Remove stink from climbing shoes and boots?

My climbing shoes, splitboard boots, hiking boots, and mountaineering boots smell terrible. I normally wouldn't care, but I sleep within a foot of them and they're stinking up my vehicle and camper. Is there any way to deodorize them or keep the smell at bay? Do those sneaker balls work? Perhaps some sort of spray? Please help. My nose can't take much more.

Not sure I would do this with my boots but for my climbing shoes I fill a bucket with water, 1 cup of vinegar and a couple pumps of anti-bacterial hand soap. Dunk your shoes in there, let them soak for 10 minutes and scrub them good, I use a toothbrush to get every little bit of the insides. This has always worked well for me. 

i found that the lysol spray that gyms use in their rental shoes works well

I use 70% rubbing alcohol in a small spray bottle to spray inside my shoes sometimes. Doesn't get rid of the smell completely, but I found it helps a lot

Arnav V wrote:

My climbing shoes, splitboard boots, hiking boots, and mountaineering boots smell terrible.

If it's happening to all your footwear, it sounds like you're not allowing them to dry properly and/or you have a serious case of foot fungus.

Marc801 C wrote:

If it's happening to all your footwear, it sounds like you're not allowing them to dry properly and/or you have a serious case of foot fungus.

Probably the drying thing, my feet smell and look fine in their own. But wearing insulated mountain boots 12+ hours a day over dozens of days, they’re always wet while actively wearing it. 

Arnav V wrote:

Probably the drying thing, my feet smell and look fine in their own. But wearing insulated mountain boots 12+ hours a day over dozens of days, they’re always wet while actively wearing it. 

i would say some sort of spray in conjunction with a boot dryer. i know there is a small one that plugs into a car 12v cigarette lighter port or a wall outlet that you could run

John D wrote:

I use 70% rubbing alcohol in a small spray bottle to spray inside my shoes sometimes. Doesn't get rid of the smell completely, but I found it helps a lot

I add Tea tree oil to the mix - appears to help quite a lot. And, smells better than cheese.

Making sure that everything dries completely is the key. But, if you are looking for a product, Friendly Foot powder works surprisingly well.

Boot dryers work well but space and electricity are needed for those 

To clean: Warm/hot water, powdered laundry detergent, and an old tooth brush.

When you're finished climbing for the day, pop the shoes/boots on a boot dryer; you can get one that runs off a 12V car/cigarette lighter socket.

dave custer wrote:

To clean: Warm/hot water, powdered laundry detergent, and an old tooth brush.

When you're finished climbing for the day, pop the shoes/boots on a boot dryer; you can get one that runs off a 12V car/cigarette lighter socket.

Oh yeah. I've never cleaned any of my shoes/boots with water. I sometimes pop my trail runners in the washing machine, but that's it. An actual clean with soap might do the trick, but not sure how that would affect the leather. hmm

Boot bananas

https://www.amazon.com/Boot-Bananas-Shoe-Fresheners-Yellow/dp/B00CFM8DI2

I've used other products and these are the best; a bit more expensive than other shoe deodorizers but my shoes smell great after hours of use.

amarius wrote:

I add Tea tree oil to the mix - appears to help quite a lot. And, smells better than cheese.

I second this advice, I spray tea tree mixed with water in my shoes. It's made a difference,  although I haven't tried it on shoes that already have the funky smell. I've washed my shoes then treated, it gets rid of the residual odor and seems to prevent it from coming back. My shoes are synthetic,  washing leather would probably shrink them. The odor comes from the bacterial fermentation of sweat, tea tree oil has antibacterial qualities. 

Just gonna add more biased opinion because I feel like you’re getting a lot of lackluster answers.

Getting them dry in a timely manner is your issue. All the products with tea tree oil or lavender will only mask the smell. The boot dryers I, and others, mentioned are what will actually prevent the smell from being created.

Most answers here are from the perspective of not wanting sweaty climbing shoes; whereas you need advice relevant to having soaking wet boots from being in wet environments.

Cedar shoe trees. I’ve been using them for years. Pop them in your shoes as soon as you finish for the day. Leave them in until you climb again. Cedar is a natural anti-microbial. My shoes don’t stink. In fact, they smell like cedar. 

Scott360 wrote:

Cedar shoe trees. Cedar is a natural anti-microbial. My shoes don’t stink. In fact, they smell like cedar. 

Hamster cage 

I use the cedar shoe forms as well.  Not only do they control odor, they help you climbing shoes maintain a natural foot shape while in your pack or being stored.  They will not tackle an odor case as severe as what the OP describes however.  For that you probably have to utilize one of these other methods of treatment.  But once you get things tamed, the shoe form is helpful

Just thought I'd mention a preventative way. Going in with clean feet helped me immensely. I tried boot Bananas, taking shoes off frequently, washing and scrubbing. It helped temporarily, but the smell always came back. 

It only got better when I started washing my feet prior to putting on my shoes.

I think clean feet and dry shoes is a solid combo. 

Ditto what Eric D said. Some of my partners think I'm weird because of it, but when camping, at a minimum, I take a wet towel to my feet every morning before putting on new socks. They might be the cleasest part of my body on a multi-day climbing trip, lol. I also don't kick around the crag moon dust in flip flops or go barefoot. Clean feet are generally non-stinky feet. And also ditto what everyone is saying about doing your best to dry your shoes out at night.

Check out Natures Miracle pet odor and stain eliminator. It’s a spray made to get pet urine and other pet smells out of fabrics(I bought the one for cats but I bet they are all similar) I used it on shoes and climbing shoes, it worked for me! I tried so many other methods like vinegar, gear aid things, freezing, drying out to name a few and nothing worked.

The way I did it was I didn’t use any extra water to keep it concentrated and just completely saturated the inside of them and outside and then let them dry, it turned them into shoes I was going to throw away from smelling so bad to being wearable again.  The shoes were already cleaned from a previous attempt to get the smells out and failing.

Good luck!