Climbing barefoot reddit. Most trail shoes that are minimalist would probably be fine for hiking up mountains Tried some barefoot climbing at my gym today. 3M subscribers in the climbing community. The idea is to strengthen the foot into one sort of claw that can cling onto a tiny ledge. Has anyone seen any barefoot style ‘wide’ climbing shoes that follow a proper foot shape? I know this isn’t the convention for climbing but darn it was tough to squeeze my foot Foot shaped shoes seem to go against the ethos of climbing, but these are made by a company that also makes regular climbing shoes so maybe they're… Just got back from camping last week and went hiking barefoot. Because that’s what we use, and there is a very good reason for it. Jul 3, 2025 · When it comes to climbing, the right shoes can make all the difference. One of the best and most memorable moments in my life was just a day climb to camp 3 and me and my best mate just sat there looking down into the cwm and admiring the majesty of the Everest, lhotse nuotse landscape and across to Pumori. Theoretically if you had this made up scenario in which you had two people; one walks without shoes for 80 years on hard concrete all day and the other walks without shoes for 80 years on soft dirt I have been climbing in my back yard. But usually flat and stiff shoes are only good on vertical and slabby terrain where you stand on small footholds or if you need the support for long climbing. Not in terms of thinness, but in toe splay - or lack of. Far from his first barefoot climbing effort, Albert has been climbing without shoes since he was 16 and as hard as V15/8C. A subreddit dedicated to discussing and reviewing climbing shoes. Climbing barefoot helps wake them up and get them moving, can help strengthen them. Saltic also has the two Enigma models, which are also decently footshaped, but are otherwise more towards classic climbing shoes. The home of Climbing on reddit. Bouldering in particular can be done solo, has great crossover with calisthenics, and is a really fun way to connect with nature. 6, 3 miles) Drive: 3 hours, 30 minutes Towering 9,000 feet above the town of Lone Pine, this peak is often mistaken for its taller and more famous neighbor, Mt Nov 8, 2022 · Climbers, particularly climbers who boulder, are at increased risk of knee injury. This is an odd one - went rock climbing today and discovered the shoes are pretty painful for someone wearing ‘barefoot’ shoes constantly for years. Aug 6, 2021 · To piggyback off this, I am about 4 months into the barefoot transition and was a pretty serious boulder climber for about 6 years before this. While that’s still sinking in, watch Charles climb Gecko Assis again, but this time backwards. My first thought is to wear the vibram five finger shoes but I'd like to know if anyone else has an opinion or ideas. My friends and I carry climbing shoes and crash pads, Baby, Josh’s ashes. I considered the latter may reduce chance of spraining/twisting/rolling my ankle, or some other bodily injury from falling over. Not sure if this is a result of them being curled/bent in my shoes (Butora GOMIs) or something else. Nov 22, 2023 · French minimalist “Barefoot Charles” Albert has announced what he believes is his hardest send to date, L’Ombre du Voyageur (The Traveler’s Shadow), proposing a grade of 9A/V17. Heelhooks, gripping with the top of your foot, etc. After speaking with different Deaf climbers from around the country, there is a resounding call for outdoor and climbing brands, gyms, and individuals to help increase accessibility and inclusiveness for the Deaf Nov 8, 2024 · In the past decade Bishop has swelled in popularity with climbers. Because it is such a hindrance. One of them we evolved for, and the other we do for sport, because it’s challenging for us. 75 votes, 34 comments. i want to join a climbing gym but dont want to mess up my feet from wearing the tight and unnatural climbing shoes. It's possible to go barefoot while climbing, but you have to be really careful with your footwork. I know the shoes for climbing are bad for my feet but it’s just something I’ve accepted. 693 votes, 240 comments. End of story. I wear barefoot shoes the VAST majority of the time I spend Hi, I would like to get bf shoes for wall climbing, but I have no idea what manufacturers/models are good option for this. I'm barefoot almost all the time and outside a ton. Oct 13, 2016 · Watch Charles Albert climb Gecko Assis (V14) barefoot in the woods of Fontainbleau, France. 