Intermediate climbing shoe for Mortons toe

I've been rocking the same shoe for about 10 years now, it has served me well by being comfortable, fits my morton toe, and my 5.9 lazy climber syndrome. That said, I now live near Rifle and am starting to climb more regularly so I'm hoping see a bump in ability. Should I bother buying a more aggressive shoe at this point? I'm not looking for a pair of solutions for overhanging stuff, I still want to keep my shoes on between pitches have fun. The picture shoes my current shoes on the right, and pair of Scarpa Force V that I picked up thinking it might fit the bill. But, I dont even know if it is worth it, they seem pretty similar.

For what it is worth, I tried Moccasyms (hurt way too much) and Vapors (felt more aggressive but probably a little more painful than I want right now). Any suggestions on others to try, or if I should even bother? I haven't climbed in enough other rock shoes to have a frame of reference yet.

I've got morton's toe and bunions and a pretty wide forefoot.  The Butora Acro wide fits me really well.  It's a pretty aggressive shoe, but not painful for me in my street shoe size.   Comfy enough that I often don't take them off between climbs in the gym.  YMMV.

MyFeetHurt wrote: I've been rocking the same shoe for about 10 years now, it has served me well by being comfortable, fits my morton toe, and my 5.9 lazy climber syndrome. That said, I now live near Rifle and am starting to climb more regularly so I'm hoping see a bump in ability. Should I bother buying a more aggressive shoe at this point? I'm not looking for a pair of solutions for overhanging stuff, I still want to keep my shoes on between pitches have fun. The picture shoes my current shoes on the right, and pair of Scarpa Force V that I picked up thinking it might fit the bill. But, I dont even know if it is worth it, they seem pretty similar.

For what it is worth, I tried Moccasyms (hurt way too much) and Vapors (felt more aggressive but probably a little more painful than I want right now). Any suggestions on others to try, or if I should even bother? I haven't climbed in enough other rock shoes to have a frame of reference yet.

Just wear what's comfortable. You're not going to see an ability boost from the shoe, you'll see an ability boost from wearing a comfortable shoe and climbing more often.

With that said, I'd try on some Anasazi VCS or Pinks. The Force was a super comfortable shoe for me when I tried it on but the Anasazi was even better and is a MUCH higher performance shoe that can all-around climb & boulder harder than either of us ever will. For reference, I HATED the Moccasym when I tried it on but FRIGGIN' LOVE my Anasazi Pinks. Don't size them too small, look right around street size; they don't stretch.

The Butora Acro is a similar style of fit but you won't really benefit from that shoe unless you fit it painfully tight and I just wouldn't go there.

Mythos is a great suggestion from Nate. They're comfortable, capable, and durable.

If you want something a little more aggressive, try on the LS Otaki. I have Morton's toe and love the way the Otaki fits. Takes a few sessions to break in, softens up considerably. They are the most comfortable performance-focused shoes I've ever worn.

Try on everything you can. Might be worth a trip out to Golden or Boulder to try on a bunch of shoes at a few retailers. 

if vapors felt "a little painful".. they stretch quite well.. if you break those in they might become just dandy.

the force V has quite a lot of padding.. so if you're planning on wearing them all day they can get fairly nasty inside.. (though they are a great cold day shoe for the same reason)

LS  mythos or Finale are both easy on the toes.

getting a properly fit Laced shoe will be your best bet for sensitive toe fit.. as you can relace them for hammertoe lacing instead of the default configuration (the mythos is pretty good for this as the lace goes right to the toes)

Katana lace sized comfy will accommodate a Morton’s toe shape well. They are stiff enough that you can still edge well sized up. I’m a 42 street and use a 41.5 katana lace for trad, even that large I’ve climbed thin 11+ vertical just fine.

For reference I’m a 39.5 testarossa or 40 skwama for performance.

Pinks are also a solid bet for Morton toe, if they fit for your big toe. They pushed my big toe too far inward (good for bunions)

Tenaya Tatanka. I dont have Morton's toe, but Ive read Tenaya kept it in mind while designing the shoe. Good shoe for what you describe you want.

Scarpa boostics.

