Burn from a climbing shoe?

I had a weird experience a few weeks back, I was climbing on a moderately hot day, probably about 85 degrees. I was belaying my second with my back to the sun and as the day went on my heel began to hurt quite a bit.  When I took off my shoe at the end of the climb, there was a large circular patch of white with a small red spot in the center. This went on to form a blister which recurred three or four times over the next few days after draining it.  It took probably 10 days to fully heal. There's still a dark red scar where the injury occurred. This seems like more of a burn to me than a blister and I'm wondering if it was possible that the heat from the Sun on my shoe actually caused the problem. The shoes are fully broken in TC Pros on their second resole and I've never gotten a blister from them. Anyone else had this experience?

Not a medical professional, but, heck, this is the interwebs.
Sounds way too localized to be heat burn caused from diffused heat source like sun. I would call chemical burn of some sort, skin damage due to tight shoe and dirt,  or insect bite.

Could it have been a bug bite?

Yes, you can get burned....^ my foot(heel) after climbing in 100* temps with direct sunlight(same day)...

My foot weeks later ....

All said it took about 4-5 months for it to heal, and I still have issues 2 years later. 

Edit to add:

I was wearing TC pros when this^ happened as well   :/

and I still wear the same pair all the time without problems ...until my heals are in direct sun.

I was leading a pitch one day and my shoes were so unbearably hot that I got to a sit down ledge and took my shoes off for 5 min and put them in the shade before continuing. You can get burns from the hot black rubber for sure.

Our local cliffs also get very hot, more so than just the temp would suggest.

Black sandals get hot enough to be uncomfortable, black shoes, unbearable. 

This is why I will not be going to Velcro for my next climbing shoes. It seems to be stylish to have a huge swathe of black on the shoe, in addition to the velcro.

I vote for a burn being possible. A spider bite would be my other guess. They take a long time to heal also.

Best, H.

usually happens to my toes at a hanging belay. i usually curl them up and dont get burned but are very hot. 

but id say that yes it is very possible that something that is black, absorbing direct sunlight, smashed up against fairly soft skin for long periods could cause a burn. 

ever sat on black leather seats in a car that has been sitting in direct sunlight on a hot day while youre wearing shorts? i bet leather doesnt have the heat capacity that climbing rubber does either.

amarius wrote:

Not a medical professional, but, heck, this is the interwebs.
Sounds way too localized to be heat burn caused from diffused heat source like sun. I would call chemical burn of some sort, skin damage due to tight shoe and dirt,  or insect bite.

Ha, I AM a medical professional and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't experienced it. Definitely not a bug or a foreign body. 

Optimistic wrote:

Ha, I AM a medical professional and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't experienced it. Definitely not a bug or a foreign body. 

Bare skin next to something that transmits heat??? 

Ever seen tar on asphalt? Ever walk barefoot on asphalt? 

Sometimes modern medicine lacks plain old common sense.

:-)

Big B wrote:

Yes, you can get burned....^ my foot(heel) after climbing in 100* temps with direct sunlight(same day)...

My foot weeks later ....

All said it took about 4-5 months for it to heal, and I still have issues 2 years later. 

Edit to add:

I was wearing TC pros when this^ happened as well   :/

and I still wear the same pair all the time without problems ...until my heals are in direct sun.

Bummer B! You got hit even worse than me! The weird part is it really wasn't all THAT hot, definitely nowhere near 100. 

My own war wound, about 1 month out: 

And no, those are not my pink flip flops. 

Optimistic wrote:

Bummer B! You got hit even worse than me! The weird part is it really wasn't all THAT hot, definitely nowhere near 100. 

I had a similar, but much smaller blister from climbing shoes. Definitely not a direct sun heat related - was in a gym. It was warm, 80-85F, humid. Shoes were properly broken in, not too loose, not too tight. I attributed to lack of foot and shoe hygiene  - the gym where I climb is one step removed from a dump.

