Barefoot Climbing ???

This dude sent kahuna roof a v5 out at cart lake. I guess im just curious as to if anyone else has some good barefoot climbing stories out there, they are impressive to say the least!

youtube.com/watch?v=HMfYALS…

Got an okay story for you.

I was with a group climbing a V4 boulder, don't remember the name of it, but no one could quite make the last move. Basically you were making a pseudo-dyno to the top, but if you blew your feet and couldn't control your swing, you would pop off due to that bad swing. There was this tiny nib that would allow you to flag out and stop the swing, but no one's shoes were sticking.

So one guy said fuck it and took his shoe off. He sent it first try without his right shoe.

That hold was super slimey afterwards though. I guess it's great for people who swear they need the most sensitivity on a route.

In the 80s, East Germans and Czechs were sending up to 13- on poorly protected sandstone in the elbadstein, cesky raj, labe and adrspach areas, often without shoes.

Google "Skip Guerin" and "barefoot"

V5? How about V15!

My nomination for the Boss of Northeast Barefooting: Chris Smith

The only barefoot climbing I've done is romping up the Second Flatiron. I was feeling spiritual and wanted to "really feel the rock."

It was fun, but edging wasn't an option. More power to ya if you want to send hard things sans shoes.

I heard about the v15 barefoot send that day at carter lake. Barefoot climbing is something I never considered but it seems to open up a whole new way of climbing! Great stories!

For the people who have climbed without shoes, do you chalk your feet too? Is that what the large bouldering chalk bags are really for? Dipping your feet in?

All just depends on the route. Hardest boulder problem I have sent barefoot was a V5 and it was basically alot of 2 finger crimps that worked perfectly for a big toe. I also know tons of V1s I can't climb barefoot so it all just depends.

At one of our local crags I regularly climb barefoot anything 5.10 or easier.

Henry Barber.

Last fall, I was able to climb a classic in Smuggler's Notch named "Blunt". Slopey, slippery and glassy core intensive foot holds, sloping sidepulls and pinches and a hard heelhook. The problem is V11, and it took me 5 sessions to take it down. The crux for me was keeping the heelhook long enough for the first foot cut move out right. After sticking that move, I took it to the top.

The top out is full value and very committing and the landing is less than ideal.

Back in the late '50s or early '60s a winsome young lady showed up in the Climbers Campground in the Tetons. What I recall is she climbed the Grand, including all the hiking, barefoot, earning the accolade, "The Barefoot Contessa" (a 1954 movie, not the modern cooking show). We were very impressed.

As mentioned above, after climbing in Dresden ,where barefoot climbing was normal at the time ( and worked very well on that featured sandstone),  Henry Barber frequently climbed barefoot. I recall Jimmie Dunn climbing a hard new route in New Hampshire (hard 11 or 12–top of the scale back then) with a shoe on one foot and no shoe in the other, after failing multiple times with shoes in both feet. More recently Ward and Chris Smith both climb barefoot frequently—and their favorite stomping ground of Rumney is notorious for its sharp schist.

Tucson early 80s... Bob Murray, John gault and maybe George Smith used to do barefoot. Maybe Frank Abel too.

Alan Rubin wrote:

 I recall Jimmie Dunn climbing a hard new route in New Hampshire (hard 11 or 12–top of the scale back then) with a shoe on one foot and no shoe in the other, after failing multiple times with shoes in both feet. 

There's a picture in Rock Climbs in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (3rd edition, east volume) of Jim Dunn on Zonked Out (5.12b) with one bare foot, and one shod foot.

Jared Wright wrote: This dude sent kahuna roof a v5 out at cart lake. I guess im just curious as to if anyone else has some good barefoot climbing stories out there, they are impressive to say the least! youtube.com/watch?v=HMfYALS…

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/106926017/barefoot-climbing-is-it-gross

Barefeet provide more friction & feel than sticky rubber when the rock is soaking wet. On more than one occasion, the technique has made it possible for me to continue a climb. 

Nick Grant wrote: My nomination for the Boss of Northeast Barefooting: Chris Smith