I have a low volume foot overall, but wide forefoot and mortons toe. As strange as it sounds, the boostic is the only shoe I have ever owned that my big toe is both straight and flat, but still firmly against the end of the shoe. My second toe is mildly knuckled still, but the shoe had been built to comfortably accommodate this.

Basically, this is the only face climbing shoe that even comes close to fitting my foot - it feels like nirvana. Might not be ideal in rifle though. A resole would help obviously. I have no idea if this shoe would fit your foot, but figured it might be worth mentioning.

Jeffrey K wrote:

Just wear what's comfortable. You're not going to see an ability boost from the shoe, you'll see an ability boost from wearing a comfortable shoe and climbing more often.

With that said, I'd try on some Anasazi VCS or Pinks. The Force was a super comfortable shoe for me when I tried it on but the Anasazi was even better and is a MUCH higher performance shoe that can all-around climb & boulder harder than either of us ever will. For reference, I HATED the Moccasym when I tried it on but FRIGGIN' LOVE my Anasazi Pinks. Don't size them too small, look right around street size; they don't stretch.

The Butora Acro is a similar style of fit but you won't really benefit from that shoe unless you fit it painfully tight and I just wouldn't go there.

I found the Anasazi VCS to fit pretty well, but visually it doesn't seem much different than the Force V. Rubber might be stickier. If you all say this is a way better performing shoe I'm going to go with it. Hard to tell until you climb in them, but then its hard to take them back!

MyFeetHurt wrote:

I found the Anasazi VCS to fit pretty well, but visually it doesn't seem much different than the Force V. Rubber might be stickier. If you all say this is a way better performing shoe I'm going to go with it. Hard to tell until you climb in them, but then its hard to take them back!

Whichever one is more comfortable is going to be better performing.

With that said, I see the Anasazi VCS on some of my gym's hardest climbers and two of the instructors wear it. My experience with the Pink, which is very similar, is that it's even better outside. So the shoe can handle pretty much anything, except maybe those 5.13+ overhangs.

MyFeetHurt wrote: I've been rocking the same shoe for about 10 years now, it has served me well by being comfortable, fits my morton toe, and my 5.9 lazy climber syndrome. That said, I now live near Rifle and am starting to climb more regularly so I'm hoping see a bump in ability. Should I bother buying a more aggressive shoe at this point? I'm not looking for a pair of solutions for overhanging stuff, I still want to keep my shoes on between pitches have fun. The picture shoes my current shoes on the right, and pair of Scarpa Force V that I picked up thinking it might fit the bill. But, I dont even know if it is worth it, they seem pretty similar.

For what it is worth, I tried Moccasyms (hurt way too much) and Vapors (felt more aggressive but probably a little more painful than I want right now). Any suggestions on others to try, or if I should even bother? I haven't climbed in enough other rock shoes to have a frame of reference yet.

What I've learned about my Morton's toe versus other peoples Morton's toe is that it varies in size and thusly what shoe will fit will vary in addition to other aspects of your foot shape. I believe myself to be on the extreme end of it of rather long toes, in addition to a wide foot, large big toe, and a shallow heel. Thusly not a lot of shoes fit me. I've had to resign myself to the fact that aggressive rock climbing shoes will likely never fit me properly. Depending on your foot, you may never find a more aggressive shoe for your feet unless you want to tolerate foot and toe pain from improper fit. From some comments I've read, apparently some people with Morton's toe apparently just live with the fact of highly curled or even slightly rolled under toes and the associated pain. I can't do that. Foot pain causes me to dislike climbing.The bottom line, like it is for anyone looking for rock climbing shoes is to try on as many as you can at a gear store to see what fits your foot best.

Basically what I've come to discover is that I need symmetrical to low-asymmetrical lasted shoes that creates a more rounded toe box to fit my foot. This will be a generality for people with Morton's toe. But even then you can't go by that alone, as it's no guarantee they will fit. You have to try them on. For example, I've been wearing exclusively La Sportiva Mythos for years that fit me very well, and recently tried on some La Sportiva Oxygym shoes as they are listed as "FIT: Comfort with low asymmetry" on La Sportiva's web site. But no, they are too asymmetrical in shape to fit me. Where as the Mythos is labeled as "FIT: Tech with medium-low asymmetry", but actually has a very rounded toe box.

