Shoes and cracks

JCM wrote: Both are useful shoes, but they are useful for different things. If you want good advice, you need to provide details, such as: What climbing area(s) will you most often be using this shoe at? Getting a jamming shoe for Indian Creek and getting a jam/edge/smear shoe for LCC granite are two very different sets of criteria. What grade range will you be using the shoe for?

I realize my details are pretty vague. I cant say i really climb one rock type more than the other. It changes weekly depending on the weather. i can't afford multiple shoes so i'm just looking for an all around good shoe. I climb a lot of hand, fist size cracks, but only because they are easy jams for me. I'm trying to get better on thin cracks.

Agreed with all the above on most points.
Rock type mostly matters in terms of Indian Creek type sandstone splitters.
If you have laces or velcro straps they can be destroyed in a single day of use.
This can be the same problem on steep gritty granite too.
Some shoes that hide the laces or only one velcro strap can work.
The Mythos laces go to the toe and if the loop of leather wears out they unravel.

I like my 5.10 Newtons.

+1 for TC Pros

I have to throw in my 2 cents about the Mythos.. I bought a pair a few years ago and, just like someone above said, tore up the lacing at the toe within a couple weeks (actually, the eyehole, not the lace itself). Took 'em back to REI.

Since then I've found not one but two pairs of Mythos at the REI used gear sale, both a little too big, for like $15 each. I wear 'em with socks to fill in the extra space and figured they'd be good cheap easy all-day shoes, which they are, but believe it or not I can still climb 5.12 sport routes in those shoes.. which is my limit anyway. I don't mean I've done it once, they were my go to for a while. Maybe I was just poor and desperate, or my footwork is terrible, or it's really good, or I got lucky for a while.. I don't know. But think about it. Foot jams with socks are pretty cush.

TC Pros or Anasazi VCS.

Moccs seem like a specialty shoe to me. The only time I'd want Moccs over the above is if I was climbing a thin crack with no face holds. Seems most of the time with thin cracks you're edging/smearing on stuff outside the crack in which case the Moccs are not the greatest.

Since you're asking the question I'm assuming when you say "crack climbing" you're not talking about 5.12+ rattly finger splitters in the desert. If you are, then disregard the above. If you're talking more like 5.10ish stuff on varied terrain -- I'd go with TCs or Anasazis over the Moccs personally.

I'm looking for some new shoes that I can wear all day climbing. Currently own Miura VS which I love in the gym and sport climbing. However, I recently started trad climbing and need a pair of shoes for granite crack climbing in Wichita Wildlife Refuge in OK and is comfortable enough to wear all day.

A previous thread on trad shoes in 2009 had a lot of climbers recommending Scarpa Technos. Is anyone climbing with the new Techno X shoes and recommend them? It seems most people are recommending TC Pros these days.

Thanks,

Steve

SlowTrad wrote: What bullshit, tell Peter Croft that. He climbed Astroman freesolo in a pair of Boreal Aces, which are way stiffer than the Mythos. I can tell you are young and haven't yet experienced life, but you'll climb better if your feet are comfortable. There is a reason old guys wear Mythos, because we know better. I also own Cobras, Anasazi's etc for non-committing routes.

When did JCM start talking about Boreal Aces? Have you ever tried freeing Astroman? There aren't any hard (or many at all) thin crack foot moves on the entire route. Besides, are you anywhere as talented a climber as Peter Croft? Seems the only thing you & Peter Croft have in common is your age, as if that counts as anything.

SlowTrad wrote: What bullshit, tell Peter Croft that. He climbed Astroman freesolo in a pair of Boreal Aces, which are way stiffer than the Mythos. I can tell you are young and haven't yet experienced life, but you'll climb better if your feet are comfortable. There is a reason old guys wear Mythos, because we know better. I also own Cobras, Anasazi's etc for non-committing routes.

I think you're kind of proving JCM's point (if I'm understanding it correctly), that Mythos are too mushy to be great edging shoes...

SlowTrad wrote:My point is that the type of shoe you wear doesn't determine your climbing ability, and I believe the topic is crack climbing. I have never climbing Astroman, I never will, it is beyond my ability at this stage in my life. The hardest crack I have ever done is Coyne crack, and I fell a few times, all in a pair of Mythos sized comfortable. And about my age, better to be old than the alternative...lots of people that climb don't make it to my age.

Shoes don't determine your climbing ability but certainly they can help depending on the route? My most comfortable shoes are my 5.10 guide tennies, but there are some routes I can't climb without a more precise shoe. Sure, I bet Peter Croft might be able to get up 5.11 in approach shoes but I can't.