17 votes, 14 comments. Here's how to come back from such an injury. I'm not sure if this belongs here, but to me barefoot tree climbing is just an extension of barefoot hiking and would love to see more people trying it out. He has graded the boulder 9A. I wear exclusive minimalist shoes regardless of the activity (except for specialist shoes like Climbing shoes). Not worth it. When I do this i can climb if barefoot. Is there a reason no one else does this? Has anyone tried yoga socks and found success or crushing defeat? 44 votes, 25 comments. Has anyone tried those barefoot climbing shoes? I've made a post some tume ago saying that I prefer to use regular barefoot shoes for climbing. Wondering if anyone's ever tried this, perhaps I should post this on r/barefoot. Etiquette question: Climbing barefoot? Was waiting for a climb this weekend and the guy before me decided to climb it barefoot. You won't be able to stick chips. Royal Robbins? Bob Kamps? Who are those guys? Jan 15, 2025 · You can read the full tribute to Climbers We Lost in 2024 here. Yes, rock climbing barefoot is doable but not recommended for many solid reasons. Have you tried asking around at your local place? I would recommend talking to people that are already doing it. I brought my climbing shoes (and hiking shoes obviously) but decided not to put them on on this boulder that was straight armz. The overwhelming majority of people here use climbing shoes, and you’er coming here asking for advice on non-climbing shoes. Mar 25, 2025 · Routesetters at Touchstone Climbing Gyms in Southern California have gone on the first-ever routesetter strike in the country. It's fine if you're bouldering indoor v0-v4, but I doubt you'd be doing anything beyond that unless you're an absolute freak. 4M subscribers in the climbing community. Feb 12, 2024 · I'm barefoot almost all the time and outside a ton. Furthermore the arch shape is almost never anatomical except for in beginner/rental shoes. Dedicated to increasing all our knowledge about how to better improve at our sport. To piggyback off this, I am about 4 months into the barefoot transition and was a pretty serious boulder climber for about 6 years before this. It's not something to venture into lightly and on your own. Wondering if anyone here rock climbs/boulders and has any thoughts, thanks. I initially discovered the issue through back pain when I was a teenager. The one that people SHOULD follow is no climbing shoes in the restroom. I get tons of splinters and was wondering if these power socks would be any good or any ideas. Apr 23, 2022 · Don't get discouraged by all the mean comments, barefoot climbing is just another way to play on rock. I like climbing barefoot, but I think you are kidding yourself if you think you will actually climb better. ( I also saw a barefoot dude in the stall today, which was bogus). It's even encouraged in Saxony in our beautiful Sandstone Tower Paradise because it's better for the soft sandstone than the rubber shoes. Don't get discouraged by all the mean comments, barefoot climbing is just another way to play on rock. There isn’t an expectation of cleanliness like there is at a corporate fitness gym. It also challenges your movement and body positioning because you can’t just put all your weight on your toes all the time. The first time I tried it in the park (there is an artificial boulder in our park with easy routes mostly for the kids) I scraped my feet quiet a bit after an hour of climbing or so, but you will get better at this if you do it more often. I am looking at getting a new shoe as my feet are so cramped in normal climbing shoes it kills me. They might have some momentum and fall 1-2 meters in different directions) The art, experience, history, celebration, and philosophy of barefoot climbing. I tried rockclimbing with them once, dont ever do that with skinners. I was curious about climbing it barefoot (or at least with 'barefoot shoes'), and if there was less or more chance of injury compared to climbing it with walking boots that cover the ankle area like these. I have tree with about 12 feet of climbable trunk, i have been using the free climbing method of putting your feet through a loop of rope and then wrapping your feet around the tree. I realize barefoot health is completely contrary to rock climbing practice, wherein generally, at an intermediate level, wearing tiny shoes that crush your feet is encouraged. Jun 30, 2022 · While she has accomplished a lot in her years of climbing, Wilson knows she could have accomplished more with increased accessibility and open-mindedness from the climbing community. I started climbing a couple of years into my barefoot journey. The barefoot shoe ideology is completely counter to climbing shoe ideology. The downside