You can see in the following picture that asymmetrical shoes fit what is apparently the more common Egyptian style foot. Where as a more rounded toe box is what is going to fit the Greek style (Morton's toe) foot.


Your new Scarpa Force V shoes are very likely a good possibility particularly since you don't want to take your shoes off. Keep in mind though that more aggressive shoes won't necessarily help you climb harder routes. Improper fitting shoes, particularly sized too large, painful shoes, and poor quality shoe rubber will keep you from climbing more difficult and longer routes. I've been climbing in La Sportiva Mythos that fit me very well for many years now, and have done harder routes in them. In my own humble opinion, their only drawback is not being stiff enough for better edging performance. But this drawback likely makes them a better crack (for foot and toe jamming) and slab shoe.

Make sure you size your shoes properly when trying them. Your toes should be comfortably crammed at the front and not rolled under themselves. There should be no space behind your heels. The shoe should snugly fit the width of your foot without being too large and loose, or too small to fit or uncomfortable tight. If your buying a shoe with an unlined leather upper like your Force V's and the Mythos that I wear, you generally have to size them as small as possible to allow for the leather to stretch. Otherwise lined leather or synthetic uppers size what fits you comfortably in the store. You should be able to comfortably stand and climb in them for fifteen minutes or so before needing to take them off during the break in period to alleviate discomfort and pain at the worst case. Some shoes you might not even have this break in problem.

Others you might try are:

• Scarpa Techno X, Helix, and Origin.  The Origin reportedly has poor quality rubber, but can be resoled with better rubber if it fits well.
• Evolv Royale and Astroman - These two are discontinued but there is still some old new stock around if you can find your size. 
• La Sportiva Mythos, Finale, Tarantula/Tarantulace, Oxygym - The last two have in my opinion inferior FriXion RS rubber. It is more durable to last longer and thusly more slippery but can be resoled with better rubber when you wear through them if you like the fit.
• Tenaya Tanta, Masai, and Inti.
• Mad Rock Drifter, Agama, M5, Pulse Positive and Negative. 

For what it is worth, a lot of the suggestions put out already by other people of Butora's line of shoes, 5.10 line of shoes, most of Scarpa's line, La Sportiva Muira and Katana do not fit my feet. And I suspect without having tried them the Tenaya Tatanka. They are too asymmetric. Typically what happens is it painfully forces my second, third ,and fourth toes to curl under themselves. Take that with a grain of salt and try on as many pairs of shoes as you can. Give yourself a few hours at the gear store to do this. You'll find it very much worth your while.

Also, one last thing... If you've been using the same type and size shoe for all this time and you've mistakenly sized them too large to allow your toes to all lay comfortably flat like I did at first, you will be in for a bit of a surprise of getting used to having your toes crammed at the end of the shoe. It can initially feel slightly painful, but it is something you get used to and the pain goes away as long as your toes are not rolled under themselves from a shoe that doesn't fit you properly.

hotlum wrote: I developed Morton's last year. Generally my foot feels fine but when the nerve gets agitated I'm on the bench for a solid week. My go-to warmup/multipitch shoe over the years, moccs, lack any type of support and my Morton's nerve will get triggered the moment I do any "edging" in them. Currently I wear my Murias for all face climbing now, including warm ups. Even though they are a snug fit, they do have a nice, wide-ish toe box and offer great arch support due to the fact they are designed for technical edging. I even have my Morton's pad in them and they are not too uncomfortable. Lace-ups will be even better for fit. At $185 retail i use a great resoler where I live to get extra life out of them. Anyway that is what has been working for me. I will definitely follow this thread to see what else people w this condition use. I always like having two different shoes over the years for different styles of climbing.
Good luck

Are you sure you are talking about Morton's toe and not something else? It's not something you develop, it something you are born with. See the link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton's_toe

I don't know anything about across the board, but I have prominent morton's toe, and I wear miura laces

I guess I'm greek.

It seems that resoling rock shoes is common, when do you consider shoes to be worn out? Obviously mine don't have the edge they used to, but I don't expect any shoe to hold that fresh edge for more than a few long days.

FWIW, I tried the mythos and they were awesome. But, I couldn't tell how they were any different than what I already have.