are approach shoes worth getting

Mark is right a huge appeal of approach shoes is as a 5.easy climbing shoe. 

A long, class 3 approach is good for trail running shoes. 

An approach with a heavy pack is good for high top hiking boots with more support.

A descent off a big dome where you are walking down a long slope is good for a pair of Tevas so your toes aren’t getting jammed into the front of a shoe. 

A sketchy 4th class approach is good for approach shoes. 

But you can use anything 99% of the time. The only thing I hate is Tevas when there’s loose pebbles that get into them. 

Completely necessary DEPENDING on what you’re climbing. Just cragging? Rarely necessary 

coppolillo wrote:

Timeless, invaluable wisdom: you will always need one more pair of shoes/boots than you currently own. So, yes, young climber, yes...you need approach shoes. Smaller, lighter, safer than « hiking boots. » you will haul them up climbs, downclimb sketchy sections and someday, you will do 15 pitches in vegas with comfortable, happy feet clad in yes...approach shoes...BUY THEM AT ONCE. Treat yourself right and get them with 5.10 dot rubber on the sole. Do not compromise with the rubber. You have high self-esteem and a healthy regard for yourself, why would you skimp? Let us know what you get. 

i like the Kalous ad “approach shoes are your way of letting the chick across from you on the bus know that you and the Free Solo guy are cut out of the same cloth”. 

I like them a lot if I have to scramble around to get to the bottom of climbs, or if I am walking off. 

And FWIW, I find that mine are a lot more secure on wet rock than, say, my tevas.  So I prefer to use them for general hiking / walking around in the woods stuff.

They don't seem necessary to me, though; if I am cragging I would rather have sandals just cause they come off an on easier.

I've got some la sportiva approach shoes and my feeling was, why the hell do they even have hiking boots when approach shoes do everything so much better? 

not to be a total noob, but what exactly do you guys/gals mean when you say "scramble"? lol

Glowering wrote:

Mark is right a huge appeal of approach shoes is as a 5.easy climbing shoe. 

A long, class 3 approach is good for trail running shoes. 

An approach with a heavy pack is good for high top hiking boots with more support.

A descent off a big dome where you are walking down a long slope is good for a pair of Tevas so your toes aren’t getting jammed into the front of a shoe. 

A sketchy 4th class approach is good for approach shoes. 

But you can use anything 99% of the time. The only thing I hate is Tevas when there’s loose pebbles that get into them. 

where can i look up the different classes of approach, or learn more about this topic..alot of terminology im not familiar with is getting thrown at me so im kind of lost...i do understand that approach shoes arent mandatory and most of the time ill be fine with just using whatever i feel comfortable with..but i dont understand what a 4th class approach or 3rd class approach means, i assume it has something to do with the difficulty of the approach but id like to learn what classifications for each class are..anywhere i can get that info?

Mark Pilate wrote:

Aside what everyone else has pointed out, another key attraction is that a good pair of approach shoes also becomes a decent pair of climbing shoes for 5.easy climbs (like say OS on the grand or some routes on Long’s) Allowing you to use the one shoe for the whole shebang.   Long but easy Climbs where you really appreciate pairing down to minimums. 

They also make good hiking shoes on non technical terrain. I was thinking the Narrows on the Keyhole route on Long’s. People fall all the time there and some don’t make it. But then I hike with a guy on work trips who wears skinny jeans and sneakers and carries a messenger bag up mountains. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I finally got him to the climbing gym and he climbed up to 5.9 with long fingernails, no chalk and sneakers. I was really feeling my age and lack of any natural athletic ability.

michael sami wrote:

where can i look up the different classes of approach, or learn more about this topic..alot of terminology im not familiar with is getting thrown at me so im kind of lost...i do understand that approach shoes arent mandatory and most of the time ill be fine with just using whatever i feel comfortable with..but i dont understand what a 4th class approach or 3rd class approach means, i assume it has something to do with the difficulty of the approach but id like to learn what classifications for each class are..anywhere i can get that info?

https://mountainmadness.com/resources/climbing-rating-systems :

Yosemite Dec­i­mal Sys­tem (YDS)

 This is the most wide­ly used rat­ing in the U.S. and its equiv­a­lents can be seen below in the chart. Moun­tain Mad­ness uses this sys­tem for defin­ing the rock climb­ing dif­fi­cul­ty of trips. 

 Class 1: Hik­ing. Exam­ple: Kil­i­man­jaro

 Class 2: Sim­ple scram­bling, with the pos­si­ble occa­sion­al use of the hands. Exam­ple: Ruth Moun­tain 

 Class 3: Scram­bling; a rope might be car­ried. Exam­ple: Sahale Peak 

 Class 4: Sim­ple climb­ing, often with expo­sure. A rope is often used. A fall on Class 4 rock could be fatal. Typ­i­cal­ly, nat­ur­al pro­tec­tion can be eas­i­ly found. Exam­ple: Sum­mit Pyra­mid on Mount Shuk­san 

Class 5: Where rock climb­ing begins in earnest. Climb­ing involves the use of a rope, belay­ing, and pro­tec­tion (nat­ur­al or arti­fi­cial) to pro­tect the leader from a long fall. Fifth class is fur­ther defined by a dec­i­mal and let­ter sys­tem – in increas­ing and dif­fi­cul­ty. The rat­ings from 5.10−5.15 are sub­di­vid­ed in a, b, c and d lev­els to more pre­cise­ly define the dif­fi­cul­ty (for exam­ple: 5.10a or 5.11d). Exam­ples: The Tooth or Ingalls Peak

michael sami wrote:

not to be a total noob, but what exactly do you guys/gals mean when you say "scramble"? lol

So, like some crags are nice and have a little path that takes you right to the spot where you rope up and start climbing.

