shoes

[niqaeli]

I have some questions about shoes. I'm pretty sure if I go digging through the community, I can get find recommendations on an affordable initial pair of shoes because rentals are, um, disgusting and not conducive to me wanting to go climbing -- but if anyone cares to rec their favourite shoes that would be awesome.

Relatedly, though, how long do you expect an initial pair of shoes to last? I mean obviously that's going to be affected by how often you're going climbing, but ballpark estimates? Are you more likely to wear through them before needing a new pair for other reasons (ie, needing a more technical shoe, or having gone down in size)? If you're climbing outdoors rather than at a gym does that tend to make a difference in the wear? If climbing outdoors, does the type of rock you tend to climb make a difference in the wear?

These questions are brought to you by the letter M, the number 4, general curiousity, and also fic research. :P

Comments

[juliet]

Not sure about 'expect to last', but my shoes are a couple of years old now & still going strong. I've gone climbing once or twice a week for most of that time (with a couple of breaks due to injury/illness), but almost entirely indoors & mostly bouldering. They are my first shoes, though, so I have no idea what's normal! They're Red Chilli but I can't find the same ones on their website (possibly they've changed the range / the look of those shoes in the last 2 yrs :) ).