Slab climbing shoes for thin 10+
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Jeff McLeod wrote:sportiva speedsters sized ridiculously tight. might hurt your toes a bit but you'll feel microscopic footholds. picture for reference ;PWorst advice on here for a slab climbing shoe JCM wrote: Basically you want something stiff and flat-ish.I totally disagree with this statement. And most of the blog-ish post that superseded it. JCM wrote: Most important, though, is to get what fits your foot. Go to a good shop and try on every shoe mentioned above.But do agree with this one. Just do your local shop a favor. If you try on shoes there, BUY your shoes there. (granted they have what you want) |
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BigNobody wrote: I totally disagree with this statement.If a stiff, flat lasted shoe (like an Anasazi) isn't the right choice for edging-slab (which is what the OP is referring to...true smearing slab is a different animal), what do you propose as a better choice? I'm also intrigued by your disagreement to my other points. Care to elaborate? |
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I agree with JCM, something flat-lasted but stiff enough works the best, IMO (TC Pros, Katana Velcro, Anasazzi VCS). Stiff down-turned shoes like Miura VS are nice on micro edges when climbing vertical faces, but I don't like the lack of sensitivity and the pain they cause when trying to "smedge" on slabby faces. Sounds like the Five Ten fit works well for the OP - I'd say Anasazzi Velcros, if they fit my foot well I'd get them in a heart beat (work well for thin cracks too, basically are awesome shoes for granite). |
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I've climbed a fair amount of slab in my time. Not "master of slab" quantity but enough in Tuolumne, The Valley, Squamish Apron etc to say I've got a pretty good handle on it. BY FAR, BY FAR the best slab shoes are broken in "stiff" shoes. For me TC Pros are the best slab shoe I've ever owned followed by Sportiva Megas. bearbreader is spot on. You want a shoe that lets' you stand on micro crystals etc but that you can also drop the heel to smear as needed. |
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from dave macleod |
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To those who prefer VCS over other shoes, are you talking about the Onyxx VCS or C4 VCS? I have Onyxx VCS and seemed to prefer my C4 Mocs for moderate friction (at JTree). |
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mattm, bearbreeder and CJC all made great points. |
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I'm not an expert by any means, but my 5.10 anasazi VCS with Onyxx to pretty good on slab! |
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bearbreeder wrote: as to rubber i recently just had a pair of miura VS come back from the 2nd resole ... the first time i had them resoled with vibram and it worked great on 11- slab the stiffness and the bit of down turn was great esepcially since the shoes were broken in this time i had it resoled with C4 and the the shoe was more sensitive, but the rubber was squeaking in the polished crystals on smears, and you could feel it start to deform ... unlike vibram where you could stand/smear on these micro features forever, with C4 i felt there was a ticking clock before it came off personally i prefer vibram, but then plenty of every good climbers use C4 ... its a preference100% with you on this bear. All my hard slab onsight work on the Apron was done in old XSV Megas. I took some C4 Miuras up Cruel Shoes and they just never felt as secure. They wanted to melt off edges and deformed on the sharp crystals. My now-local Texas Granite Slabs are a coarser version of the Apron. Down here, especially as it gets warm, the TC Pro and Edge absolutely rules. Edging and smearing with the crystals "biting" is the TC Pro happy place. I haven't had a chance to test the XS Edge on fine grain granite ala Index where the C4 smeared very well. These variances are why I often owned two pairs of the same shoe while climbing in the PNW - once with Vibram and one with C4. |
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Followup from OP. |