The Joy Of Socks

I've had an epiphany and feel the urge to proselytise.

This year I swore off tiny tighty climbing shoes, I realised that I'm nowhere near a good enough climber for shoe tightness to be the 'weak link'. So I sized up a bit. Oh what pleasure followed climbing was nicer and I noticed no observable drop off in performance, except towards the end of sessions especially on hot days when I felt some foot movement in my now well lubricated shoes.

A friend suggested socks, he has always been one of the sockists and to be honest I have judged and mocked him harshly. So with shame and secrecy on a quiet day at the gym I tried a pair of very thin low cut cotton socks.

HALLELUJAH! I have seen the light, you could say my sole is saved.

Never again will I mock the besocked ones for now I climb proud amoungst their number.

Seriously I'm now climbing better than presizing up, give it a go.

Go with something that will wick away sweat and maybe bring an extra pair

J E wrote:

Go with something that will wick away sweat and maybe bring an extra pair

Your both fuggen nuts. lol

Charles Price wrote:

Your both fuggen nuts. lol

I don’t climb in socks unless my shoes are oversized or I have a blister/open skin on my foot

Team sock!

I have never climbed without socks and very rarely thought that tighter shoes would make a difference.  My weakness is always hand and arm strength. I am pretty well known locally for good footwork.  I have bought a couple of tight and downturned pair of shoes over the years just to see and immediately went back to climbing in socks.  It is not worth the discomfort.

I prefer thin wool socks available. Smartwool used to make some very nice thin wool socks but I cannot find them any more.

I mean.... changing into a dry t-shirt and dry socks is a huge morale boost after a hard ruck in....

I'm not sold on socks in climbing shoes tho, finding the right size for true "all day comfort" is definitely a thing

climber pat wrote:

I prefer thin wool socks available. Smartwool used to make some very nice thin wool socks but I cannot find them any more.

I always wear socks.  my favorite brand for climbing is Outway.  The performance models in crew height but they make other lengths. The materiel is some kind of spandex, poly, cotton blend I think  - can’t remember, but they have a lot of runners who are fans. Completely non slip when climbing. Made and shipped from Canada.

To your question, they also make a few models of Merino wool ones that look thin in the picture. You might want to take a look. But my husband uses the thin smartwool ones for cycling and he also loves the outway poly ones for cycling as well.  

I sometimes climb in socks for comfort reasons, but mainly I do it when it's cold. I have some sized-larger shoes for climbing with thin wool socks in the fall/winter.

Also +1 to wearing the correct size of shoe. The common advice of wearing very tight shoes is really not good advice for the average climber. I caused myself foot problems from wearing tight shoes for years as a new climber. I shrank my foot by a full shoe size. When I first started wearing the correct size, I felt like I had lost some essential sensitivity, but I adapted after a short time. My feet eventually returned to their correct size. Now I can wear my shoes for many pitches without discomfort.

phylp phylp wrote:

I always wear socks.  my favorite brand for climbing is Outway.  The performance models in crew height but they make other lengths. The materiel is some kind of spandex, poly, cotton blend I think  - can’t remember, but they have a lot of runners who are fans. Completely non slip when climbing. Made and shipped from Canada.

To your question, they also make a few models of Merino wool ones that look thin in the picture. You might want to take a look. But my husband uses the thin smartwool ones for cycling and he also loves the outway poly ones for cycling as well.  

Thanks for the reference.  I might try a pair.  But the company's sizing brings up my biggest bitch about sock.  Just 3 sizes to cover 10 shoe sizes.  For me if a sock is even slightly off in size it become uncomfortable; either too tight and constricting blood flow or too loose and ill fitting in the shoe.  I had to give up on darn tough because I am just in between sizes.  For the moment smartwool XL fits my feet just right.  

I started wearing socks with my mythos a few years ago and found it improves the comfort for long days and even to some extent when foot jamming. It helps that those shoes can stretch out a lot.

For harder sport climbing I switch to different shoes without socks but I think the difference is mainly the stiffness of the shoe and I go sockless just because they would be too tight

injinji brand toe socks are the best while climbing

rei or ebay

no sweaty toes rubbing together and toes get stronger moving independently 

I always size my shoes for thin socks. It's just more comfortable, prevents them from becoming bioweapons, and makes no difference in performance. The sock haters are nuts.

Long ago, I started with some "lotus" climbing shoes.. The last couple pairs I've done the same and went for comfort and the ability to use some socks when desired. I tried a couple pairs of my wife's super thin running socks and they were OK, but not very comfortable. I found a pack of inexpensive merino wool thin shorties and I questioned the little heal non-slip thing, but they have been awesome with climbing shoes. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YDZDRRN/ 

I've also been a Darn Tough fan for amazeballs hiking socks, and while pricey, they are guaranteed for life (if you weren't aware of this company, I fully recommend). I may try their thin no-show running sock sometime, but the cheapies have been great for me. https://darntough.com/products/mens-merino-wool-run-no-show-tab-no-cushion-ultra-lightweight-running-socks

Charles Price wrote:

Your both fuggen nuts. lol

I think you mean 'U r botth fuggen nuts. lol'  You gotta keep the persona up buddy.  

Ai Mori beat janja a couple times wearing socks…just saying, socks don have to equal bad performance. I also just redpointed 12d vert granite tech wearing socks, and my fat socks, not my thin “high performance” ones. I wear them because my feet sweat a ton and then my feet slide around in my shoes, no matter how tight I size them, so the socks keep my feet in place better, shoes last longer, and my footwork has gotten leagues better.

For historical background, I used to heavily mock people who wore socks. I will still forgo them if I need those extra millimeters to jam off-finger, sharp edged cracks

I like socks too....40 y.o. who enjoys easy trad climbing, go figure...

I bought liner socks on Amazon, I used to use thin dress socks. The liner socks are so thin you can't even tell that they affect the fit, but they make free shoes significantly more comfortable. I'm hardcore on team liner socks now. 

Sock life and not stupid tight shoes.

If I was trying to climb 5.13 / V7 outside, or 5.13+ / V8 in the gym I might feel differently. Seriously, its bizarre watching these newer climbers struggle to pull on these god awful aggressive tight shoes, and try hard on a V5 in the gym with large holds, and quickly pop their heels out when they get down. Like bro, chill, why are you torturing your feet for this thing? You could probably do it in approach shoes if you really wanted to. There is some weird mentality to newer climbers where they frequently want to get aggressive shoes for their second climbing shoe ever where they are still in the difficulty range where the shoe is not really holding them back, or their first shoe was like toes barely bent, and they can just go down a half, full, or 1.5 sizes down, still be fairly comfy, and perform better than before.

Socks are like crack gloves. That's it, that's my comment. Interpret it as you see fit.