gear help- shoes and hardshells

I am at the point where I am looking into buying a new pair of climbing shoes. I primarily boulder and would like a moderately aggressive shoe, but I also do not want to have my climbing options too limited by my shoe. I have heard great things about the miura, but have also been looking into other shoes as well. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I also grew out of my hardshell and am looking for a new one. I will mostly hike in it, so my main criteria are ultralight and ultra-packable. Price does not matter too much as long as the jacket is worth the cost.

You can't really go wrong with a pair of lace up miura's they are a great bouldering shoe but also work pretty well for cracks and slabs. The velcro miura's however are quite a bit more downturned and don't preform so well on cracks or slabs but make a great bouldering shoe.

If you don't want to go too aggressive I would get the anasazis velcro for bouldering. They seem a bit old fashion now but they are still a great jack of all trades shoe and there are good prices around. They are also kind of comparable to the miura.

For hardshells for hiking, I like the Marmot Precip because it is a good all round jacket and usually cheap. If you want something super lightweight try the OR Helium.

Jim

What about the scarpa boostics? I was also looking into them.

I've climbed in the old Boosters, which were comparable to the Miura VS. I've heard the Boostics are different, but suspect they're still pretty aggressive. The Boosters were fantastic on steep stuff, and could work on thin edging slab, not your shoe for cracks or friction. If you're willing to give up just friction, look at a nicely sized pair of Vapors as well as the Miura (similar shoes).

The three best "all around" shoes out there are the Miura Lace, Vapor V and Anasazi VCR.

Unfortunately for me the Miura causes me to get ingrown toe-nails in my big toes from the point nature of the shoe, but I LOVE the way it climbs.

The Vapor V is what I think the Miura Velcro should have been, it fits my foot a little better than the Miura Lace, but they don't make them in my size (47 for Scarpa, 46 in Sportiva)

The Anasazi VCR doesn't feel like a performance shoe when trying it on, but it climbs amazingly well, the only downside is the heel cup doesn't fit me well and doesn't allow me to heel hook.

If you are mainly bouldering then you may want to give the Solutions a try, they are great for everything except for slab-smearing. They are pretty amazing for edging and anything steeper than vert. If I have to do any smearing in them they feel like garbage.

If you can drop the cash, the Arc'teryx 2014 Alpha FL or Beta LT are excellent Goretex hardshells. If the patterning fits your body type and the pocket configuration fits your needs, those are hard to beat.

JL

Marmot Precip is cheap for a reason - the coating comes off the base of the hood within a year or two.

I've climbed in teh Boostics. They were pretty aggressive, and I liked they way I climbed in them. They were too down-turned for my feet and I think I got them a size too small so I ended up selling them.