Daily Climbing

A couple of climbing enthusiasts spill the beans about all the best practices in rock climbing and bouldering.

James Anderson

The Most Durable Climbing Shoes (What Pros Use)

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UPDATE: We featured the TC Pro as the best shoe for crack climbing, granite and big walls in our guide to the best climbing shoes of 2019.

Want some climbing shoes which will stay strong and true no matter how much you hammer them in your climbing sessions… and even stand up to the immense stresses of crack climbing without falling apart?

Short of encasing your feet in blocks of iron, the climbing shoes we’ll be looking at in this post are the best you can get if rugged durability is your main priority.

Whether you’re into climbing big walls, extended multi-pitch routes or crack climbing, there’s a good chance that you’ll destroy ordinary climbing shoes on a semi-regular basis if you’re not careful.

But who wants to be careful when climbing?

I’m not talking about all the safety stuff. That stuff is there so that you can climb freely, rather than worrying about your every move.

What you want is shoes that’ll let you climb those big, tough routes without making you feel like you’re a free soloer or something, where you have to maintain a pretty large safety margin to avoid injury.

However, that being said, these shoes are the shoes of choice for pros like Alex Honnold, Jonathan Siegrist, Tommy Caldwell and Pamela Pack when they’re doing any kind of trad climbing, crack climbing, or big walls like Yosemite.

Anyway, without further delay, let’s take a look at the most invincible shoes out there:

The La Sportiva TC Pro Climbing Shoe

This work of art was developed in collaboration with Tommy Caldwell himself.

No wonder it’s his shoe of choice.

It was made exactly to his specifications. He wanted the ultimate shoe: one that’s designed to take on the Dawn Wall; a shoe that has mastery over granite.

It had to function at a very high level while still being comfortable. It also had to be robust enough to protect your feet through all the abuse big walls dish out. I never could have imagined it would turn out so well. It was a game changer for me.

As a result, these shoes offer a huge amount of protection while still being on a powerful enough platform for precise edging.

Foot Armor

First of all, these shoes are mid-height, and so they cover and protect the malleolus, which is that sticky-out ankle bone that no-one really has a common name for.

This isn’t just useful for climbers who want to stuff their feet in cracks without also cracking their ankles. It’s also immensely useful for climbers who like to heel hook and toe hook on really rugged walls.

To top that off, these shoes actually have padding on top. They basically protect your feet all the way around without feeling bulky. Even the leather is just ridiculously thick, yet it still doesn’t feel too bulky.

I mean, sure, they’re not as slim as other shoes like the Solution which are more suited for bouldering or normal climbs, but they make a really good job of not feeling cumbersome despite the impenetrable defense they provide for your feet.

These shoes are so tough  that they won’t even get disfigured after years of hard use. They use La Sportiva’s patented “P3 Permanent Power Platform,” which means that the materials don’t lose shape when force is applied to them repeatedly. They always just bounce back to the shape they were, as if they were brand new.

However, having said that, the shoes are a little stiff out of the box, but they loosen up over time. It’s not a dramatic increase, but don’t get too loose of a size, even if you’re not used to tight shoes, becasue that slight stretch might push them over that threshold. You know the one I mean: where the shoes are just loose enough to get bothersome, because you can feel them move slightly now and then.

I’d say just go for it. Get the ideal size you’re looking for. Don’t hold back. These shoes are way more comfortable than you’d expect, despite giving the impression of being a bit stiffer and clunkier than most climbing shoes… at least, at first…

Luxury Comfort

These shoes just scream premium. Screamium…

You can easily wear them for extended periods of time without feeling like you need to take them off for a break.

And that’s just fantastic.

“How can someone wear a brand new pair of shoes for so long without taking them off?” your climbing friends will be thinking.

Even if you have a weird foot shape, the padded-ness of these shoes really work in its favor. They’ll fit themselves to your feet, filling in the gaps and easing off around the protruded parts of your feet, whether you have bony foot spurs like I do, or any other kind of unusual foot shape.

