if anyone cares to rec their favourite shoes that would be awesome.
All recs are subject to the caveat that you have to find a shoe that fits your particular foot shape; there's a lot of individual variation, so a shoe can be wonderful and awesome and still not right for you.
That said, I started with a pair of Evolv Elektras, which worked really well for me; other people like the Evolv Defys (which are the same shoe but wider; the Elektra is the narrower "women's" model). They're unusually comfy, and very soft and sensitive -- not so good if you want to do precision edging later on, but great for being able to feel exactly where your foot is on the hold, which helps with learning good footwork.
But pretty much every climbing shoe manufacturer has a good beginner-to-intermediate shoe (or several) in their range, and they'll generally be the cheapest ones. So there are a lot of options.
no subject
All recs are subject to the caveat that you have to find a shoe that fits your particular foot shape; there's a lot of individual variation, so a shoe can be wonderful and awesome and still not right for you.
That said, I started with a pair of Evolv Elektras, which worked really well for me; other people like the Evolv Defys (which are the same shoe but wider; the Elektra is the narrower "women's" model). They're unusually comfy, and very soft and sensitive -- not so good if you want to do precision edging later on, but great for being able to feel exactly where your foot is on the hold, which helps with learning good footwork.
But pretty much every climbing shoe manufacturer has a good beginner-to-intermediate shoe (or several) in their range, and they'll generally be the cheapest ones. So there are a lot of options.