April 9th: Anasazi LV

EVE Sorry I'm late folks, but I'm done school now so I can concentrate on climbing again!
So it was 4 am but I got my first gym route in on the Anasazi. It was a route full of long stretches and balance moves. I conclude that smearing on these shoes is a breeze. The rubber is very sticky and I felt confident putting my weight on.... Well nothing! I had to stop on the way up because my toes were getting numb though.
About the fit: I have been mentioning that these shoes were incredibly tight when I got them. Well, this lack of flexibility has forced me to fit my foot in the shoe with a twist the such that my big toe is nicely wedged at the tip. This does allow me to climb for a little longer despite the discomfort and it also gives rise to a very careful footwork with a sensitivity I'm getting used to and appreciating. These shoes are so responsive to the climber's demand that I was almost insulted by my first foot slip!
Despite the tightness in length, I find that my heel doesn't always stay at the bottom of the shoe unless I tie the velcro up super tight.
An interesting feature of the shoes that is worth mentioning are the distinct angles found on the inner side of the toe. The two distinct position you can comfortably put your weight on allows for more trusty options.
Soon, we're going outdoors. :D Lets see the rubber holds its own against reel rock!

7th April: Prisms

Chris: I've had the Prisms for three weeks now and it took me awhile to get used to the stiffer rand on the shoes. I've been doing a lot of bouldering in the past year and my last pair of shoes have the aggresive down turned toe, are thin as hell and are so tight I still have problems getting them on. The Prisms are on the other end of the shoe spectrum and my feet are quite pleased with my new aquisition. So it was off to the boulder comp last weekend and I packed both shoes just in case.

I had a couple of sessions on our home wall and down at the gym but I was still getting used to the stiff rand which is why I brought my other pair of shoes. It turned out that I wore the Prisms through most of the competition! Where the shoes excel is climbing routes, you don't feel the holds under your feet (something else I need to get accustomed to) and they'll stick to the smallest foot holds without any worries. The shoes come with the new faceted edge technology that Five Ten developed and it makes a big difference when backstepping and using your outside edge, trust me , this isn't a marketing gimmick, I've tried using some of my other shoes on the same climbs and I feel the difference with the faceted shoes. My Prisms have done three weeks of climbing with some wear and tear (the tip of the toe is starting to come unglued) but I've been pretty happy with the way they perform.

6th April: Guides and Projects

Noodles > Guides: The weather has been pretty bad around here of late, so the Guides have be sloshing through puddles and generally getting abused one way or another.
What I found interesting was that in the rain the shoe sticks to painted lines in the road or on the sidewalk without too much trouble... but on say a marble tiled floor or just a tiled floor they don't grip at all! How do I know? Running for the metro I was a little too slow and the doors closed, so I had to stop... which ended up being a slide into the side of the train.

So once I picked myself up I ran up and down the platform skidding away like a five year old, then when I got close to home I did the same thing, ran down the street and then went into a skid, or should I call it a face plant? In the rain the shoes when I stopped very quickly didn't slide they stuck to the sidewalk and pitched me over. Intrigued by this I dropped Isaac a quick message to give him the heads up and he mentioned that these shoes pictured (The Freerunner V2's) apparently stick to marble and tile floors better than the Guides, something I'm not sure about as the only apparent difference as far as I can make out between the shoes is this:






a slight imprint on the tread of the rubber. I was thinking what difference is this going to make on a marble floor?? The answer: The Freerunners have Mystique Rubber and the Guides have Stealth C4 rubber.

So in conclusion: if you're running from the cops (for instance) and you're going to be crossing polished floors I'd grab the Freerunners V2. If you're kicking at the crag get the Guides... looks like I've got to get another pair of shoes for in town, I want to test the differences and see how they slide!

Projects:

Despite getting on with these shoes pretty well, I've got one small beef...

Nothing major, just a niggle I noticed when I was climbing on Tuesday night when I took my shoes off at the end of the night...


The inside vents dig into my instep and after a while really start to leave marks and make my feet ache. Other than that, I've worn them all of the sessions I've climbed and I've not ruined them yet!