UKH

Spotted this feature in a pair of Simond trousers:

"Strap at the ankles so that you can attach your shoes with a carabiner to avoid losing them when abseiling down a descent"

The accompanying picture shows shoes undone and heels out.

I know climbing shoes can be uncomfortable, but does anyone do this when abbing off a route?

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/women-s-climbing-and-mountaineering-lightweig...

In reply to captain paranoia:

Never seen a loop like this on trousers before, but I've seen several people use loops of cord around their ankles to be able to slip off the heels on sea-cliff or multi-pitch belays with less risk of losing the shoes. Easy to see the appeal on a long abseil as well. Tried it a few times myself and appreciated the benefits but found the cord quite irritating. Suspect a carabiner flapping around down there would be even more annoying, but I guess with these trousers you could use a little cord instead and not need to loop it around your ankle.

In reply to Luke90:

Okay, so it is 'a thing' then.

I think I'd be more concerned about not having a shoe on my foot whilst abbing, even if still attached to my trousers.

In reply to captain paranoia:

I very regularly slip my heel out and tie the laces round my ankle so I can't lose the shoe while belaying, abseiling, walking down etc. 

In reply to captain paranoia:

Yup, it is. I rigged some rubbercord things that I attached to my slippers and then tightened around my ankles. And those slippers are sized for comfort. But if it is a long route, and basking in the sun, my eons ago frostbitten toes will start to cause problems. Easy fix is indeed to just pull the heel out from the slipper like Robert does. And same thing when going down.

Yeah, that is a concern... but then again less on the abseils and more on the way up I'd say.

In reply to HeMa:

When abbing down the 600m Out of Africa (7a) in Madagascar, I flipped my heels on the first or maybe second ab and promptly dropped a shoe down the endless expanse of slab below. It soon disappeared from view. Fearing the worst, as this was our first day in Tsaranoro and these were the only shoes I had with me that were big enough to cope with longer routes, we eventually arrived at the base of the crag to find my beloved shoe sitting happily in plain view just a few metres away! 🙂

In reply to captain paranoia:

Don't you just tie the shoes to a cord which runs up the trouser leg and down to the other? Like we all do with our gloves with the cord through our jacket sleeves. My mum says everyone does that?

In reply to captain paranoia:

I normally take my shoes off and hang them on my harness for abseiling or walking off.

If it's going to be a long descent, I might bring a pair of minimalist shoes up with me, but for abseiling and short descents barefoot is fine.

In reply to captain paranoia:

A lot of people slip their heels out of their shoes while being lowered off single pitch sport routes, and I quite often do on belays on longer routes.

In reply to captain paranoia:

On a recent Costa Blanca trip I clocked a Spanish climber wearing little velcro ankle straps attached to the pull loops of his shoes, which can only have been for this purpose - made by Red Chili from the look of the logo. 

In reply to captain paranoia:

I have some shock cord on the back of my harness with a couple of little carbine clips on it.  get to a belay, clip the cord to a shoe and take it off without worry about dropping it

In reply to captain paranoia:

I have a pair of Sportiva TX2s clipped to my harness and change into those when my poor tootsies needs a break. I can see why for sport climbing with downsized shoes you might want something a bit more "quick release", but that's not my preferred type of masochism.