Any hard wearing climbing shoe recommendations?

Mini D has started climbing with me so I’m now climbing 3 times a week.

My five ten kirigami shoes have lasted around 6 months and I’ve gone through the rubber.

Getting a new sole is around £50.

Any recommendations for a more hard wearing shoe without too much of a compromise on performance?

I like climbing but I’m clueless about climbing shoes. I normally buy what’s on offer at my climbing wall or go outdoors.

Suggestions welcomed.

Thanks

If you’re climbing that often then, that’s probably about right.

It’s even worse now than it used to be as plenty of shoes now have thinner rubber as it’s ‘better feel’.  The thing to do would be try and find a local climbing shop with a decent range and ask there.

As above, 6 months at 3 sessions a week is about right. Get mine re-soled at cobblers and coffee in Plymouth and the re-sole seems to last longer than the original. Takes them about 8 working days to turn them around.

Currently black diamond method s and Scarpa VSR both holding up well for me if you’re looking for a moderately aggressive shoe.

Boreal joker lasts forever, and evolv Elekra also good if you’re after something less aggressive.

5:10 climbing shoes don’t hold up since the addidas takeover IMO, but they do fit me super well which is a shame. Couple of friends have gone through the kirigami at the toe, and not that impressed.

There’s generally a bit of a trade off between the stickiness of the rubber and how long it takes to wear through. 5.10 Stealth is a bit on the soft side.

You might find Scarpa or La Sportiva rubber lasts a bit longer.

The other option, of course, is to improve your footwork! (only kidding).

First of all if a shoes doesn’t fit, it’s not going to work, so go try a few pairs on.

Beginner + bouldering on sticky high friction holds will go thro’ shoes pretty quickly – toe I assume – just by scraping the rand as you try to place the foot – this will improve, but if you keep on pushing grades hard it will still happen , but less.  Also , really downsizing doesn’t help with toe wear as it pushes the rand forwards over the sole, and with modern shoes you don’t really need to.  I’m old enough to remember original Fires, Sportica Megas and Kendo’s and they really needed to be hammered on as they stretched and lost all tension.  That’s not the case now.  I also remember ye original 5.10’s and while the rubber was great, the build quality was not. At all. Remember Adi took them over a looong time ago now… most people have never seen a 13 year old pre-Adi 5.10

I’d probably give really soft rubber like XS Grip 2 (Scarpa, Sportiva and others a miss) – it’s very sticky, but that means a compromise on wear.

Go try a load on.  What sort of thing are you climbing, and like to climb?

The other option, of course, is to improve your footwork! (only kidding).

And

toe I assume – just by scraping the rand as you try to place the foot – this will improve, but if you keep on pushing grades hard it will still happen , but less.

A little bit of both, bad footwork and pushing my grade.
The five tens are the comfiest shoe I’ve ever worn but they don’t breath and they are the smelliest shoe I’ve owned. I think the rubber is the softest I’ve used.

My climbing wall sell Boreal so I’ll have a look, try some on. Thanks for the advice. My previous pair were Boreal but I could only wear them for an hour before they hurt my feet. They are definitely harder rubber as I had to bend them a few times to warm them up to pursude them to fit my feet.

Tbh what fits best and suits ability. Even with neat footwork rubber will be done in a few months if you climb a lot. When I was a more regular climber I would go through 2 pairs a year. Now I might get a bit more time out of them but I also have fewer shoes in rotation. Just an older worn bouldering pair and a newer ‘sendy’ pair. 

If you can, try and get to some climbing shoe demo days. Eg Sheffield Depot are advertising some upcoming demo days.  

IMO leather uppers stretch more but smell less than synthetic uppers. 

I am currently in la sportiva miuras, tenaya oasi’s, and a very old pair of mad rock mugens. Mostly the oasi’s.

What grades are you climbing?

I have some Scarpa maestro for all day multi pitch which look like they will last and I’m happy with them. I think they’re Edge rubber so more rigid and robust. I use Scarpa veloce for indoors which are soft and sticky (XS grip rubber?) but also 4mm rubber so should be durable. I think both are starter/intermediate level, so depending where (outdoor/indoor) and what type of stuff, both are worth looking into IMO and trying on.

I bought two pairs of the salmon coloured Anasazi back in 2006, have not worn through the first pair. It might however say more about how much climbing I’ve done since than anything else…

Have you actually tried to use them – I’ve got a similarly aged pair of old Anasazis upstairs that belonged to my exwife and they’re unusable – both the upper and the rubber are completely dried out.

People with stinky shoes – you know you can wash them yes? Well unless they have cardboard midsoles like the old 5.10’s haha.  Mine go thro’ pretty often, 15 minutes cold with soap, 15 minute wash to rinse them and then air dry a couple of days

Pair no1 seems okay as I occasionally go to the climbing wall.