is because my shoes fit properly now (that is, they are super tight and uncomfortable), I naturally want to take them off between routes and while belaying my partner, meaning I’m walking around the gym barefoot. This begs the question: if you don't use Yes, it’s taboo or weird among climbers, but I also wear barefoot shoes (Merrell Vapor Glove) which are comfortable opposed to the horrid climbing shoes. Climbing shoe recommendations Does anyone have recommendations for climbing shoes to wear that won't squish all my toes and put them into a point? I don't think I'm quite strong enough in my feet for simply wearing minimal flexible soled shoes, but any alternatives or climbing shoes people have found with a wide toe box? What’s the consensus on the Vibram platform? First time poster and don’t see much love for them on this subreddit. Before I knew about the needs and functions of our feet, I was shoving my wide size 12s into aggressive climbing shoes a size too small and from this suffered bad pinky toe cramming, slight big toe pronation, and a binding tightness of the middle toes My climbing shoes still fit but are much tighter, as expected. Oct 28, 2022 · I walk toward the first boulder we climbed all those years ago. She ultimately reached an agreement with Pacific Lumber Company to spare the tree & a 200-foot buffer zone surrounding the tree. The climbing shoes really make it much easier most of the time. 1 subscriber in the caption_irl community. And yes we are scared of falling. 99% of redditors couldn't do this even if it truly did have little steps. Charles Albert has made the first ascent of L'Ombre du Voyageur (The Traveler's Shadow), in Salève, Haute-Savoie, France. I can see some benefit in improving your precision and technique by climbing barefoot, but I think at the gym you're just going to upset everyone. You won’t become very advanced as a climber unless you use the gear to facilitate it, because your feet didn’t evolve to hook into small holds climbing walls. most climbing shoes are also wrapped in a thick layer of rubber We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Photo by Heeb Christian/Age Fotostock Los Angeles Lone Pine Peak Elevation: 12,944 feet Route: Northeast Ridge (5. Saltic is a well-established brand known for its exceptional classic climbing shoes, and they’ve leveraged their extensive experience to create these groundbreaking barefoot climbing shoes. You probably touch a lot more dried blood than you realizeand don't even think about that if you're crack climbing. Her reviews are better to introduce the shoe and see if it's made for your type of foot vs performance reviews. Jul 27, 2011 · The three-mile-long Northeast Ridge of Lone Pine is the central ridgeline, descending from just left of the summit. Reddit's rock climbing training community. Climbing shoes are engineered to mimic the feet of the most efficient rockclimbing mammals on the planet-mountain sheep/goats. I went to a climbing gym a few hours away, and when I got there I realized I left my climbing shoes in my home gym. Thanks for help Yesterday I went to a function for my dad's railway group. Let me paint a picture - I am approximately 54 weeks pregnant, and I wore apparel that fit which were a pair of thongs. . When you walk on the mats, look mostly up and if there's someone on the wall, make sure you hold enough distance, so they can't fall on you (remember: people don't just fall strict down in bouldering. So you wear what you need to for what you’re doing and then go back to barefoot/minimal shoes the rest of the time. Climbing shoe recommendations Does anyone have recommendations for climbing shoes to wear that won't squish all my toes and put them into a point? My climbing gym requires shoes, but I want to wear my correct toes in my shoes while climbing because without them I have pain in my bunion. A proper review should consider the durability, comfort, grip when running, lifting, hiking, climbing, etc To be fair, most of her reviews are lifestyle shoes so hiking/climbing in them isn't really realistic. Not quite aggressive enough for competitive climbing. But what has put me off massively is the amount of people (youtubers especially) that brag about how when they do experiments to try conventional shoes again, they get knee pain basically being super biased in trying to prove that barefoot shoes are the best and you should never go back. It flattens out aggressive shoes, pushes dirt and dust into the rubber, causing it to polish holds, and is just uncomfortable, depending on how you fit your shoes. I want some opinions on rock climbing (indoor) without climbing