Is Shoe Carving Aid?

Semi-Shitpost, Semi-Totally Completely Serious:

So there is this open project I've been working on. One of the hardest moves is a left heel hook on this featured, but not at all incut surface. From the tenuous heel hook, I reach my left hand to a sidepull above the heel. I have been able to truly stick this move once in a handful of sessions. Most often my heel just slips off. It's traprock, and there are a few sharp small features on the surface, but the surface itself is mostly smooth and sloped down. When I return, I plan to try the move with every shoe I have, to see if a particular heel sticks better. If that doesn't work, I had a dastardly idea in my back pocket...

I could file or cut into the heel of one of these shoes, so that there is a small divet in the shoe where the small sharp features of the rock could slot in and keep the heel from slipping off. It's I'm thinking a file would do, or maybe a knife? Perhaps carving the heel to fit perfectly with the few features the rock has could be enough to stick to it better.

Is this.... ethics? Bad ethics? Or perhaps destroying my own shoe for the chance of sending a project is so stupid that I deserve to send if I do? Would Megos approve? Probably not, but I do remember a video where he was scuffing up his shoe with a file to stick a toehook. It would also be an FA, so if I were just honest about it, perhaps it would be okay?

Thoughts on shoe-carving?

There's no cheating in climbing, only lying. 

Sticky rubber is aid. Real climbers climb with lug sole steel toed boots.

Give the FA away so you know you aren’t doing it for ego purposes. Then send it however you like with a pure heart and clear conscience.

Since Russian Doll stacking shoes got the OK to deal with offwidths (not to mention copious use of tape on hands), what you propose is nbd.

Long Rangerwrote:

Since Russian Doll stacking shoes got the OK to deal with offwidths (not to mention copious use of tape on hands), what you propose is nbd.

I’m sorry, what now?

People are wearing rock shoes over their rock shoes?

With more experience, Harrington knew she needed to make her feet bigger. Approach shoes worked with some success, but the soft platform made her feet weary. During a brainstorming session with Honnold they realized his size 9 shoes were a perfect match for the Monster. By giving Harrington his shoes to wear over top of her own, she would have a stiff and sizable pair of Russia nesting doll feet. Harrington harnessed her years of wide crack experience and climbed confidently through the slot — two hours faster than her 2015 ascent. She paused below the exit and carefully removed Honnold’s right shoe while wedged in the offwidth, and then danced up the delicate and unprotectable slab with lopsided feet.

https://gripped.com/profiles/emily-harrington-climbing-a-41-pitch-5-13-in-yosemite/

Probably as sticky as climbing Soudain Seaul with a book under the knee pad. 

Alex Lawsonwrote:

Is shoe-carving Aid?

What's wrong with Aid?

Demetri Vwrote:

I’m sorry, what now?

People are wearing rock shoes over their rock shoes?

Be careful…the last time this was discussed on this forum the thread ended up getting locked. Dangerous waters!

Just buy some MadrRock Drones, the 2.0 is awesome and comes with a ‘cheater heel’ already built in. 

Go nuts, if you chose a different shoe that fit better on that particular rock, it would be just as much aid as modifying a shoe or taping a finger.