We all know that feeling you just finished a climb and taken off those stinky sweaty shoes and your up on belay. You usually have two choices slip on the approach shoes or rock the barefoot. With the range of dingy rocky quarries and middle of buttfuck nowhere that climbing spots seem to grace I like most, tend to opt for slipping on the approach boots without tying the laces like in the picture above.
While quick it’s not really very practical as no one wants to trip on laces while belaying or ruin the arches of their boots not to mention these are probably sweaty from the hike approach anyway.
But you might be left wondering what’s the alternative?
Alternatives
While it might sound like a joke one of the best belay shoes are Crocs. Don’t worry that’s not a typo these slip on’s make amazing shoes to belay in. They are easy to put on and are extremely comfy.
While you won’t get style points for turning up to the crag with a pair of crocs hanging off a beener you will get a much easier time belaying.
The croc allows for easy slip ons and slip offs along with providing a little bit of toe protection which is always welcome.
Great for wandering around the crag and due to having no fabric it’s super easy to clean after a day climbing as you can just hose them down and they are good as new.
Sandals – The Fools Mistake
While you might see the croc and be like hey sandals are similar Ill wear those instead! This is what we call the fools mistake.
As you can see you cant slip on a sandal and that’s where the big difference lies After you finish a route you need easy access to belay shoes, not fiddley straps!
More importantly, most sandals offer no toe coverage which makes them vastly inferior to the might croc.
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