UKH

Ayup, looking for any advice or shoe recomendations.

My 1st pair of shoes ( Scarpa Velocity's) has finally got holes after 2 and a bit years of helping me go from compelte beginner to the mid 6's on boulder and sport.

2nd pair is vapour 5's which is ideal for any edging or overhang needs. 

So i'm in search of a soft, probably flat, shoe with a sticky rubber ( grip2, c4 etc) to feel confident on those peak grit smears / frictiony indoor boulders. Will be used mostly for a mix of gritstone bouldering / the odd bit of trad / anything indoors that isn't an edge or overhang. The entire shoe market seems downturned atm so i'm struggling. And what flat shoes there are appear to have hard rubbers for edging - is there such thing as a flat, sticky rubbered shoe?

So far got on well with tenaya oasi, but probs need to get LV womens version in a blokes size.

Welcoming recomendations with open arms

In reply to NimbleNeil:

Hi mate I have recently got a pair of Unparellel up Duel moccasins, they are the new blue ones but based on the same last as the Up Mocc ( yellow and black). Absolutely love them, comfy as hell and the RH rubber is sticky as anything, I also have instinct VSR and Maestro’s and find the RH rubber stickier than the XS Grip 2 on the VSR.

if a mocc is not your bag I also tried on a pair of unparallel uprise VCS which I will be getting next for my trad allrounder when the VSR give out.

I got the duel in a full size down from street shoe and they are really comfy out of the box, I tried the VCS on in the same size and they felt great too.

hope that helps.

In reply to NimbleNeil:

get them resoled?

Seems the duel is marketed as a speed climbing shoe but in reality is just a synthetic mocc. So it has RH rubber which is their hardest rubber - i don't get why they dont make flatter shoes with the stickeir RS / VD compounds, surely this is the recipe for the best smears - but if they are comapratively stickier than grip2 then god knows how sticky the RS and VD are.

Am i being silly trying to get a "flat" shoe? It just sems counter intuitive to try to get a low heel smear out of an agressively downturned drago or furia for example...

In reply to Cobra_Head:

Unfortunatly as my first pair of climbing shoes they are also simly too large. Had to cut the excess velcro straps down as i synch them so tight lol.  Comfy though and tbf maybe worth considering a resole to keep as a multipitch type shoe when i eventually grow the balls to get more than 20m off the deck

In reply to NimbleNeil:

My suggestion is a bit outside of the box, but what I've been using mostly the last few years on all kinds of climbs (mainly boulder, or all angles. but also some single pitch sport and trad) is LaSpo No-Edge shoes. My absolute favorite is Maverink kiddie shoe, but I think it might not be available. It is however completely flat. And I use Speedster, as that is the only shoe that isn't worn through (aim to send both of my Maverinks and spare Speedster to be resoled, have done this already once from them all).

They are pretty good on all smears, doable on fingers and up cracks. And naturally on face climbs. They only suffer, when you have a small hold at the bottom of a small corner or in a crack... where the rounded no-edge toe does not fit. 

Being a weakling and a bumbie, I have still managed to tick all of the routes in this smeary (polished) granite slab.
https://27crags.com/crags/nalkkilan-slabi (that's me leading a ~7a line in the title pic, they shoes are "custom" first gen 5.10 Quantums resoled with LaSpo No-Edges )

And that place is certainly more polished than what grit was.

Here's a vid of me climbing a few lovely slab boulders from a fall sesh a few years ago.
youtube.com/watch?v=kcdRcqK9VyI& (with Speedsters)


So while the Speedster is moderately agressive/downturned, it is also so soft that it is easy to smear.

In reply to NimbleNeil: the obvious proviso is that they need to fit, but Instinct VSR's. Or wait till the Vapors break in and soften up

In reply to NimbleNeil:

Yeah I know what you mean, the Instinct VSR shorften down a lot so are ok for smearing, however mine are 1/2 size too big (they stretched a little more than I expected). So on small smeary ripples they roll ever so slightly which plays with my head a bit. if they were 1/2 smaller they would be perfect, but I still prefer the Up Duel they also fit my feet better which is important.

In reply to Kryank:

Think I’ll order a combo of unparallel mocc shoes and see which fits best 😌

funny they’re marketing it as a speed shoe, seems ideal all rounder 

In reply to NimbleNeil:

My default answer to this (and most things shoe-related in the mortal grades) would be to try a pair of Mythos — and I honestly believe (having most recently bought the female version with XS Grip) that they're better in XS Edge. They're just too soft with softer rubber, and the sensation of your foot slowly rolling off everything you stand on is really disconcerting and makes far more of a difference than the rubber itself.

I've never had a problem standing on small things in XS Edge on grit. I'm personally inclined to believe that rubber is a complete red herring against having a whole shoe that works well for you, and faith that it's not going anywhere when you stand up on it.

In reply to NimbleNeil:

I have a pair of Duels for warming up/circuits/pottering with the kids as they are very comfy (and I haven't sized them that small). They are, however, very soft and would not be a first choice for any grit problem/route bar maybe a hand crack.

I'd wear my worn in whites for grit slab over the Duels every time. The Up Mocc would be a better grit shoe imho.

In reply to NimbleNeil:

I think you'll find looking at the world cups (which are full of insecure full foot padding smears) that downturned shoes are just fine for smearing. If anything, the natural force of the shoe to contract will give you more grip rather than less, as a proportion of it will be directly down onto the hold and so increase the force applied to µ.

Dave McLeod wrote about this ages ago. Truly flat shoes only really have value in cracks or in reducing foot fatigue (easier to last stiffly).

In reply to galpinos:

Yeah I was after an Up mocc but there are issues getting them now (something to do with the German importer) so as the Duel is based on the same last and I could get it in my size it was the only option (one I am happy with, but do wish I could have got the yellow and black Mocc in my size).

also like the look of the Up Vim mocc, but couldn’t get one to try on and I was after a flat gym shoe primarily.

In reply to Kryank:

Vim are my go to bouldering shoe. Love them.

In reply to galpinos:

Really? What’s the sizing like? I have heard the heal is really tight and they can be hard work to get on? Do they give much? wonder whether to order a pair online as I’m struggling to find some where to try them on. 

In reply to NimbleNeil:

Tbh I think just stick to one pair of shoes.

I had the idea that I’d switch to a flat pair for multipitch trad but I just didn’t trust my feet enough (most likely psychological but still an important factor). I eventually went back to my downturned shoe for everything…

In reply to HeMa:

Not imported to the UK by Sportiva anymore, though. A replacement is due next year, I believe.

In reply to Rampart:

Bergfreunde (so alpinetrek?) has nearly every size in stock. 

In reply to NimbleNeil:

If you want comfy and not so aggressive. 

2nd vote for mythos. 

They are a fantastic shoe tbh. 

Will see you up 7s without any issue. 

You state you pull the velcro right up on your current pair. If you have slim feet. Some models have low volume versions (ladies shoes also narrower). 

In reply to Kryank:

I’ll dig out my pairs of various UP shoes to compare. They do have narrow heels and are a fight to get on. I have a pair of Regulus to go back for re soling so bought the Vim on the back of the similar last but with old skool V10 vibes. I’m sure the nostalgia gives me an extra half a grade….

(The regulus performs as well and is easier to put on!)