Friday glee is a shoe geek

[rydra_wong]

The Friday post of glee is where you get to tell us about your climbing-related happiness this week.

It can be a new achievement or adventure, or just that you climbed and had fun; it can be that your favourite climbing wall is expanding or that you bought new rock shoes or that you found a cool ice-climbing vid on YouTube. No glee is too small -- or too big. Members are encouraged to cheer each other on and share the squee.

N.B. Please feel free to post your glee on any day of the week; the Friday glee is just to get the ball rolling.

To enhance this week's glee: Ben Harnden on Sonnie Trotter’s Family Man, 5.14b.

(Side note: I always respect a narrow-footed guy who’s not afraid to wear the “women’s” version of a shoe if they fit better. One of my climbing wall acquaintances is currently rocking the women’s Solutions despite their pink tie-dye colouring.)

Comments

[naath]

My shoes are purple, which is obviously awesome ;-p I have wide feet, but only size 5, so men's shoes generally don't come small enough.

[rydra_wong]

Purple is indeed awesome! Mercifully, I love purple and teal, because those seem to be the default colours for Women's Gear when it's not actually pink (which is mostly severely not-me).

The Toast had a good article on this recently: http://the-toast.net/2016/04/05/womens-outdoor-gear/

It's particularly odd with shoes, because the overlap in fit seems to be considerable. Which I imagine is why some brands are now going for having a "low volume" model rather than a "women's" one, and less overtly-gendered colours/patterns.

But the women's Solutions are determinedly PINK AS FUCK WOW THAT'S SOME PINK/BLACK SWIRLY TIE-DYE THERE WHY WHY WHY.

Mind you, with the Genius they seem to have committed to the "wearing parrots on your feet" look, so possibly someone at La Sportiva just has a really interesting individual aesthetic.

[naath]

I'm short, curvy, and have tiny feet... I'm mostly just happy that I *can* buy a women's fit rucksack even if it is (ugh) pink, but it would be so nice if "women's fit" things came in other colours! That toast article is great.

[wpadmirer]

I have the opposite problem. I wear an 8 but my feet are very, very narrow. So most shoes have too much material in the toe for me! I'm glad you found a pair that worked, and purple is a fantastic color.

I bought a man's harness because I really hate pink, and fortunately I'm middling tall and it works.