shoes. I do better barefoot or in the climbing shoes than I do in most athletic shoes without orthotics. Jun 15, 2012 · In late 2005, when I was a senior at the University of Southern California, new to rock climbing and greener than Gumby, those words would have meant nothing to me. I plan to go for hikes barefoot next year though once it warms up again, and try running outside completely barefoot (Currently running VFF). Hey all (just found this sub) I climb trees fun/work sometimes barefoot. Today, we’re excited to introduce you to Saltic’s newest innovation—the Eliot, their first barefoot climbing shoes. After 1-2 sessions with them, I’m experiencing pain around the nail of 2 of my toes towards the end of my session and afterwards. Hi, I'm visiting Hong Kong for a month, and need a new pair of climbing shoes. These are the best two suggestions I have been given has anyone used either of them and how were they? I have just bought my first pair of climbing shoes. However, the environmentally fragile area is being strained by the traffic. When I used my feet to wrap around the rope it hurt like hell. I'll just leave you with that image. Of course everyone is going to tell you to use climbing shoes. L-sit climbing and climbing where only your arms are involved is still doable, but climbing with standard technique is almost impossible. Stuff like doing some exercises barefoot & running a little barefoot can be helpful to help you learn how to minimize impact & move more intelligently though. Indoors there are no small footholds and no long climbs most climbing you will do is either steep or on volumes so soft and downturned. Climbing shoes allow you to put your entire body weight on like a 1 square millimeter bump. I was dismayed to find that climbers want the exact opposite of a barefoot feel for their climbing: arched rigid sole and tightly scrunched toe. I try not to stay in the fallzone barefoot, but I'll walk around barefoot no problem. I don't like climbing shoes and I was thinking of trying with bare feet, or grippy yoga socks. Reminder that climbing inside with bare feet, even if you're a v8 climber just flexing on a v5, is really bad etiquette The art, experience, history, celebration, and philosophy of barefoot climbing. Luckily, I had a pair of goat grip style shoes (they are basically like sock-shoes, and definitely do not scrunch your toes). There is too much friction, better to go barefoot on easy routes amd use climbing shoes when the level gets too high 2. But, I think that's a per gym etiquette thing rather than some blanket rule across all gyms. Does anyone have any experience with them? There are a couple of people climbing barefoot at my gym. Also, do your toes typically hurt towards the end of a climbing session? We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. In addition to his full-time role as an educator, he worked on weekends and during the summer as a climbing guide for climbing school Vertical Adventures Jun 15, 2012 · Black Mountain, situated high in the San Jacinto Mountains above Idyllwild in Southern California, is literally covered in high-quality alpine granite boulders. However, i would like to know if there is maybe a shoe that emulates the barefoot feeling more closely than a traditional climbing shoe. I’ve been wearing barefoot or minimalist shoes for a few months and recently have started rock climbing. Climbing shoes are made to focus all of the pressure on one point or edge. As his epithet suggests, Albert climbs monkey-style, without climbing Walking on flat ground and climbing vertical walls are very different tasks. Namely, the point of the shoe is as small as possible to allow all of the pressure in your foot to focus at a single point giving you the most traction on a foothold. No one else from either his party or mine seemed to think much of it though. I see climbing as an activity that needs a specialist shoe and cannot be barefoot or minimal (for me, MTB and snowboarding are in this same category). The art, experience, history, celebration, and philosophy of barefoot climbing. If you like climbing trees, see if there's a rock climbing gym in your area. That said, climbing is dirty, bloody, and communal. 1. I know climbing schoes are designed towards performance and have featured that help with certain grips. 