What grades are you climbing?

6b and 6c ish and if the climb suits me and I’ve had my weetabix sometimes more. 

I went to buy the boreal jokers today from my climbing wall but they convinced me to go for a more agrresive show so went for the boreal crux. As a member I get discount so cheaper than online. 

Boreal Crux

First impressions are good on really small stuff but very different to my five tens and lost my footing on some bigger holds. I guess they need wearing in and I need to get used to them.

People with stinky shoes – you know you can wash them

Do you machine wash them? Does it effect the glue? 

I’ve been hand washing mine gently every now and then 

Yes, machine wash, and no, it hasn’t ever affected the glue in my experience (20 washes over the years I guess).

If you’ve got a project you’re really keen on, then it’s the final trick in my book as newly washed rubber is astonishly grippy 🙂

lost my footing on some bigger holds

The rubber on brand new shoes can do this for a couple of sessions. If the shoe is a bit stiffer as well, it won’t conform to the hold surface as well, at least until the boot starts to flex a bit.

Those look to be a reasonably aggressive shape, designed for someone who is on small holds on steeper surfaces. The trade-off for the downturned toe is that the stiffness can make it less good on smeary/slopey foot stuff.

6b or c is hard enough that I’d prefer some decent shoes.  Scarpa instinct  vs? They’re edge , rather than grip, so you trade off a wee bit of friction for better wear, but still a really good shoe, and usually on sale somewhere.

But fit rules for these things, more than anything else.

As per Martin,

The grippier the soles, the faster they’ll wear and 5-10 pioneered the super high grip Stealth Rubber. It’s always a compromise.

I once lost my footing bouldering on Yorkshire gritstone and took the nose off both shoes. I wasn’t quite down to skin but it wasn’t far off, destroyed them. It happens.

I bought two pairs of the salmon coloured Anasazi back in 2006, have not worn through the first pair.

Yeah, I have a pair of “comfortable with my sexuality” coloured Anasazi also. They’re probably 25 years old but that says less about their longevity and more about the fact that I expected them to stretch and they absolutely did not. They’re the big guns I used to dig out when I was almost-but-not-quite getting a route, then I’d swap back to my normal shoes afterwards.

But fit rules for these things, more than anything else.

100%. When I bought the Anasazi I “knew” what I wanted. I was dead wrong. My current main pair (for some value of “current”), I tried on pretty much every shoe in the shop and came away with something wildly different from what I was expecting to buy.

A dedicated climbing shop is worth its weight in gold here.

Fit is the most important thing IMHO, I have Scarpa shaped feet, so I can pretty much buy any pair of these and they will be fine

I typically get 6-9 months out of a pair, climbing as often as you are

I’ve tried Sportiva, Tenaya and Boreal too, of these I only liked Tenaya but they are known for being softer and wear more quickly, the Sportivas in particular just felt incredibly uncomfortable

We have just had a pair of resoled shoes back from Llanberis resoles.  Very impressed with service and results.

Just realised you have bought some.  Hope they do you well.

First impressions are good on really small stuff but very different to my five tens and lost my footing on some bigger holds. I guess they need wearing in and I need to get used to them.

Boreal rubber isn’t a sticky as 5:10 – you’ll just need to learn the new ones.

I’m a 5:10 stealth C4 fan and have now settled on the NIAD pink as my shoe of choice. Proper foot placement is key for longevity of climbing shoes. Once i started to practice placement i wore through shoes a lot more slowly

Just a quick update and a review.

Just about to replace the boreal crux shoes as I’ve a decent sized hole in the right foot. I’ve probably worn them a few weeks too long to be worth spending money on resolving them.

They are probably the best shoes I’ve owned. Lasted nearly 8 months climbing 3 times a week, that’s 2 months longer than others I’ve had.

The aggressive lip disappeared quickly but they were still excellent on small footholds. Great for smearing.

Pretty comfortable shoe for a performance shoe. My friend were jealous as theirs were killing their feet.

They did stretch more than expected, still a great fit but the heel was a bit baggy. I think I need a half size smaller next time.

As a synthetic shoe they were quite smelly. I’ve washed them a few times and they seemed to get smaller after every wash but not in the heel.

My local climbing wall doesn’t sell boreal anymore. Before I buy some more on line does anyone have any recommendations and links to shoes under £100 mark?

Thanks

https://bananafingers.co.uk/boreal-crux?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw4f6zBhBVEiwATEHFVnfYaTar2I0vfLYGRjc5mZJ2-0W6ZLq7iGoGmG4LBmrX8R0VwJ690xoCkWYQAvD_BwE