Well, you're generally going to climb a lot worse barefoot than you will in trainers, even.
You need the relative stiffness of a climbing shoe to let you transfer your body weight through the very tip or edge of your foot -- basically, it's much the same reason why it's not very feasible to dance ballet en pointe barefoot.
And "sticky" rubber helps enormously with grip.
I've seen people trying to climb indoors in Vibram Fivefingers, and having a rather difficult time. There might be a few routes (maybe all-smearing slabs? and I've heard that outdoors it can work on very pocket-y limestone) where it'd work. And if your gym permits, barefoot climbing could be interesting to try a few times as an experiment.
But generally, it's not going to be optimal for climbing.
I feel your pain because I greatly prefer being barefoot, too; if I'm not indoors and actually barefoot, I wear "barefoot" minimalist shoes, and they've done wonders for my comfort levels (and helped ward off some nasty knee problems).
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You need the relative stiffness of a climbing shoe to let you transfer your body weight through the very tip or edge of your foot -- basically, it's much the same reason why it's not very feasible to dance ballet en pointe barefoot.
And "sticky" rubber helps enormously with grip.
I've seen people trying to climb indoors in Vibram Fivefingers, and having a rather difficult time. There might be a few routes (maybe all-smearing slabs? and I've heard that outdoors it can work on very pocket-y limestone) where it'd work. And if your gym permits, barefoot climbing could be interesting to try a few times as an experiment.
But generally, it's not going to be optimal for climbing.
I feel your pain because I greatly prefer being barefoot, too; if I'm not indoors and actually barefoot, I wear "barefoot" minimalist shoes, and they've done wonders for my comfort levels (and helped ward off some nasty knee problems).
But for climbing, climbing shoes.