Sitting for far too long waiting for some beginners on the 3rd Flatiron, I got a pretty good burn on the side of my foot, where the rubber comes around the sides.  Just sitting in the sun for like an hour was enough.

Wow.   This thread had been informative.   I've had my feet feel really hot before when climbing on hot days.   I never would have thought that kind of burn was possible.   Good to know... 

In fact a quick Google search reveals that a burn is possible if skin is heated to temps as low as 109.4f for long periods.  I guess that blood flow world normally keep the skin well below that threshold, but stuffing them in climbing shoes probably squeezes out most of the blood flow around the heel. 

Did those of you who got burned feel any serious pain during the climb, or only after? 

cyclestupor wrote:

Wow.   This thread had been informative.   I've had my feet feel really hot before when climbing on hot days.   I never would have thought that kind of burn was possible.   Good to know... 

In fact a quick Google search reveals that a burn is possible if skin is heated to temps as low as 109.4f for long periods.  I guess that blood flow world normally keep the skin well below that threshold, but stuffing them in climbing shoes probably squeezes out most of the blood flow around the heel. 

Did those of you who got burned feel any serious pain during the climb, or only after? 

Mine was definitely hurting standing on the ledge. If I remember correctly it would go away when I started climbing. 

This shit is crazy. Never heard of this happening before.

cyclestupor wrote:

Wow.   This thread had been informative.   I've had my feet feel really hot before when climbing on hot days.   I never would have thought that kind of burn was possible.   Good to know... .....

Did those of you who got burned feel any serious pain during the climb, or only after? 

My heels felt hot, like someone was holding a lighter to them hot.... I kept telling my partner, "my feet feel like they're on fire"..... his response.. " yeah, it's vegas, it's hot out here" .... so we kept climbing...smh!    High pain threshold + moron = burned :/ 

edit: btw I burned both my heels that day ..^ that one was just the worst of the two...

wonderwoman wrote:

I am sorry this happened to you!

As soon as I anchor in, my shoes come off.  You will never catch me wearing my climbing shoes while belaying.  This has nothing to do with heat / sun for me, but more about general comfort.  I don't think that our feet a designed to be wedged into climbing shoes all the time, and I personally find that I have more 'foot endurance' during climbing trips when I take care of my feet.  

Thanks for the well wishes! These were my all day fit TC pro's. I've climbed several hundred trauma free pitches in them (sometimes wearing them continuously for an 8-10 pitch route and the accompanying descent) so this was quite a curve ball for me! I do have other shoes that come off at every belay, but it's previously been unnecessary with these...

Climbed Jubilant Song recently ... full south face / 80F ambient.

Big (6-7cm diameter) and extremely painful partial thickness burns on both heels.

Had my feet stuffed into Mocassyms. Be careful!

Holy...

Big B, that is gnarly!  I can't believe you continued climbing with those things forming, even if they had just been friction blisters. High pain threshold is right.

I've definitely felt like my toe-box or heel is extra hot on a hot day, but never considered that my feet could actually be getting burned. Just figured it was the extra sweat, plus swelling from the heat.

Another reason to remember to take my shoes off at the belay.  

Big B wrote:

Yes, you can get burned....^ my foot(heel) after climbing in 100* temps with direct sunlight(same day)...

My foot weeks later ....

All said it took about 4-5 months for it to heal, and I still have issues 2 years later. 

Edit to add:

I was wearing TC pros when this^ happened as well   :/

and I still wear the same pair all the time without problems ...until my heals are in direct sun.

this is exactly what happened to my right heel while climbing in the heat & sun in yosemite last week.. it seems to be healing but obviously not as quickly as I'd like. I have a 2-week climbing trip coming up in a few weeks (definitely in colder weather) and am wondering how long it took before you were able to wear socks/shoes? I'm still hesitant to put any on, even with a bandage covering the wound. also looking into suitable socks for wearing with my TC pros. 

This is why I wear socks when I climb.