a brand, Sportiva puts out a high quality product and because of this I’ve been pretty loyal. Here’s what I use on a regular basis.
Miuras – These are my go to shoes for just about everything. I have them sized so they fit my feet well without causing any pain. Great for sport climbing to long multipitch routes. They offer good support without being too stiff, definitely my favorite shoe of all time. The only downside here is a lot of jamming can be pretty painful if you have them sized right. But that leads us to the…
Mythos – When it’s time to head to the desert, you can’t beat the Mythos. The low profile slips easily into cracks and holds up well to repeated abuse. My only complaint is that the laces are often cut by the toe if you are jamming thinner cracks. I solve this by replacing the standard lace with accessory cord, and you’re good to go. I actually own two pairs of these, one for all around crack climbing, and then a more comfortable pair that I only wear in the Creek, as they’d be too sloppy for other spots.
Venoms – I got these for free and they have been a fun indoor/bouldering shoe. They have an aggressive toe that’s good for the steep stuff, and I like having a slipper thats easy to get on and off. They’re soft, making them a good training option as they’ll help build up your foot strength.
I’ve also been looking at the Barracudas as another good all around option, if only there was a shop around here that carried them…
So what’s in your quiver?
9 Responses to What’s in Your Shoe Quiver?
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I am totally partial to the 5.10 Moccasym. I pretty much stopped buying different shoes because all I ever wear is the Mocc. I have a wide short foot(wms 4.5-5), and none of the “girly” shoes fit, because they are too narrow.
I agree with the 5.10 site:
“These slippers have been used to onsight 5.14, but perform great on everything from boulder problems to multi-pitch sport routes.” I’d also add those .75-1 hand cracks(he,he)at the creek.
Miuras, Katanas, Barracudas, Testarossas. (in order of my love for them, although I like them all)
I’m a sportiva girl at heart! I’m impatiently waiting til I can get my hands on some Miura VS’s to complete my collection.
Here is an older post about shoes.
http://dreaminvertical.blogspot.com/2007/12/climbing-shoes.html
For just about everything I wear my Muiras. For steep climbing and bouldering I use the Testarossas.
I recently got a pair of Barracudas which are pretty fun but sizing can make a big difference. I got them to be a crack shoe and sized them the same as my Muiras. While this works great for cracks they dont edge as well as they should. I expect going a half or full size down from the Muira size would change this.
For Indian Creek I really liked using Moccasym’s they gave me a lot of security in smaller cracks.
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My quiver (http://chossmonkey.com/blog1/2008/06/05/the-shoe-quiver/)
La Sportiva Mythos, Red Chilis (two pair – don’t know the names of them), Five Ten Anasazi velcros, and Mad Rock Locos. All were super cheap and almost all of them are going on their 3rd or 4th resole. Send on!
As a former associate (cough, cough), I meant Intern of Climbing, I too was able to test out a variety of different rubber. Red Chili Corona VCR’s are underrated, those things stick to even the dirtiest routes in The Narrows. Aside from the Testarossas ($150 – OUCH!) being my latest goto shoe for bouldering & technical climbs, I have always been a fan of the Acopa Spectres. Stop laughing, seriously, the Spectres size well to your foot and have some of the stickiest rubber out there. But with that all natural rubber, they wear out much faster than others.
btw – House of Cards at The Narrows is in my top 3 routes climbed this season….yet.
i have an embarrasing amount of shoes that i take on more walks than i do my dog! at the base i end up with my testorossas or anasazi’s. my brother had the good fortune of climbing with michael reardon (r.i.p.) and was, by the end of the day, talked into buying a pair that day! he swears by them! i got my testorossas from him because he has completely converted!!! i will probably buy a pair (that i may simply carry as more training weight…i can barely fit my rack in my pack now because it is filling with shoes!:)) soon. i will likely fall in line with Jon (from above post) and my bro…i have not heard a single bad first hand report. from steep to slabby, fingers to off-widths…
FAVORITES
Scarpa Visions — I have two pairs of these. One set is stretched out enough for long, all-day routes that have been resoled with thicker Stealth. The newer set is still tight. Neither pair heel hook great however. So for hard heel hooking and steep routes I switch to…
Scarpa Dominators — Discontinued, resoled twice already, but still fit like a glove. Best steep shoes I’ve ever owned.
STEPCHILDREN
La Sportiva Mythos — These are my slab shoes. I find them good for nothing else.
La Sportiva Barracudas — After shoulder surgery my feet expanded (back close to normal size). So I used these for a while. Now that things are back to normal, these feel too big. These were great shoes though. They climb face, cracks, and steep rock with equal aplomb. Pplus they toe and hel hook like champs. Someday I might size down a half size.
La Sportiva Vipers — Okay for the gym and some bouldering, but hard to get on and fit is only so-so for me.
Scarpa Vision Vs — Not quite the same fit as the Visions, but better at heel hooking (and more painful).
Multipich/Steep: Quantum & Testarossa
Slab/boulder: Speedster
Boulder/Gym: Team 5.10