Best approach shoes for technical climbing

Doing horseshoe hell this year and my plan is to just climb in approach shoes. I have a set of guide tennis that seem to work okay and a set of blown out geckos but wondering if there is something better out there.

Unfortunately the TXs don't fit the shape of my foot.

The Sportiva TX Guides climb very well IMO.  They run a bit narrow.  I have a wide foot so don't love them for long hikes, but for pure climbing they're the best I've used.  I went with the leather version as it seems to give a bit more in the forefoot.  

Have you thought about getting large TC’s (or similar) and adding a footbed to them for padding?  Then bringing a very oversized pair of shoes you can slip over your rock shoes for when you have to hike a bit farther.  Sorta unconventional but could be worth testing out.

I’ve only done horseshoe hell once and I think I just wore TC’s the hole time.  But our strategy was to do moderately hard climbs for us.  Something like up to 6 letter grades below max redpoint so we wanted rock shoes.  Not sure what the winning strategy is these days.

And honestly what I thought was more important than footwear was skin management.  I don’t want to derail your thread with random thoughts though.

good luck!

Mikey Schaefer wrote:

Have you thought about getting large TC’s (or similar) and adding a footbed to them for padding?  Then bringing a very oversized pair of shoes you can slip over your rock shoes for when you have to hike a bit farther.  Sorta unconventional but could be worth testing out.

I’ve only done horseshoe hell once and I think I just wore TC’s the hole time.  But our strategy was to do moderately hard climbs for us.  Something like up to 6 letter grades below max redpoint so we wanted rock shoes.  Not sure what the winning strategy is these days.

And honestly what I thought was more important than footwear was skin management.  I don’t want to derail your thread with random thoughts though.

good luck!

I appreciate the thoughts :)

I have always found TCs regardless of size really kill my ankles and toes after about 12 hours, so I was going to just do approach shoes to try to help my feet. I've done up to 11a in my guide tennies but find they can be really clunky on small edges and I don't really trust them. 

For skin my plan was to wear gardening gloves and back up is tape + fingerless gloves. I've done some of the 11+s in the gym with the gardening gloves and they are only really scary on slopey crimps but actually climb really well otherwise. 

My game plan is to climb a but ton of pitches maxing out about 11 grades below my redpoint so hoping to be as comfortable with skin and shoes as possible. 

Mike McL wrote:

The Sportiva TX Guides climb very well IMO.  They run a bit narrow.  I have a wide foot so don't love them for long hikes, but for pure climbing they're the best I've used.  I went with the leather version as it seems to give a bit more in the forefoot.  

I'll see if I can find a cheap pair of the leathers

Unparallel makes an approach that could be great for this! Totally smooth forefoot.

https://www.unparallelsports.com/product/l5-up/

Connor Dobson wrote:

I'll see if I can find a cheap pair of the leathers

Second this. My feet don't come close to fitting in synthetic guides but the leathers are my go-to for long days with actual climbing, after a brief break in period.

The scarpa gecko climbs really well if you size them right.  IMO better than the TX guide. I used to use geckos, but had to switch to the TX guide due to a foot issue that required a generally stiffer shoe. 

The UP approach shoes run very large - be careful with sizing.  For TX Guides, I put Superfeet shorty footbeds in - no footbed under toes.  Adds a lot of volume for narrow shoes.  I put a big wad of hot-melt glue under the heel to hold the foot bed in place.  You can test this by chopping the toes off an old pair of running shoe foot beds.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079PQZ514/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1

Guide leathers can usually be had for 80-90 bucks on geartrade, so do check there (as well as here, and ebay).

for TC's, have you ever tried going a full size up, and starting with a thick sock, switching to a regular sock around 6ish hours in, then switching again around 10-12hrs in, to a thin sock (assuming your foot is swelling the whole way)? Might be worth a try...

Personally I found the la sportiva hyper gtx to be a better shoe for technical climbing than the guide leather as well as being much more durable. I prefer the guide for standing in aiders but for technical climbing the hypers are better imo. 

With this being said, the recommendations of climbing shoes is definitely the way to go, go for a cheapish shoe like a finale and try a half length midsole. 

TX2. I've climbed 12/12+ in the gym in them. Previous version is better than the current one but the new version in leather is pretty good.

Ended up going with TX2 leather after I tried all the laspo ones. Killed my ankles until I took out the insoles. 

Climbed 24 hours in them without issue woot woot.