A lot of climbing does not, though,  and it involves some moves that require you to use your arms and body in order to get to where you're starting to climb.  There is no solid path, or the path involves some very easy climbing that you don't need a rope to do safely.  That's "scrambling".

The classes are posted above. In practice I’ve never seen a rope used on 3rd or 4th class. Although a fall of 4th class could definitely kill you.

5th class used to be all roped climbing. Royal Robbins and others broke down 5th class into a decimal rating. The YDS Yosemite Decimal System. 5.0 is easJest 5th class. 5.9 was the hardest 5th class but that was soon outgrown so it went to the numerically Nonsensical 5.10. Then Jim Bridwell broke that down into 5.10a through 5.10d etc. 

Sometimes you’ll hear aid climbing referred to as 6th class.

The book mountaineering freedom of the hills will teach you tons about many types of climbing. It’s a thick book. You could just read the free climbing chapters, then read the aid climbing or ice climbing chapters later.  

If you want to take some excusable breaks on the Approach, buy some Arcteryx approach shoes so they will come untied at regular intervals and you can stop to fix them and catch your breath because you carry way too much gear all the time.

Also, where I live I wear Danner snake boots 90% of the time on and scramble and climb stuff in them. We have 3 types of rattlers and 1 type doesn't like to shake it's moneymaker. Some attribute this to the encroachment of feral swine eating them so the non-rattlers have survived. 

Anyhow, pick a shoe or boot that best fits your needs. I don't have time for 2 weeks in hospital or the bills so hooker/snake boots it is for me. Better grip than a lot of my other shoes.

https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1020553311?pid=266536&utm_medium=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Footwear+-+Men%27s+Hunting+Boots&utm_content=266536&gclid=CjwKCAjwzIH7BRAbEiwAoDxxTnVbIV84-llPW8iFUDojA8Rn_FLOGTpH8Pd2DaTGlDQ4QqnY_FI2uRoC_58QAvD_BwE

They come in handy for approaches and descents that require 4th/5th class scrambling and mountaineering...if you're just doing climbs at easily accessible places not necessary. 

Just wear flip flops! Way easier.

These are what you'll want if you ever start long multipitch alpine routes. Speed and comfort are key so for the lower class 5 and below climbing people will stay in grippy approach shoes and free solo or simul climb as much as they can then just clip them to the back of their harness when they put their rock shoes back on.

Miles Johnson wrote:

If you want to take some excusable breaks on the Approach, buy some Arcteryx approach shoes so they will come untied at regular intervals and you can stop to fix them and catch your breath because you carry way too much gear all the time.

Also, where I live I wear Danner snake boots 90% of the time on and scramble and climb stuff in them. We have 3 types of rattlers and 1 type doesn't like to shake it's moneymaker. Some attribute this to the encroachment of feral swine eating them so the non-rattlers have survived. 

Anyhow, pick a shoe or boot that best fits your needs. I don't have time for 2 weeks in hospital or the bills so hooker/snake boots it is for me. Better grip than a lot of my other shoes.

https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1020553311?pid=266536&utm_medium=shopping&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Footwear+-+Men%27s+Hunting+Boots&utm_content=266536&gclid=CjwKCAjwzIH7BRAbEiwAoDxxTnVbIV84-llPW8iFUDojA8Rn_FLOGTpH8Pd2DaTGlDQ4QqnY_FI2uRoC_58QAvD_BwE

BRO, CAN YOU RESOLE THOSE SNAKE BOOTS?! THOSE ARE LEGIT. 

5.10 dot rubber on those bad boys, now THAT is a sending combo. 

See, now I need *yet another* pair of boots. The formula for determining this is simple, too: your shoe requirements are always n+1

Free wisdom right there, friends. No charge.

I've got 3 different expensive Five:Ten pairs of approach shoes with the 510 rubber in my closet that delaminated or collapsed sideways or some such shit. 

Just saying.

Approach shoes are great for jumping on easy stuff when you don't want to break out the good rubber.

For years I thought approach shoes were just a marketing gimmick... I fully adopted it 5 years ago and never looked back. 

They are awesome for all those "in between" scenarios where a trail running shoe is not enough, hiking boots will not cut it for scrambling and climbing shoes or summer mountainneering are overkill.
A the end of the day I used them a lot.

That being said, if you re a beginner I would't say you need it but if you keep climbing more they will definitely be nice to have at some point. 

Mike Stinson wrote:

I agree that special shoes are needed depending on where you want to climb. I always remain a supporter of protecting myself and buying special shoes.

Thank you for that insight.