Are Top-End Climbing Shoes Worth The Money? | City Bloc

‣ How well can you toe-hook on a 70° wall wearing trainers or hire shoes?
‣ Which top-end shoes perform best when standing on edges or smearing?
Find out, as Ben Meeks puts 5 contrasting climbing shoes to the test in a variety of different scenarios to experiment which perform the best. Watch till the end to find out which shoes came out on top and which were consistently not-so-good.
Shoes include:
👟 La Sportiva Solution Comp
👟 La Sportiva Theory
👟 Scarpa Chimera
👟 La Sportiva TX2 Approach Shoes
👟 La Sportiva Tarantula Hire Shoes
As featured at the beginning
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[@hannahmorrisbouldering]

Have really been enjoying the vlogs. Definitely making me miss City Bloc!

[@cityblocleeds]

Thanks Hannah, we enjoy your content too! 26 Days and counting

[@wd4413]

Am I sensing a collab? 👀

[@camperhonsa8633]

I think the takeaway from this video should be to never trust a man who climbs with socks in his climbing shoes.

[@moimoi2454]

the opinion of a beginner in socks and shoes that are probably too big.....realy interesting vidéo ;)

[@provuksmc6619]

I think the smearing test was compromised by your ability to keep balance. It was not visible for me that you slipped with either one.

[@guustvanuden2968]

it was complete bullshit. he had other technique with the rental shoes. did not stand close to the edge and had his ankles high

[@asdzt123]

@@guustvanuden2968 Absolutely, he needed to stand closer to the edge. He did it with some shoes but not with all. Same with the heel hooking, the foot was too vertical. I'd trust this test with a top climber who would perform the same movements to the milimeter and with perfect technique.

[@ChrisMadd96]

awesome vid!!!!

[@alexnunez4019]

Thanks for the video!

[@andrewscott5059]

I think that this video highlights a misconception about top end climbing shoes that so many people have: just because it's the most expensive doesn't mean it's meant to be the best for everything. A great example of this would be the Scarpa Boostic, of which lends itself to no indoor problem I've ever seen. That's because it's entirely designed for tiny footholds and precision edging. Holds that necessitate these incredibly precise edging monsters are difficult/impossible to produce, and the cost of a stiffer shoe with stiffer rubber is a loss in sensitivity and flexion. For those reasons, the Boostic would fall on its face in nearly the entire testing suite. When looking at high end shoes, they tend to become specialized for particular styles of rock and holds, because no shoe can truly do well in everything. When looking at these high performance shoes then (in this lineup, theorys, solution comps and chimeras would all qualify), we shouldn't look at them as "oh how do these 3 work on all types of climbing?", and should instead look at them as "what's their intended use case, and how much better are they than a utility shoe on the same problems?". The Theorys are designed for 3d compy climbing with tons of toes, heels, and big smeary volumes. The Solution comps are made for a similar market, but with a slightly stiffer midsole (and more downturn for that matter), and longer indoor routes like sport competitions in mind as well. Solutions were also made with hard overhanging route climbing in mind. The Chimeras however, were never meant as comp shoes, and instead are made for hard outdoor bouldering (specifically when a softer shoe is needed, like on roof routes and big overhangs). There wasn't a single stiff performance shoe in this roundup, which is maybe good, because they would fail hilariously even though they're incredibly good shoes on their own merit. When I say utility shoe, I mean a shoe that wasn't purpose built like the more specialized shoes, but instead was made with all climbing styles and purposes in mind. The vapor family from scarpa would be a good example of these shoes. They aren't the best on any single style, and they make sacrifices to their own performance in shorter routes to ensure they're useable on longer multipitch routes. With all that said, they also don't have many glaring weaknesses. you can use them on any angle of climbing and not suffer as a result. You can put them on for a 10 ft boulder or a 1000 ft multipitch all the same. Their heel hook/toe hooking isn't the best of the best, but it'll get the job done. When it came to heel hooking, it looks like you preferred stiffer heels. The problem here is that this partially comes down to personal preference, but also technique, as soft and stiff heels have different techniques of usage for different kinds of heel hooks. The heel on something like a five ten team is incredibly different than the heel on a solution, and they have different niches/uses. The bulbous, stiff heel of the solution is great when you've got a ton of sharp edges you're hooking on, while softer heels like the team's allow for more sensitivity and surface area on large slopers. A great example of a specialized heel is the Mad Rock Drone, which boasts an edged heel, perfect for when you want a little bit more power from a marginal heel on a small edge. They would likely fail the test presented here though, as the cost for having this edge is a drastic decrease in the surface area applied to more clean heel hooks on large surfaces. That isn't to say that the Drone heel is bad, in fact it's probably one of my favorite heels on any shoe I've ever climbed in. It really just demonstrates the point that this test is too low dimension to be useful in the varied and complex activity we call climbing. Were you to put all sorts of high end shoes into this test, you'd come out with soft, indoor specific shoes as the winners, and likely have the theorys out in front because it seems clear that the la sportiva lasts fit you pretty well. For people who are indoor gym rats and are purely interested in indoor bouldering, this type of shoe might very well be what they want (provided the last fits them). For anybody else, this testing criteria will fall short in at least one large way. For example, I climb a lot on granite, where you often want much stiffer shoes to get power on little tiny crystals. Cool idea for a video, but I don't really think that it was clear enough about what you were testing, and it seems generally misleading to ascribe winners in this test as anything but solid indoor shoes.

[@d3RrRp]

I think it is up to taste a lot. I have been granite bouldering and Theorys have been my go-to shoe. My approach to small footholds is to smedge as my footwork is not clean enough to get much out of tiny edges, so soft shoes serve me well. Re fit, the Theory are built on a more asymetrical and downturned last (PD85) than the Solution (PD75), so people who find one comfortable may not like the other. My favorite "stiffer" shoe is the Genius, which is also on the same last as the Theory, they both just fit my foot very well. Solutions and Futuras on the other hand don't fit as well and I need a more extreme downsize to get my big toe crimped up, which makes the shoe unbearably painful for the rest of my toes.

[@stuartkimberleydunning4709]

Perfectly timed video! I am planning on upgrading my tarantulas and was leaning toward the Theory and this has pretty much made my mind up!

[@cityblocleeds]

Would you look at that - glad to hear you found it useful!

[@Chris-de2qc]

Cool video

[@DiegoGonzalez-ei8qu]

Cool test

[@phillipkapudija3861]

You can see with the smear your foot work with the first shoe was the most beginner part of that test. The feet came closer to the wall with the hire shoes putting off balance and the heals were kept high, which is bad for a smear.

[@PO53286G]

What make etc are the trainers?

[@cityblocleeds]

They're the Womens La Sportiva TX2

[@andreaf3446]

its not a good test to be honest. there is some fine details how you did the same test but with different way each shoes. on heel hook test Your palm position when u reach the top is way different between solution and Theory and the others. with solution you did it more at the highest and straight angle whereas with other shoes u did it slightly to the left , angled and lower position. its normal , when i climb i feel like on the same route , i always did it different way each time

[@AlexHamilton86]

What's in the top secret area?!?!?!

[@cityblocleeds]

All will be revealed soon Alex!

[@ChrisMadd96]

Im dying to know :O Circuit board?????????