My first pair were Pierre Allains (-5 for spelling) which were red and black with rubber as hard as a semi tire. Bought them in 1973. Second pair were EBs.

Boreal Zephyr. Not particularly sensitive. I replaced them with Boreal Stingers and immediately climbed an entire grade harder.

Kastinger Kletter's circa 1971

La Sportive Katanas...circa 2007 :-)

Yes, that's not really appropriate for this thread, but I wanted to ask some of the...ahem...more experienced climbers who are posting here what have been the biggest, best changes to shoes over time. Stickier rubber, etc.

Seems like a lot of the 'non-shoe' gear inventions/changes are fairly large, obvious improvements - like the introduction of cams. Was there a big leap in shoe design?

Just interested in some of the history here..

-Adam

Was this thread started to deliberately force people to divulge their age?

EBs. Mid to ate 70s. Before that, I actually climbed quite a few things at Josh and Tahquitz (up to 5.6) in a pair of Adidas basketball shoes. But hey, I was only 13 or 14.

Edit: to address Adams' questions, it was stickier rubber by far. Once Fires came out, the floodgates opened. Ninjas didn't hurt either, since that proved that you could climb lots of things with a non-lasted type shoes.

The REI catalog(which was 3 pages 1983) only sold red or blue Asolos, I got the blue. But I learned in PA's. Fun topic.

Blueys Submitted By: Hank the Tank on Dec 27, 2012

First pair of real shoes were a second hand pair of PA's I picked up when I was 14. Then it was EB's, then Asolos, then Boreal Fires. The Fires changed everything overnight. I got mine in 83 or 84.

I'm pretty much a five ten shoe person these days.

Onesports. Used to be the sister company of Montrail...don't know what's happened to them (the company or the shoes!)...it's been a long, long time.

Vertical Friction Loafers, circa 1992.
Still have 'em :-)

My first pair of climbing shoes: Vertical Friction Loafers, circa 1992 Submitted By: Cathy on Oct 24, 2008

I had a pair of RRs, blue suede shoes, in 1971. I climb mostly in Ninjas now.

I don't know the names of them, but I think they were made by Laytok?, 1984ish, blue suede, hi-top, rubber so hard it had the durometer of cast iron...

My first pair were Merrell Flashdances in the late 80s. They had bright blue leather, yellow laces, and a huge pink triangle on the side. Merrell decided to stop using pink triangles on their shoes in the early 90s, for some reason;-).

A pair of hand-me-down Vasque Ascents from perhaps the later 70's or early 80's. Still have them for walls- they fit loose, heave tread, and are stiffer than a board.
Second pair was Kamet Joshua Trees, circa late-80's. I forget when they stopped importing those... shortly thereafter I went to the 5.10/Vertical hightops (this was when 5.10 was made in the USA), then I firted with the old 'Vertical' Razors (there were bright orange with purple print, Circa 1989?) the Boreal Vector (wrong shape for my foot) and a few others before to the 5.10 lynx in 1990 or 1991. Those were my "good" shoes and I've never found anything that fit and performed as well for my foot. Been in La Sportiva Kaukulators and Mythos for the most part since then, with a few other pairs here and there like Red Chili spirits (great out fo the box, but stretch too much), and Red Chili Saulsalitos (the red ones) which are VERY stiff and edge very well, but are not sensitive enough for my taste.

My all time favorite shoes:

Trad: La Sprotiva Kaukulators 0- the early Blue ones.
Performance: 5.10 Lynx- the early ones that didn't fall apart.

My first technical climbing shoes was a pair of the grey Krohnhoffer kletter shoes. Like the ones that Layton Kor is wearing in the famous photo that Alan Hill had so magnificently reproduced in glorious velvet.
There were a number of options on the market at the time. RR’s were one choice.
I consulted my climbing guru’s (Mark Hess and Larry Bruce) they recommended that I buy the Kronehoffers three sizes too small. I was to wear them through three cycles of soaking in hot water and completely drying. They didn’t steer me wrong. I could stand on the thinnest edges and they jammed well in cracks also. They had no rubber rands so I had to keep patching them. They became so comfortable that I could do most approaches in my climbing shoes.

EB's (1982)

Also recall having a pair of, I think they were called, Galibier "contacts," for slab climbing on the Apron (1984)

Calma Adherienca, red and grey high tops that were around right before Fires came out.

I think I still have mine around somewhere...

They were a pair of board-lasted LaSportiva lace-ups. Dark blue with yellow laces, c.a. 1996.

A pair of Vasque climbing boots in 82. By the time I realized my error in not getting EBs, Fires came out and my climbing jumped a couple of grades immediately.

First pair of climbing shoes. Submitted By: Keen Butterworth on Nov 5, 2008

Scarpa Eclipses, they were truly awful

Reebok climbing shoes. Yea I said Reebok. Todd Skinner designed them for his free attempt on Trango. I bought them from Sierra Trading Post for about $30. I liked them so much I bought another pair. I still have them and use them on long routes.

Boreal Fires circa 1986. Upgraded to La Sportiva Mythos in 1992 and still like them. (Of course, I still have the Fires too, in my "museum".)