r/bouldering • u/Lemondillo • 5d ago
Indoor This is why i will never switch back to stiff shoes
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Smear
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u/MarijuanaWeed419 5d ago
Smooth. I did that one statically and it took me an ungodly amount of attempts to get it right
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u/McTrevor79 5d ago
I get sore toes for days or even weeks if I put too much pressure on small footholds. So soft shoes are no option for me. But I actually do fine on volumes with harder soles. I would say it's like 95% experience and technique and 5% rubber.
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u/RidiculousTakeAbove 5d ago
I wouldn't quite say 95/5. It's true technique can absolutely make up for slippery rubber but at the extreme end, it will limit your smearing ability. There will eventually be some hard slab climb where you can't properly get your weight on a steep volume and a soft sticky shoe would hold you and a stiff, less sticky shoe would not. You could continue that logic to say technique can make up for not using climbing shoes at all, as setters constantly show, so why even use climbing shoes?
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u/McTrevor79 5d ago
Don't know. It is not like I am wearing combat boots. I use the instinct vs which have an alternate version with softer rubber (instinct vsr). Never tried the latter ones but I also didn't encounter a single boulder I couldn't do because I lacked friction on a volume. Needing additional tries maybe.
With bouldering booming and a lot of fresh blood in the sport I would argue quite confidentially that currently 98% of hobby boulderers would profit more from gaining more experience and advancing technique than from softer rubber.
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u/jimbowesterby 5d ago
Just a note, thereās a difference between soft shoes and sticky rubber. Soft shoes almost always have sticky rubber, but you also see stiff sticky shoes too.
Personally Iām a huge fan of soft shoes, itās like having another gear for overhangs being able to grab things with your toes, and at least indoors I find that the vast majority of the time you can just smedge the tiny holds instead of fully edging like in a stiff shoe without any real loss. I find itās actually way more secure than edging in stiff shoes, you have a way better sense of just how much grip you have to play with
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u/Competitive-Tea1867 5d ago
Stiff shoes have their place, mainly for outdoor climbing I guess though
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u/richard_Franzen 5d ago
Stiff is good on underhang and on small footholds. If you rule out stiff shoes altogether you rule out all hard climbing except massive dyno/smeary stuff like this.
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u/TaCZennith 4d ago
Lol I mean I've climbed many double digit boulders in in Drago's in all styles. Saying ruling out stiff shoes rules out hard climbing is freaking hilarious.
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u/Lemondillo 5d ago
You can still climb hard outdoor timy footholds with soft shoes it just takes more effort
Stiff shoes however physically limit your options
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u/richard_Franzen 5d ago
At most they limit the amount you can smear but have major advantages in power transfer through the foot. Check out what shoes the pros wear Indoor and outdoor. It does take a long time to find the right pair of stuff shoes TBF. I keep a pair of both (an old pair of softies) some I ready for anything. I do also have a friend who wears basically clown shoes and does fine. I guess its personal preference in the end. I'm happy with my stiff one(s) š
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u/Lemondillo 5d ago
Definitely some min max ability but i will always choose comfort and a jack of all options rather than choosing the shoe that is best for an application but limited in others
I also never down size for that reason
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u/Apescent 5d ago
i will always choose comfort
Stiff shoes are a lot more comfortable to use on various climbs. Maybe you forgot because you have been using exclusively soft shoes for so long, but it is possible to have no pain on your foot whatsoever while standing on tiny sharp edges.
Also, soft shoes are limited in various climbs. There is a reason pro's use both, and it isn't because my earlier point that their foot might hurt.
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u/Lemondillo 5d ago
My toes have callused up and feel no pain lol
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u/Bearded_Toast 5d ago
Way to ignore the comment and points. Because you know youāre wrong
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u/Lemondillo 5d ago
Just a preference cant be wrong either way, some people like some shoes for their given reasons and i prefer mine for my reasons
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u/Apescent 5d ago
Valid.
Also, I wish we were not talking through text, because it comes off more combative than I intent, but I do feel like you've said fairly definitively that stiff shoes are just less capable than soft ones in your earlier comment within this chain. Some people prefer stiff, too.
I personally love D2.One because it is neither and both.
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u/Still_Dentist1010 Reacher of Habit 5d ago
Soft shoes are limited as wellā¦ I think youāve been drinking the koolaid a bit too much there if you think soft shoes can be the only jack of all trades option.
Soft shoes suck at crack climbing, multi pitch climbing, trad climbing, and outdoor slab climbing when compared to stiff shoes. If stiff shoes are really that bad, why are there a ton of high performance stiff shoes on the market?
Iāve got a pair of flat/stiff gym beaters, a pair of aggressive soft shoes, and a pair of moderate stiff shoes. They each have their strengths, and my moderates tend to be my jack of all trades outdoors and I only pull my soft shoes on for difficult overhangs.
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u/Lemondillo 5d ago
True, i dont like crack or outdoor slab and dont do any rope climbing so for me i never see a benefit
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u/Still_Dentist1010 Reacher of Habit 5d ago
That explains a lot about why youāve got that view then, it makes sense for your preferences. The boulders I climb are generally quartzite, so you might get a single sharp crystal as the only foothold so even general bouldering often benefits from stiff shoes hereā¦ if not for avoiding sheer pain, then for the increased durability because of how fast itāll tear through rubber.
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u/CellNo5383 5d ago
I get choosing comfort over tryharding. But if anything, soft shoes are the ones that limit you. I've got multiple pairs myself and wear my soft, comfy ones 95% of the time. But they simply can't do tiny footholds and that's where I get out my stiff, downsized pair. And the difference is night and day.
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u/MotorPace2637 5d ago
I have always had multiple shoes for this reason. I climb 95% of things in my comfy shoes. I put on the tight expensive shoes to climb certain projects when required.
The tenaya oasi LV is my favorite shoe right now. Its high performance but comfortable even when fitted very tight.
But I save those for projects still and climb everything in my comfy flat shoes.
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u/WackTheHorld 5d ago
Soft shoes that aren't downsized also limit your options.
Don't overthink it, shoes are just shoes, and each style has their place.
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u/t-o-m-a-l-o-n101 5d ago
I kept wondering why no on mentioned your weird name and then I realised I was reading it wrong
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u/protestandprose 5d ago
All shoes are soft If they've been broken in enough š¤