What was the first pair of climbing shoes you ever owned?

FiveTen Spires in 1996. After they wore out I discovered the magic of sensitive shoes.

I special ordered direct from Vasque, for their new fangled all thick full grain leather Vasque Ascender high top shoes. Stiff, great for standing in aid slings, absolutely no friction from the hard Vasque rubber soles. Must have been mid 70's...

RRs, then EBs, followed by Boreal Fires, then various La Sportivas.
Fires were my favorites--versatile and comfortable.

RR's. Still have 'em.

PA's next, then on to EB's. Then to Fires. Then Ballet Gold.
finally to Acopa JB's. Oh, I forgot to say my mountain boots too!

Blue kaukulators,just sent them in for another resole

Pair of green fiveten moccs with blown toes that I found in the used basket at the BD shop. "Performance sized" for my discomfort. Even worse after the $10 resole.

EB's extremely expensively imported.......
And everybody was laughing when I climbed first time with them....
Until I was climbing better than the others......

wivanoff wrote: Are those Kronhoffers?

Yes

Barefoot and J.C. Penny work boots.

Kronhoffers were my second-- first pair was a shoe called the Spyder (maybe made by Pivetta?) that was possibly a low-cost Kronhoffer variant. Also had the Direttissima, kind of like the Kronhoffer but with double leather at the toe for extra durability. Those old shoes could really edge...

I first climbed one of the Flatirons in Boulder with a pair of double thickness hiking boots, don't remember what we called them but everybody wore them, they were very popular. After that I bought the RR blue boots, supposedly good for edging but then I got the PA"s, red leather boots. When they wore out I bought EB's. My first pair were too tight, so I bought a size 40. Kept the smaller pair for edging.

Boreal Aces

Yeah, really started out with massive Rachle Rotundo thick leather hiking boots...They got me NOWHERE on the slick Devils Lake quartzite I grew up on. Suffered a few more years with the Vasque ascenders, and finally got my first pair of ill fitting too-tight EB's, but they were gladly replaced quickly with first generation Firey's and the fabled Spanish rubber on them. First 5.11's in those Boreal shoes.

Ex-rental Boreal Zephyrs. Size 11. 2001, I think

My first pair was a a pair of old rental evolves. They smelled so bad that once my friend caught a wiff as I was taking them off and offered me a pair of his shoes if I promised to throw them away. And thats how I ended up with a pair of purple 5.10 spires

milesholland wrote:My first pair was a a pair of old rental evolves. They smelled so bad that once my friend caught a wiff as I was taking them off and offered me a pair of his shoes if I promised to throw them away.

After growing up scrambling/slab climbing in my classic vans, I invested in my first pair of technical climbing shoes, Evolv Defys. While they definitely got me sticking to the stone, I had a helluva time finding partners because the synthetic upper smelled so rank. Now, over three years later, my longterm partners still remember how bad my feet smelled. Thanks Evolv! I know your materials mean no animals were harmed in the making of your products but that doesn't stop 'em from smelling like roadkill :D

Boreal Aces. With the green laces.

Great shoes, even after a bunch of resoles. Still my backups...

First three pairs were EBs, then I got some Chouinard Canyons.

Royal Robbins blue suede boots, EBs (numerous pairs), La Sportiva Mariachers, Boreal Fires, Boreal Aces (black w/ green laces - I still use them for long climbs), La Sportiva Mythos, orange Scarpas, La Sportiva Miura.

FiveTen Diamonds. Hot as hell and sized too large.