How many sand-paperings before I need to resole my Mythos?

Hi all,

Just curious. I was going to sand paper my shoes this evening b/c I’ve been feeling a lack of stick on them (ie, I’ve been falling out of cracks). Anyways, I was wondering two things:

1: How many times can I sand paper them back into shape?

2: What’s the fastest service out there that I can send them to for re-sole-ing?

Falling out of cracks sucks, try a P87.5 grit sand paper - in between a medium and fine. It’s a bit hard to find.
Should get several dozen sand jobs if you’ve got 2mm plus of rubber.

Six week turnaround at the best shops, don’t rush it just wear your back up shoes. 

Icksnay on the andpapersay.

Translated: Where did you hear sandpapering the soles of your shoes is a good idea?

At most I've heard of people spit-shining their rubber before a particularly friction-dependent route to get rid of dirt and oxidization on the surface. Saliva + some vigorous palm rubbing, no sandpaper. Crack climbing isn't usually so friction-dependent.

Re: Where’d I hear this idea.

A few places, including here https://www.climbingshoereview.com/how-to-make-climbing-shoes-sticky-again/

Also on the REI website. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/climbing/comments/kcob9i/all_shoes_cleaned_and_conditioned_for_winter_much/gfv61au/

I notice wearing shoes at the gym/walking around on lots of mats makes my shoes extra smooth, I feel like this is an issue that solves itself pretty fast on real rock though. Chances are it’s not the rubber that’s the issue. 

Are you sanding up-and-down? Or side-to-side? Never go in circles, I learned that the hard way (don't ask).

You can absolutely resurface your rubber. Use 150 grit to finish. I use a light touch on a bench grinder with a fine stone to do the bulk of my work. Dont go crazy or let the rubber heat up. I will do this to new and resoled shoes when they come back with imperfections. You can really touch up over glue, improperly cut rubber, misplaced termination for toe rubber, etc. sometimes my shoes look like a puppy chewed on them after climbing sharp limestone or coarse granite. A little elbow grease can buff out those imperfections.

Resole when the rubber is too thin or soft for you liking. Dont wait util you have big holes in your shoes.  

Smooth is desirable, more surface area more friction, the sanding from manufacturing is simply to remove an oxidised layer nothing more, they don't serve any purpose. I have on the other hand seen pro's taking a Stanly knife blade onto a shoe to get a perfect edge back onto the shoe, this of course dramatically reduces the life of the shoe and is only done by them because they get free shoes.

Regarding your issue, you suck at cracks, I'm sorry to be the only person to tell you, approach shoes work well in cracks, you are doing something fundamentally wrong if your feet are slipping out of cracks. Make sure you are bringing your knee in line with the crack don't try and do any big high steps. It's only when you start to get into the jamming that isn't actually jamming that rubber makes a difference.

I highly recommend Pete Whittaker's book "Crack Climbing"

If I've had a pair of shoes laying around a while where the rubber has "glazed over" or just gotten hard..  I take a small stainless steel wire brush and brush the rubber around the toes and bottom of the sole. This makes the rubber tacky again and removes that thin hard layer that comes with age without removing too much material like sandpaper or a belt grinder would.

To clean the sole of your climbing shoes, try water, mild detergent and a nylon bristled brush. It will clean out all of the dirt/mud that is filling up the pores in the rubber. Even clean looking shoes will have some dirt in them.

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