Long-Term Investment

These shoes are tough enough to take resoling several times, which makes them a worthy long-term pick.

Stealth rubber is the go-to choice for resoling, but the resoling kits are sometimes unavailable.

Speaking of rubber, the TC Pro’s original Vibram XS Edge rubber isn’t as sticky as stealth rubber, but it does have the advantage of being much stiffer. That naturally makes it much better for edging, and the stiffness adds an extra degree of protection to your feet.

You’d be surprised how quickly you get used to a stiffer shoe. Not just in terms of comfort, but in terms of actually getting the feel for using these shoes.

You can click here to view the La Sportiva TC Pro on Amazon.

The Best Bouldering Shoes (What Pros Use)

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UPDATE: We featured the La Sportiva Solution as the best climbing shoe for bouldering and technical climbs in our guide to the best climbing shoes of 2019.

It really does matter which bouldering shoes you get.

I’m sure you’ve tried horrible rental shoes before. When they don’t fit right, it’s like you’re fighting against the shape of them. They’re either clunky, uncomfortable, or just plain bad at keeping you on the wall.

Good bouldering shoes fit you like a second skin. You won’t even notice that they’re there. It’s like they’re a completely natural extension of your body that’s always been there.

Oh, and they’re pretty darn good at letting you pull off those crazy heel hooks and toe hooks without wrecking your feet.

In this post, I’m going to throw all the usual wishy-washy considerations right out the window. Let’s just get right to the point: You’re here because you want the absolute best bouldering shoes you can get.

Well, here they are, but I warn you: they’re not for the faint of heart…

…or, err… the faint of foot?

The La Sportiva Solution Climbing Shoes

Look how aggressive they are.

That’s what I’m talking about. These shoes turn your feet into an extra pair of hands.

You’ll be actively gripping with your feet while using these shoes. Gone are the days of “human-level” climbing where your feet are best kept static – motionless.

With these beauties, you’ll be heel hooking and toe hooking like the true primate you are.

Let’s face it, all climbers are like this at heart. We want to climb raw and unfiltered, grapping hold of whatever we can and clambering our way up the route as if we were born for this.

Not that we weren’t…

Anyway, speaking of which, these shoes allow you to specialize in advanced footwork in a way which no other climbing shoe can.

“What do you mean by that?”

Well, let’s take a look at:

What Alex Honnold Says About Them

Yep. The legend / madman himself.

He says that there are two aspects of the La Sportiva Solution that make them his go-to climbing shoe, other than the high performance fit that I’ve been talking about.

First of all, is the downturned toe.

The Downturned Toe

The amount of support that this gives your big toe is just incredible.

You’ll be able to actually have some strength and precision with your big toe itself. This is a game changer, because rather than trying to get the shoe to grip onto tiny holds, you can just hold onto them naturally without thinking about it.

The aggressive fit and downturned toe make these shoes pretty much the closest you can get to climbing barefoot – except that these shoes won’t destroy your feet like a rock wall will.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Yes, these shoes won’t protect your feet as much on tough climbs that tend to eat your shoes away. Look here for the guide I wrote to getting the mega durable shoes that pros favor for climbs like that.

However, that being said, these shoes are so well made. They’ll stay strong for a long time. It’s more your feet that’ll be less protected than the shoes on really rough climbs.

Like I said at the start though, I’m only showing you these because they’re the absolute best bouldering shoes out there. In bouldering, you don’t do multi-pitch climbs or anything that’d chew your shoes up.

Besides, you get plenty of time to rest between climbs if you’re not used to the aggressive shape of these shoes. You’ll get used to them without issue, because you won’t be overdoing it like you would if you were trad climbing with them.

I’d say even lead climbing on moderate routes wouldn’t be a problem with these if you’re not used to aggressive climbing shoes. There are so many poorly fitting aggressive shoes out there that make aggressive shoes have a bad rep. These ones fit like a dream.

Anyway, we’re not done yet. Let’s take a look at the second, and most unique feature of these shoes that Alex Honnold loves them for.

