Eve: Shoes... I like shoes! Ain't that typical! Anywho, I wasn't gonna let these babies sit there and gather chalk dust so I used them. Note that they are 3.5UK which is half a size smaller then any shoes I've had and therefore they are VERY tight and slightly painful. Although, mind you, not as painful as my Sirens when I got them, and now I can wear those with socks if I want to. For now though... I have to make a point to remove the Anasazi pair when I'm not climbing cause I can't keep them on for more then like 30 minutes at a time. Physically, they are very pretty. Light colored and simple and not too feminine, which I like. As for velcros, well it makes it a lot easier and quicker to put on and remove the shoes and I guess I won't snap laces anymore! Also, they are so fitted that I don't think I'll have to worry about that
for a while.It is the end of semester time for me and therefore I was only able to boulder twice for a couple of hours this week. First noticeable difference with my old shoes is how sensitive these are. I can feel EVERYTHING and can now use footholds I never would have dreamt of trusting before. It almost feels like I'm climbing barefooted. It is still debatable though if it's the rubber that is so nice or the fact that they are so tight. I have been kicking the wall more though, and I honestly don't know if that has to do with the shoes or the fact that it's St-Patrick's week and my gauges might be a little off ;).
Then we set a 40 move bouldering route (cause I'm surrounded by nutcases) and after a few times around (no I didn't finish it) I had to revert to my shhhh-kickers because it was too much, too long and became painful. Can't wait to try gym routes! So I put the Anasazi down for the night when I noticed inside the hieroglyph-like patterns. This led the dork that I am to look up this random fact (thank you Wiki): Anasazi stands for "ancient enemy" in the Navajo language and is the name of an ancient native American people who lived in the 'Four Corners' area of the US around 1200BC.
Conclusion, new shoes are not comfortable but allow for amazing precision work. At least the heel doesn't slide!
Noodles: Ah where to start? The fit of the shoes is great for me, no problems; but I found that during the session when I'd been wearing them for a while that I'd get the "farting" noise that we all know and love when I was walking about. Easily fixed, all I did was pull the shoes on tighter and then the sound went away :P (You've got to love sweaty feet and climbing shoes!!)
At first I was worried about the down turned toes and the super thin rubber on the sole of the shoe; Would my feet be strong enough?; Will it hurt too much?; Are the shoes going to bag out like most velcros that I've had? Well, they are sensitive, about 200 times more sensitive than say the Anasazi's I've had, or even the Evolv Pontas, but I'm finding them no so bad that I cannot stand on holds or move my feet as I like. The real test will be over the weekend when I'm setting at the gym after a session, I'm not going to set in the shoes, I'll use my Guides, but I will be fore running in the Projects, so you can probably expect some photos over the weekend on that stuff.
What is nice, is the shoes aren't stiff... so I'm in a whole new climbing world (as I climb in stiffer shoes most of the time), and I'm using my toes like big monkey paws to grips holds :) Another thing that I'm surprised about is the heel cups, normally when I get a pair of shoes (especially 5.10's) I've always had a problem with my achilles getting nailed by the back of the shoe, these seem to be lower than normal and I didn't feel any pain... which is a big plus as I've heard some people complain about the Jet 7's and this exact problem. So far so good, tonight they'll get onto some micros holds on overahangs, and will get to do some fore running, should be interesting!
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