Do you think long-unused climbing shoes shrink?

This is a silly question.

I have two pair of shoes that saw zero use for at least 10-15 years (sad, I know). They pretty much just sat in a dark closet.

They seem brutally tight now.

I was a skinny kid when I wore these, and now I'm more than a tad heavier, but it's hard to imagine my feet got *that* much fatter.

Just idle curiosity.

The shoes are a pair of La Sportiva Vipers (these seem less drastically smaller), and a pair of stiff La Sportiva face shoes that I can't remember the name of (grey and purple/pink -- these seemed to shrink a lot). So I think these are all leather shoes.

Neither of these were my main climbing shoes back then or now, so they saw pretty light use.

Tim

In general relativity, the size of your climbing shoes is a manifestation of the curvature of spacetime. Massive objects distort space and time, so that the usual rules of geometry don't apply anymore.

There is a black hole in your closet. Or you got fat.

Trippin' me out Eric G. Trippin me out. good answer.

Are those purple/pink sportivas the Kaukulators? I really don't think they are face shoes but maybe I am wrong. If they don't fit you anymore you can sell them on here. They are at the very least collectors items.

Eric G. wrote:In general relativity, the size of your climbing shoes is a manifestation of the curvature of spacetime. Massive objects distort space and time, so that the usual rules of geometry don't apply anymore. There is a black hole in your closet. Or you got fat.

Your feet may have simply gotten flatter over time as well. But yeah - there's definitely a black hole in there.

Gimme ten years to test out my door and I'll get back to you

I don't want to admit that my feet got that much fatter, so I'm going with the curvature of spacetme.

And the grey La Sportiva shoes aren't Kaukulators. It's driving me nuts that I can't remember their name. I bought them in 1995, I think. They are an edging, all day sort of shoe, but they are low top. Mostly gray, with a pinkish purple highlights. They have a board last, I think, and thickish rubber on the sole.

It's also weird that they are now more painful than my Vipers, which were always painful, I used to wear these things all day, and did more than one walk off desecnt in them. Now, they are torture.

Could I really be that fat? No, no...

Tim

sweat and heat will let them expand again. if you're stressing over the pain you can use the oil they use to break-in baseball games.

you sweated alot the last time you wore them, stored them wet and in the dark, and it seems like they shrink. they don't shrink, they actually just freeze stiff and stiff shoes hurt.

Timothy.Klein wrote:I don't want to admit that my feet got that much fatter, so I'm going with the curvature of spacetme. And the grey La Sportiva shoes aren't Kaukulators. It's driving me nuts that I can't remember their name. I bought them in 1995, I think. They are an edging, all day sort of shoe, but they are low top. Mostly gray, with a pinkish purple highlights. They have a board last, I think, and thickish rubber on the sole.

Thanks, Gunkiemike, that's want they are. I would have never guessed that name: right down the memory hole.

Not sure these are worth saving, really, but I might try wearing them a bit to see if they loosen up at all.

I've found my leather shoes don't shrink over time, rather they get fairly stiff from lack of use. I notice it even with synthetic shoes, if I don't use them for several weeks+ then they tend to feel tighter and stiff for the start of a session.

I'd assume they loose the residual moisture if they don't get used for extended periods of time. Normally that would stick around if they get used every couple days. Just a theory though.

I'd get them wet then let your foot stretch them out a bit before you use them again.

think it would mostly depend on how they were stored during the years of non use. Nothing beats an old fashioned 'shoe tree' to keep the shoe stretched out to proper size....I've used them to stretch new shoes to a few millimeters of length when needed.