They Specialize in Both Toe Hooking and Heel Hooking

And that’s a pretty rare thing in climbing shoes.

I think by now you’re getting the idea of what these shoes were designed to be. They’re practically foot gloves which turn your lowly human feet into climbing-adapted monkey feet, capable of crazy grip no matter which part of the foot you use.

Having a well-supported heel in climbing shoes is important, because, as you may well know, heel hooking too hard can wreak havoc upon your tendons, hamstrings, and, well… your heels.

Usually, you’d have to choose between shoes which help with toe hooking or with heel hooking, but with these, you can do both.

The great thing about this is that both toe hooking and heel hooking are equally viable with these shoes. You’ll be able to use whichever suits the situation best, and that just makes climbing easier, which is exactly what good climbing shoes should do.

After all, that’s the very reason we use climbing shoes instead of sneakers or something.

You can click here to check out the La Sportiva Solution climbing shoes on Amazon or check them out on Sportivas website here

How to Get Twists and Kinks Out of Climbing Rope

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So, you’ve either been belaying with a munter, lowering off through a stiff anchor like rings without a chain , or you’ve tried to untangle it and got it all twisted up.

Either way, you’re not going to have to go and manually untwist your rope, you’ll be glad to know.

Ropes are long. Getting twists and kinks out manually would take forever, so I’ll show you how to get the job done as quickly and easily as possible.

The Fastest Way

All you’ll need is your locking carabiner, a belay device and some cord to tie a friction hitch with.

Oh, and you’ll need your partner. If they’re not around, you can use a sling around a rock or a tree to put it “on belay” while you do this.

For clarity’s sake, let’s assume you’re doing this with your partner. Start by setting up your belay like usual, except have your partner hold the rope rather than tying themselves in.

As much of the rope as possible will be your dead rope.

Set a prussik, or whatever friction hitch you find easiest to tie, on that dead rope side, and hold it somewhat tight.

Now you’re all set.

Get your partner to pull the entire length of the rope hard through your belay device, and all of the kinks and twists will be evened out.

“How Does This Work?”

Simply put, the prussik straightens up your rope enough to pass through the belay device, which will iron out all the rest of those kinksin the rope.

Without the prussik, you’d have to do this more than once, so it’s easily the fastest way if you use one.

Of course, go ahead and do it without one if you don’t have any spare cord. Just don’t use your hands unless you like the the smell of burning flesh. That friction will just melt them, which is why we use belay devices in climbing in the first place, no matter how strong we might get.

“What if My Friend is Busy?”

If your friend is busy, you’ll just have to hold the prussik with one hand and pull the rope through with the other. You can do this more easily if you’ve tied the carabiner and belay device around a tree, like I mentioned before.

If you don’t have any slings around, then you could do it on your own harness, but it’s going to be pretty tiring on your rope-pulling arm with all that friction because of the angle you’ll be pulling at.

In that case, you might be better off going without the prussik and just pulling the full length of rope through your belay device a couple of times.

It’ll still do the trick, but it’s much better when you use a bit of teamwork and do it properly – just like climbing.

This is What You Should Do if You Lose Your Belay Device

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Dropping your belay device on a multi-pitch route is the single worst feeling ever.

You know what’s the second worst feeling ever? It’s when you finally arrive at the crag after a long, long drive, and realize you’ve forgotten your belay device.

I think you get the idea. Climbers feel like their belay device is their lifeline.

And it kind of is; It’s what saves your life if you fall… but the important thing to note is that it’s not your only lifeline.

There’s an easy way to belay when you find yourself without a belay device for whatever reason, and what’s so great about it is that it doesn’t use any more equipment than you already have, and you won’t even have to belay any differently.

“What is this magical method that you speak of?” you ask, eyes open wide.

It’s called “belaying with a munter hitch.”

How to Belay with a Munter Hitch

Belaying with a munter hitch is exactly like belaying normally. The difference is in how you set up the belay.

With a munter hitch, you’ll be belaying directly off the locking carabiner that’s going through the belay loop of your harness.

