Shoe Shopping

I went shoe shopping recently and found myself the perfect rock climbing shoes! The shoes I've had in the past seem to just come to me...easy acquisitions. I would often just borrow them for short times when I needed to climb or I was at an REI garage sale and happened upon a cheap pair that seemed to fit alright. I was getting in to rock climbing more and more and I've always wanted a pair that I would really love. A good pair of climbing shoes that works well with your feet can work miracles on your climbing accomplishments. This is how it happened.

Patience

I was living in Cleveland and there was no really choices available. There was just one little climbing gym that didn't offer much selection. I was toying with the idea of getting some online, but they really need to fit perfect and need to be tried on if you're going to invest so much in them. I did the best with what I had...and made it work but waited until I went to West Virginia for better selection.

Desirable Attributes

With so many pairs on the rack, I began first by how they look and how I thought they would work with my style of climbing (I couldn't get a really flexible bouldering shoe with all the route climbing I do). I can't have a pink shoe or laces-they take too long to put on. So I weeded out most of the shoes through rapid cognition mostly and thinking about others for a sec.

Cost

The next thing I looked at was cost. How much of my time at work (where my cash comes from) am I willing to put in for these things. I decided that this would only factor in if all things else were equal (not likely).

Research

Before buying I made sure the shoe had good ratings...I didn't want to rush into this purchase so I used my handy-dandy iPhone to find out more about the shoes I was interested in. I've been burned for not doing this with past purchases. That effort is worth its weight in gold! (if effort weighed a lot).

Fit and Function

The last and most important step involves trying the shoe on and trying it out. Most shoes I could put 'em on for a second and know they're not right, but a select few I had to actually try them out on the indoor climbing wall before knowing. I must have had 9 boxes of shoes...all my size that passed the selection criteria above to try on. I was supremely disappointed when a great pair of shoes that I tried on was so perfect until I tried them out on the indoor wall and my heel would not stay down when on my toes. That just would not do.

My Perfect Shoes

The pair that won me over passed all the previous criteria, but blew them all out of the water when I tried them out. I actually didn't know everything that I wanted when I knew I wanted climbing shoes. I learned a lot about my specific needs from those shoes that didn't quite make it. When I tried out the 5.9 Anastazi, there was something different...they just fit so well around my heel and in the toe while I was up on the wall. My ability instantly improved! After a couple minutes I did notice they were not perfect. In fact there was a pressure point right by my ankle. It wasn't bad though, but I bought them knowing they weren't perfect.

What Changed?

I thought they weren't perfect at least. It turned out that after a couple climbs they became perfect! I don't know if the soft spot below my ankle toughened up or if the shoe molded to my foot--they became the perfect match.