March 19th: Projects & Anasazi LV

Tuesday night was the first session where we all had a chance to get to grips with our test shoes for the first time, the session was about 4 hours long with people climbing for most of the night... the highlight: the 40 move monster route that was created...

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!

17th March: Guide Tennie... the last three weeks

Noodles: Now that the snow has finally cleared I can get my Guides out, I've had them since before Xmas and they've been out a few times in the snow and on the ice. But first I'll tell you a story!

Way back in the day when I was in Florida I had a pair of these:And I used them all summer long, just for skydiving, they lasted a good long time through skid landings, out drinking, crashing into fences and general hoonery that is me with a parachute on my back. They did die though, and they died a nasty death at the hands of the packers. You see in 40+ degree heat, cramped planes and no socks someone is going to complain when you take your shoes off and leave them in a hangar. At first they just took the shoes and left them outside and issued a warning "leave them outside"; I forgot and left them in the hangar, so the packers simply set fire to them. That was my first introduction to Five Ten's guide shoes, they lasted 6 months before they were burnt and I was sad to see them go! I still miss the buggers, RIP!

Now it's the new guides, I've worn them every day to work and out and about and the level of grip on concrete is just mental; but on ice, big sheets of ice they don't grip AT ALL... is anyone surprised? I went out one night it was icy and ended up on my ass a whole bunch; so these shoes and ice? Nope! No way, no siree, nadda; take it from me they don't grip :) I'm going to be getting the road bike out in the next few weeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the shoes grip on pedals; I ride my fixed like I stole it, to and from work five days a week, so I expect to report my shoes getting abused. We'll see how they wear!

16th March

Noodles: I gave Eve her shoes, and shes pretty happy with them, shes only ever had 5.10's and despite them being a little small (like all her shoes) shes suspects they'll stretch out over time.

I took the Projects and the Prisms out for a spin on the wall and despite the Prisms being a half size larger than my shoe size could crank them down (Got to love laces!) and could wear them and see what's up.... for me the Prisms feels like a chiseled toed version of the Anazasi's, which isn't a bad thing something that's built for small edges and micro holds! Now don't get me wrong, I have had a pair of sporting manly pink Anazasi's for a long time, multiple pairs, these seem like a more exacting version of those. The Anazasi's are a "all round" shoe in my belief, whereas the Prisms are built more for edging / micro holds... but it'll be interesting to see what's what, the Anasazi's has climbed more hard routes than any other shoe, Evolv's have had some hard ascents but that's Sharma for you he can climb in a pair of rain boots and not worry about it... I think it's a battle royale in the making; give Dave Graham a pair of Prisms someone... like NOW!

Here comes the dilemma, after climbing a little in both (Prisms and Projects) I couldn't decide which shoes I wanted to run for the test. The Prisms are stiffer and more like what I'm used to, the Projects more to what Chris does; steep walls and bouldering. I decided to leave it up to Chris when he came over to see what we'd take. He took them out for a spin and we didn't reach an overall decision; he like the Projects.. but they fit me better but are more flexible than I'm used to. I like the Prisms, they're what I know, seemingly in a different guise but they're his size (For reference we both wear the same size street and climbing shoe)

We decided to fix the problem the tried and tested way!:

Yup with Chris losing!! I've got the Projects and Chris the Prisms.
Now I can reveal one thought I had the other day when trying them....
You can feel EVERYTHING in the Projects, EVERY BLOODY THING. Those shoes are sensitive. Like holy crap I can feel what my toes are feeling sensitive! You might as well be climbing bare foot :)