The way that you actually create a munter hitch is simple.

Take your rope and make two loops in it side by side, so that they’re going the same way. Then fold those two loops up together as if you’re closing a book, and clip them into your locking carabiner together.

That’s it! That’s all there is to it.

Funnily enough, munters are reversible, so it doesn’t matter which rope is your live rope and which one is your dead rope. Try paying out slack and you’ll see what I mean.

Of course, you can  always clip your munter’s two loops the other way around instead if you want your brake side on the opposite side.

The only thing to mention, is that munters actually lock off with the brake hand in an upward position. If you pull your brake hand down, it’ll still brake fairly well, but just remember to lift your hand up if you’re bracing to catch a big fall.

One final thing to note is that you should make sure that the gate of your locking carabiner isn’t on the side that your braking side is on. You’d end up putting pressure on the gate that way, which is always the weakest spot on any carabiner.

And, speaking of which, it’s always best to do this with a pear-shaped carabiner. You might also have heard them being called “HMS” carabiners. Interestingly, HMS is an abbreviation of the German name for a munter hitch.

Why Not Do This All the Time Instead of Using a Belay Device?

It’s because there’s a huge drawback to belaying with a munter:

It twists your rope.

Now, you’re not going to run into any problems if you’re only doing it for a session or two or in emergencies, but if you were to forego your belay device completely and just belay with a munter all the time, you’d quickly ruin your rope.

The reason why a munter twists and kinks your rope is to do with the shape of the hitch. It introduces a twist in the rope as it moves through the hitch, but it doesn’t twist it back after the rope has passed fully through.

Now, it is possible to counteract this twist by using an alternate variant of the munter called the “super munter.” However, it’s practically useless due to how much friction it causes. You can’t really belay properly with one, unless you had strong arms and a lot of patience.

A super munter fixes the twist problem because it’s essentially a doubled-up munter, but with the “second munter” undoing the twist that the “first munter” caused in the first place.

Unfortunately, there’s no way around it. Twists in your rope are pretty hard to get out as well, and it can only be done when the rope’s not in use. Even then, you’ll never get the rope 100% straight again. The little kinks in it will come back as slight wrinkles in your rope even if you get them out completely.

Really, the best long-term strategy for losing your belay device is to not lose it in the first place – or bring a spare. A munter hitch can be a great alternative whenever you need to belay or rappel without a belay device on the off time you forget it, but using a munter too often really will mess your rope up.

In the end, it’d have been cheaper to just buy a second belay device as a backup that you just leave in your car all the time. It’s better than having to buy a whole new climbing rope every few months.

How to Clean Your Climbing Shoes (Super Easy)

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Let’s face it, it’s inevitable that your climbing shoes are going to need cleaning at some point.

Climbers usually delay for as long as possible. They try to avoid cleaning their climbing shoes simply because they’re afraid of ruining them.

…But they shouldn’t.

You see, cleaning your shoes will actually make them perform better, because all that dirt and grime acts like the opposite of chalk.

Even indoor climbers, who won’t necessarily get their shoes dirty, will still see some improvements in grip. Besides, eliminating that terrible “well-used climbing shoes” odor is easily worth it alone.

Anyway, there’s two really easy ways to clean your climbing shoes. One method is excellent for eliminating odor, and the other is for actually cleaning your shoes.

So, let’s take a look at them. First of all:

This is How to Eliminate the Odor of Stinky Climbing Shoes

Fill them with coffee beans, and leave them for two days.

I’m not joking. That’s actually it.

Coffee beans are amazing for absorbing odors. It’s not so much that the fresh smell of coffee makes your climbing shoes smell nicer, it’s that they actually do absorb and eliminate the bad odors.

Just don’t then make coffee with the beans you used. Ew…

When to Do This

This handy little trick is perfect for automatically removing the smell from your climbing shoes after you’re back from a climbing session.

Once you get home, fill them with coffee beans, and a few days later when you head out to climb again, pour the coffee beans away into your compost bin. They’re actually really good for compost. They add nitrogen if you’ve let them have at least 100 days or so to break down.

