Ways to rid of climbing shoes odor

My shoes stank!  I'm sure all of us have this issue after we climb through hard sessions and drip sweat from fear. 

Any quick remedies on how to make our shoes smell better?  

Boot dryer.  I run every pair of shoes after every wearing.  It even prolongs their life.

I put a bunch of baking soda in my shoes and let them sit like that for a week.  Every time I wear them, I always leave them out so i don’t ever trap the smells within them.

Your shoes stink because you have crap from your feet building up in a moist environment, and thus a great environment for bacteria and fungi.

Throwing your shoes in the washing machine to clean the crap out, but thats only a every now and again action.

As Stephen implies, dealing with the moist part is key. Keep your shoes dry for as much of their life as possible and they'll smell better. Keep em dry almost all the time and they won't smell at all.

You see people screw this up all the time, they throw their shoes in their bags instead of hang them on the outside to/from the climbing, sometimes they'll even put them in a plastic bag then put them in their bags. They'll wear their shoes between climbs and all through lunch when they could be airing out their shoes and feet.

There's the antiperspirant/antibacterial agent way too, but I much prefer to not take that path.

Socks help with the keeping crap from feet building up, and keeping shoes a little bit dryer. I haven't found them to make much impact to my shitty climbing level.

I like climbing with socks.    Gyms use Lysol.....

I store my shoes with a dryer sheet in each one.  Doesn't work 100% but it's easy and helps.

For synthetic shoes I put them through the washing machine in a mesh bag (old harness bag), and then pour some rubbing alcohol in and seal them in a zip lock overnight before letting the, air dry for a couple days.

silica gel in an old sock. Put it in to absorb moisture. 

Might be your feet... But some helpful options are: 

Buy leather climbing shoes, stay away from synthetic. 

Take them off whenever you're not climbing. Gumbies buy their shoes too big and walk around in them for hours - doesn't help. 

Wash your feet. 

Keep shoes in a well ventilated space away from direct sunlight when you're not using them. 

Wear merino socks; synthetic socks usually smell heinous after a long day. This way, you're not putting an already gross foot inside your climbing shoe. 

Take them out of the pack to dry. Also consider not kicking around in flip flops or Tevas all day in the dirt. If you put filthy feet into climbing shoes, what do you think you're going to get? Funk.

Wear socks!

I wipe down the inside of my shoes with an antiseptic wipe when I'm done climbing for the day. I leave the wipe inside the shoe to dry. This works rather well to clean the shoe and to kill the odor causing bacteria and fungi. This works even with synthetic leathers. 

I am going to 2nd suggestion for the boot dryer mentioned above - works like a charm!

Over time, shoes still acquire a bit of unpleasant artisan cheese bouquet. I found that spaying a mix of IPA (rubbing alcohol) and tea tree oil mitigates the stench quite a bit.

270 degrees for at least 4 minutes.

I purell my feet before each gym session.  I have found it really makes a difference.

I’ve had good luck with this foot powder:

https://www.friendlyfoot.com/

I only use it occasionally, but it seems to keep the funk at bay.

Dont do baking powder, it makes the inside all slippery. 

Some brands (evolve) dont put antibacterial in the shoe material, which means they stink way way more

Wash the insides of the shoes thoroughly by hand with laundry soap and hot water.  If there is any buildup on the bottom use your fingernail to scrape it off and wash again until all buildup is gone.  Rinse them thoroughly and let them dry.  

In the future allow them to dry after each use.  

Synthetic shoes tend to be more prone to stink than leather.

Lots of great suggestions here. I’ll cast another vote for socks. I use super thin low-cut running socks. I’m old school and, at the level I climb, socks are far from an influencing factor on whether I get up the rock or not. 

stuff with newspaper after using, also helps with retaining the toe box shape

Another vote for socks. I started wearing socks about 4/5 years ago. I really like it and don’t understand why I was taught not to do it. Big fan. 

On specific climbs I may de-sock (eg. heel hook that slips off) but the vast majority of Climbing I find I climb best with comfy, dry, excellent smelling feet and shoes.

I also almost only wear slipper style shoes (mocasyms). Even with thick wool socks, I can “grab” minuscule grains with my toes, push my toe down on a nubbin, and smear onto phantom friction. No aggressive, uncomfortable, BS.

We’ve all been brainwashed into thinking we need aggressive, ill-fitting, uncomftable shoes that are best when worn sans-socks. Load of horseshit.