what are the best climbing shoes?

im looking for new climbing shoes any ideas?

Define climbing

rock climbing shoes. sorry.

Russell89 wrote:im looking for new climbing shoes any ideas?

What kind of climbing are you doing the most of? I know the fall back for all around climbing shoes (even though I'm a hardcore 5.10 lover) are the La Sportiva Mythos.

i mostly boulder but would like a comfortable shoe to do sport climbing especially overhangs and cracks. im trying to get into tradding this summer too. what are the fallbacks of an all around climbing shoe?
P.S. any feedback will be appreciated. thank you.
Edit: thank you all for your advice I can't wait to go to REI and try some shoes on. I also heard you can return them any time too even after using them outside for a while! That's great! Thanx again.

The La Sportiva Katana is a pretty good all around shoe, as long as you dont fit it too tight.

Since Acopa is no longer, I'd have to go w/ the Five Ten Galileo. If you size them right, they do everything well from micro edging to slabby granite to straight in crack.

Russell89 wrote:i mostly boulder but would like a comfortable shoe to do sport climbing especially overhangs and cracks. im trying to get into tradding this summer too. what are the fallbacks of an all around climbing shoe? P.S. any feedback will be appreciated. thank you.

Overhangs and cracks usually call for two different shoes. Overhanging routes call of an agressive shoe that is sensitive, soft enough to smear but w/ and a stiff enough toe to provide power on eges when you're horizontal.

Crack shoes are generally stiffer to provide support and you wear them larger, so your toes are flat. There are crack shoes, and there are Indian Creek shoes. My crack shoes are Galileos for the reasons that I stated above. A lot of times, in granite, your feet are outside of the crack. In Wingate Sandstone, your feet are nearly always in a crack, depending on the size. FOr thin hands and larger at the Creek I was wearing a pair of Scarpa Technos that were too big to edge well.

Outside of IC, my Galileos have served me well for everything. I have a size 10 for sport and single pitch and a size 10.5 for everything else. For limestone I usually wear the Evole Pontas, but have been leaning toward the Galileos lately.

You will climb best in the most comfortable shoe that is not too big. Meaning, once you hit the sweet spot between comfort and tightness, you'll be gold, no matter what kind of shoe it is. It's more about fit and comfort than what kind of shoe it is. I can't wear La Sportiva - they just don't fit right. No matter how good or cool their shoes may be, I'll never climb my best in them.

the ones that fit your feet best. No matter how sticky the rubber is if they dont fit your feet that are worthless

personally mad rocks and sportivas fit my feet best

510 moccasyms, solid at any kind of climbing. Its a slipper so size em right

Russell89 wrote:i mostly boulder but would like a comfortable shoe to do sport climbing especially overhangs and cracks. im trying to get into tradding this summer too. what are the fallbacks of an all around climbing shoe? P.S. any feedback will be appreciated. thank you.

Tradding is not a word... that is all.

Also if you get something downturned or aggressive you will be miserable while trying to place gear for a while.

I'd recommend Anasazi Velcros... good for pretty much everything, and actually a good shoe too.

Anything up to 5.11 I use a pair of Muiras. I have a pair of Vipers(no longer made) (just got the Sportiva Pythons to replace them and I like them a lot) for hard 11 to 12 and a pair of Testarossas for overhanging thin hard stuff or steep thin edging. I also have a large pair of Pitons for cracks. The evolve Talon is a really good shoe for hard bouldering. Just keep trying them until you find what you need. I would shop the deals if you are tight on cash. You never know what you will find that works great. Unfortunately a lot of that stuff is or gets discontinued.

Good Luck

The ones having the most fun.

Killis, I think it's adorable how hard you're trying to make a point and all, but it's off-topic at best and there's a whole thread just for that topic (which you already know, since you've been posting there too). Also, heal up!

On the topic of all-aroundish shoes: miuras for face/some overhang, painful but passable in some cracks; mythos or moccasyms for cracks/slab, not gonna be pushing the grades on steeps or edgy stuff though; for a does-everything-ok-but-some-things-better-than-others shoe, well, I hear the pontas are pretty good, but I haven't tried them yet. Same thing about the anisazi velcros.

Killis Howard wrote: Seems half the site's on the rag, curiosity get the best of me. I love La Sportiva Megas for smearing, BTW.

Agreed on both points. Amazing. We do have something in common after all. Muiras are some of the best for long routes, solutions a little better for toe twerks, bicycles, and cams.

the one that fits yr foot the best ... its that simple ...

bearbreeder wrote:the one that fits yr foot the best ... its that simple ...

Sorta, but not entirely. I love my miuras, they fit me perfectly (I know, I just dropped the p-word). The curl in my toe is great for face moves and overhangs, and is passable in cracks up to cupped hands, then it starts getting unnecessarily painful because my distal hallux is being cranked on like I'm doing a one-toe stand. For pure cracks I'll use my mythos, which are a little big on me (not a great fit for edging/face/overhang) but are comfortable (well, relatively speaking) for cracks. That said, my floppy mythos were my only shoes for a while and they did take me up to V4 before they really started being an impediment.

Now, you're probably not going to have the easiest time in a shoe that doesn't fit you well. If you find several that do fit you well, that's when the decision making comes into play.

Edit: What it really comes down to is as long as your shoe isn't actively holding you back, it's fine.

Since you don't know the differences between different shoes for different applications(crack, slab, overhang) I would say that you are beginner and should buy whichever shoe fits your foot best.

Dpends on what fits. 5.10s work for me. I wear Anasazis one half size smaller than my street shoe for anything involving harder face climbing or overhangs and moccs in my normal size for everything else (cracks easy and hard, slabs, long routes, and most anything 5.10 and under). If Sportiva fits you better, try Miuras - they're deservedly popular.

Killis Howard wrote:I had something funny to say, but I'm deleting it myself because it violated Guideline #1. Doesn't that take the wind right out of your sails?

I was going to delete your post Killis, just because I haven't done one yet and wanted to see what would happen, but then I realized that I don't have the power to delete posts. What's up with that?

my favorate shoe has always been the 5.10 moc.