Another way to use this method without being wasteful is to save up your used coffee grounds and let them dry out. Then you can use those spent coffee grounds to deodorize your climbing shoes. Just make sure they’re completely dry first. You don’t want to actually brew a coffee in your shoes.

Okay, now onto how to actually clean your climbing shoes.

A Super Easy Method to Clean Your Climbing Shoes

All you have to do is rinse them under the tap while you brush them clean.

Don’t use hot water, but you can use slightly warm water to speed things up a bit. I’m talking the “bread-making” kind of warm here. The kind of temperature you use when making bread dough so that you don’t kill the yeast. Gently warm.

If you brush your climbing shoes under running water, you’ll easily get them clean with a bit of gentle scrubbing.

If you need a shoe brush, then I really recommend this one. Most shoe brushes have an annoyingly narrow area where the bristles actually come into contact with the shoe, probably because they’re trying to get away with selling a brush that has less bristles.

Not this one.

This is the kind of quality brush you might have seen or imagined your grandfather using. And what’s more, is that it’s pretty cheap too. It’s a worthy investment for keeping your climbing shoes happy and grippy.

You might like our guide to the best climbing shoes of 2019.

Are Climbers Scared of Falling?

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All climbers are scared of falling in a way.

It’s natural, because falling always feels dangerous, even if it isn’t.

It’s like when you’re on a roller coaster. You know those parts where it slowly climbs to the top? Those are the parts where you feel the fear of rushing down the other side, but just like every climber out there, you’re not actually scared of something bad happening when that happens.

“Why is that?” you ask.

It’s because your safety is already taken care of in advance. It’s the same with climbing as it is with a roller coaster. The only difference is that with climbing, it’ll be your buddy that’s got your back. They’ll be holding your rope, loosening it or tightening it whenever you need, but always ready to catch you when you fall.

That’s what belay devices are for. The rope runs through them in a U-shape so that you can lock it in place if the climber falls. That’s how you catch them.

Without a belay device, you’d burn your hands trying to catch the rope manually. Besides, you’d never get even close to enough grip to hold someone’s entire body weight – and that’s still true even if they weren’t falling.

So, anyway, the point is that falling shouldn’t be dangerous if you’re doing everything right. Falls can happen at any time, but you’ll always be ready for them whenever they do happen.

What Should a Beginner Do if They’re Scared of Falling?

What I’d recommend is that you try indoor bouldering first, before you go on to any sort of climbing that has ropes, harnesses and all that.

“What? You mean there’s a kind of climbing that doesn’t use ropes? Surely that’d make it worse.”

Well, here’s the thing. Indoor bouldering has a limited height to it. You can never get high enough for falling to be dangerous if you land on your feet and bend your legs.

Of course, if it weren’t for the bouldering mats that line the floor wall-to-wall, it’d be pretty boring since the height would be too limited. As it stands, you can get a height in bouldering that feels really high up, but is actually safe to fall from.

Over the course of several sessions, falling now and then, you get used to it. Suddenly, falling isn’t quite so scary anymore.

You still get that roller coaster-like adrenaline rush that I was talking about earlier. However, the important thing is that you can now take a fall when you need to. It’s something you don’t worry about anymore, because you know what to expect, and you know everything will be alright if you land properly.

My top tip for dealing with falls while you’re getting started with bouldering is to look at the floor and be mindful of your legs as soon as you feel yourself slipping off the wall.

If you stayed looking up, you’d get caught off guard and land on the ground before you’re ready. That means landing unevenly or not even landing on your feet. Ouch.

As long as you’re ready for the fall, you’ll be able to take it just fine. Looking down and being aware of your legs as soon as you slip off lets you prepare for landing on your feet properly and bending your knees as you land.

Outdoor bouldering requires a little bit more finesse since you can only bring so many mats with you. However, if you’re looking to get some crash mats to have a go at outdoor bouldering, then everything you need to know is in this article here.