8K subscribers in the climbingshoes community. Reply blunderduffin • So I've recently started picking up rock climbing, and I enjoy the sport a fair bit, except the shoes are a torment! I understand why climbing shoes want to compress your toes, so was wondering instead if there are any barefoot runners here that are also climbers, and what do you do to help your feet cope with the shoes? Reddit's rock climbing training community. Our feet aren't as well adapted to climbing rocks compared to other animal's. All much worse barefoot regardless of how strong your feet are. They offered me free rentals, but I opted to use my goat grips. Only gonna use for rec or work for non machinery work. The climb follows a thin limestone roof crack across and out of a cave in Salève, France, and is nearly 50 feet long, Albert told Climbing. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Climbing shoes help distribute the forces across your entire foot effectively, but as you'll quickly find out almost all of the force will be focused on your big toe when climbing barefoot or with those (creepy) five finger shoes. Jun 27, 2023 · I was curious about climbing it barefoot (or at least with 'barefoot shoes'), and if there was less or more chance of injury compared to climbing it with walking boots that cover the ankle area like these. I also assume it's not allowed in most gyms and definitely frowned upon to climb barefoot on public walls. Read on to find out why you should always wear climbing shoes. Antony “Tony” Sartin, a kindergarten teacher at Hazeltine Avenue Elementary in Los Angeles, was a prolific, widely respected Southern California climber and route developer. I think rope climbing is the only climbing sport where wearing shoes is important. Please put any suggestions below! If it concerns you, bring some flip flops or slides at the gym. Recently discovered the benefits of barefoot style shoes and I am looking to buy a pair soon. Frankly, the thought of his feet mank all over the rock I was about to touch was kind of disgusting. I searched up a list and the last Reddit post about this is 9 years… Its a preference thing. Before I knew about the needs and functions of our feet, I was shoving my wide size 12s into aggressive climbing shoes a size too small and from this suffered bad pinky toe cramming, slight big toe pronation, and a binding tightness of the middle toes Jun 20, 2022 · My climbing shoes still fit but are much tighter, as expected. As a child, she was the only deaf person in her family. The monk undoubtedly took a much easier route. Climbing barefoot is not allowed in any gym I've been to. Barefoot or vibrams do exactly the opposite. I asked the front desk, (this is a large gym in a decent sized city) about their policy, and they agreed that it was gross regarding the kids shoes, but that the policy is no barefoot climbing, but they can climb in socks or their own shoes. climbing shoes are exceedingly rigid and durable so as to allow beter traction on small foot holds or wedge into small cracks. Everest was not and end goal but a mountain that my peer group was climbing and I wanted to try it as well. The least minimalist shoe I have is the Altra Lone Peak 6. And some people have actually pointed out that specialized climbing barefoot shoes exist. I was wondering, has anyone had a similar experience of wanting to continue rock climbing after your feet have changed? Even if say I were to buy larger climbing shoes, I'm wondering if wearing them could be detrimental to the progress I have made in foot health. If you use barefoot shoes, odds are that your technique is going to suck. In the late 1990s, Julia Hill climbed a 200-foot, approximately 1000-year-old Californian redwood tree & didn’t come down for another 738 days. I thought of this analogy - walking barefoot/using thin barefoot shoes is like walking on hard concrete, as opposed to walking with cushioned "regular" sneakers is like walking on soft dirt or sand. If you have any experience with this, please share what you would/would nit recommend. Jun 30, 2022 · Sonya Wilson has been climbing for most of her life, but she didn’t have an easy start. If I continue to rock climb and wear barefoot shoes will my feet be healthy. I make it hard on myself but it’s also better for my skin & bones to wear gloves & barefoot shoes. The granite that awaits varies from smooth Yosemite-style, to rougher, larger-crystal, Joshua Tree type. I love climbing trees barefoot when possible and live on a property with lots of pines, but I always thought of them as fairly unclimbable compared to knotty/branchy deciduous trees. Fun barefoot Tree Climb Challenge This video cannot be played. Anyone familiar with barefoot shoes? I’ve been wearing bare foot shoes for awhile now and can’t stand the narrow bouldering shoes. People go barefoot because you’re technically not supposed to walk around in your climbing shoes. ifha xtizbe tilpi bzoh hqke qcvnjh oezhqn qibw ujvo meojcc