Friday glee fangirls the Stone Monkey

[rydra_wong]

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

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, we are kicking it old school: Al Harris and Henry Barber on the classic sea cliff route, A Dream of White Horses. And Barber and Pete Livesey on Liberator.

In other news, Johnny Dawes is still more hardcore than you. He's been semi-retired from doing hard stuff for a while, but now seems to be making a comeback with a vengeance. Here's a fine photo of him blowing away everyone at the Castle.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

Ooh, what shoes are you planning to get?

Yes, I am a (climbing) shoe geek, I freely admit it.

[wpadmirer]

La Sportiva Tarantulas. I've been told they're perfect for me by the people at my gym who watch me climb all the time. So I'm going to try them. It'll be my first shoe with an aggressive toe. I've been in basic Evolv beginner shoes since I started climbing about two years ago.

[rydra_wong]

Nifty! I haven't tried those, but La Sportiva make some lovely shoes.

And the gist of the online reviews seems to be "comfy, but with a bit of an aggressive toe". Which is a nice combination if you can get it.

If the Tarantula doesn't suit you, another La Sportiva shoe that a lot of people love is the Katana -- it's a bit asymmetrical and a bit downturned, but not so much that it doesn't work as an all-round shoe.

[wpadmirer]

I've looked at the Katana, but I have trouble with shoes that have a downturn. I've got bone spurs on the bottoms of both big toe joints. Downturned shoes really aggravate the hell out of those. (sigh) So I'm hoping that I can get by with an aggressive toe!

[rydra_wong]

Bodies! Why must they be so unco-operative?

But yeah, in that case, "asymmetrical but flat" sounds like the thing to aim for.