Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 08:21pm PT
|
JC Penny work boots, $14.99 - couldn't beat it with a stick. That and barefoot in the hollers of SoIll. Eventually we variously got 'blue meanies' (RRs), 'green meanies' (Chouinards), PAs, and then the miraculous EBs.
|
|
Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
|
|
|
Sep 21, 2010 - 09:12pm PT
|
I'll expand on what donini said, good climbers have good footwork and mediocre climbers don't. Agreed! I was simply stating that a climber who learned to climb in boots and got up the routes in good style learned good footwork or simply quit climbing.
Stiffer shoes have always been my choice, as well. I've had old red and black PA's, Robbins Blue Boots, Kletter Spiders, Boreal Ace's, and La Sportiva Mariacher's, and now am sporting a pair of TC Pros and a pair of Tradmasters.
|
|
bmacd
Trad climber
Grade V, Level III certified Kook 100% Canadian
|
|
|
Sep 22, 2010 - 02:51am PT
|
Ghost those custom soled Vasque ascenders are brillant. I did a bunch of climbing in the Bugaboos with mine, sans your resole job. Perhaps the modern equivalent candidate for that kind of resole would be my old pair of red La Sportiva Trangos
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Sep 22, 2010 - 05:12am PT
|
TheEiger ? Did you ever do us a TR? If not, get crackin'!
And back on topic, from earlier today, it's never too late to find out how to knock boots.
|
|
bmacd
Trad climber
Grade V, Level III certified KooK 100% Canadian
|
|
|
Sep 22, 2010 - 10:22pm PT
|
Radical Riley sez: And I climbed The Eiger, a mixed 5.7 route in casual off the shelve A-solo hikers
bump for Nordwand TR with pictures ;)
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Sep 22, 2010 - 10:58pm PT
|
If you really like rock climbing in boots, you probably liked sex in the backseat of a VW Bug.
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Sep 23, 2010 - 10:11pm PT
|
If you really like rock climbing in boots, you probably liked sex in the backseat of a VW Bug.
Jim, have you forgotten who you're talking about? Probably 99.999% of climbers who were around in the climbing-boot era would have liked sex in a cardboard box.
|
|
Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
|
|
|
Sep 27, 2010 - 07:09pm PT
|
"If you really like rock climbing in boots, you probably liked sex in the backseat of a VW Bug."
yeah well, better than watching!
|
|
HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
|
|
|
Sep 27, 2010 - 08:22pm PT
|
If you really like rock climbing in boots, you probably liked sex in the backseat of a VW Bug.
and your problem is?
Use what's available.
You just want to get it over with as soon as possible and find something better next time.
|
|
Sierra Ledge Rat
Social climber
Retired to Appalachia
|
|
|
Sep 15, 2011 - 12:28am PT
|
Manly men rock climb in mountaineering boots
Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboos
Try this in mountaineering boots
Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboos
|
|
Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
|
|
|
Sep 15, 2011 - 01:44am PT
|
Rooskies were still going to the Pamirs in tricounis in the late 70's!
GNARLY!
|
|
Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
|
|
|
Sep 15, 2011 - 08:26am PT
|
Royal and I used Spiders for a long time for the very reasons
Peter described, good edging, good in off-widths...
In about '65, I was bouldering at Split Rocks. A fellow came along,
trying to think of his name (I want to say Lee Herrell?). He
had some type of lightweight mountaineering boots. I was amazed
at how well he bouldered and how good he was with his feet.
He said he had done a lot of climbing in the Alps and that
the good climbers there could climb as well in boots as most
more pure rock climbers could in tight rock shoes. I tended
to believe him, when I saw him climb. He noted, however, that
it was absolutely vital to get the right boot, that most didn't
work too well, but one or two kinds were amazing. Seeing photos
of people such as Rebuffat and Bonatti with their boots, I began
to believe they weren't at too much of a disadvantage, and what
with their supreme techniue. The "good" mountain rock boot were
"flush" where the rubber meets the leather tops. I.E., the sole
didn't stick out at all....
About this time, Cub Shaefer gave me a pair of lightweight mountain
boots. I can't recall the brand, but I agreed to try them out on
rock. I went up and did the first free ascent of Vertigo. I climbed
right past the 5.11 section, solidly, but higher up on the 5.8
stem dihedral I realized I couldn't stem very well, couldn't smear
out on those sloping walls in those boots. Grabbed a carabiner to
rest and try to figure it out... Whatever... I used those boots
again on a host of climbs, but I really preferred my RD's. Gill and
I bouldered for a long time in RD's. They were vastly better at
edging than EB's. At certain bouldering areas, such as Split Rocks,
you couldn't even stand up on some tiny footholds in EB's, but in
RD's it was an easy step. RD's were a good measure better than Spiders,
for sure, in most respects. But then, and note, they came out with
a new RD that was supposed to be the same boot but actually had a
different, not nearly as good, rubber. Then climbers, rightfully,
started saying RD's weren't very good.... They hadn't used the original
RD's.
My friends Luisa Iovane and Heinz Mariacher have kept me in rich supply
of La Sportiva climbing shoes, for many years, and they friction so
amazingly well, but they still are quite soft compared to my years
with stiffer shoes.... and not very comfortable to the feet. The
feet get tired easily. One thing I've seen, with some of the top
Yosemite stars, is that they climb off-widths with these softer
modern rubber, but they don't heel-and-toe so much. They do more friction
technique along the sides of the walls....
|
|
BillL
Trad climber
NM
|
|
|
Sep 15, 2011 - 08:55am PT
|
Did lots of 4th and easy 5th class in big stiff leathers less than a decade ago. This was the Ptarmigan Traverse in the North Cascades ... a multi-day trip with quite a bit of glacier travel. Bringing extra shoes for climbing wasn't an option and wasn't needed.
The boots in no way soured the climbing, to say the least. The technical climbing on this trip inspired me to take a technical climbing course the next spring and start traditional leading about a year after that (~7 years ago).
Bill
|
|
steve shea
climber
|
|
|
Sep 15, 2011 - 09:41am PT
|
Fun, we did not know any better. The five and dime edge route on Blacktail Butte in the Tetons, 5.12, done by Breashears in Haderers or some such in 1978. Also what Peter Haan said amout heavier climbers and the modern soft rubber is so true. It's like driving hard on an old school, non steel belted, low aspect ratio tire. It sucks.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!