May 7 > Prisms

Chris > Prisms: Still can't smear, I'm comfortable with the heel hook though. The last time I was whining a bit about the air pocket under my heel while wearing Five Ten shoes and how I didn't like heel hooking with them. With the new design, there is less of a pocket in the heel cup and you can get a better feel of the rock (or hold). If I ever get another pair, I'll go up to a full size smaller and I'm willing to bet that I could get my heel snug into the heel cup. Now on to my first statement: I still can't smear. That might be a little harsh, but the shoes really aren't doing well with my advantage as a climber, the high step. I'll high step every chance I get and I just can't seem to get my foot to stick on those little round footholds. The other thing that I'm not comfortable with (in these shoes anyways) is running your feet up the wall. I figure that the shoes would loosen up a bit and would make the shoe better in time but right now its not the case. They still feel like they did when I first stepped into them. Five Ten has been working on a new rubber compound, Stealth Onyxx, and it seems to be a stiffer more durable rubber but I think it effects the grip of the shoe.

5th May > Anasazi LV's

EVE > Anasazi LV: Inside, outside, hot cold, wet and dry, I have now been in all kinds of conditions with the Anasazi from 5.10 and finally, they fit nicely enough to commit to climbs for more than 30 seconds! Of course, the problem with that is that it means that the buggers have stretched and are therefore at risk of more stretching and then they might become loose but I will tackle that when/if we get to it. In the mean time, I am finally appreciating the shoes I got for their worth.
Lately, I've been outdoors and in Quebec this time of year things are still fairly wet (If not the climb itself then at least its surroundings) and I found that even after some mossy spotting and with wet rubber, the grip offered by the Stealth rubber is not bad at all! I mean it's no crazy glue but if the rock is fairly dry, a muddy sole still gives you a fairly confident stickiness. The sole underneath where my big toe usually is is starting to show some wear but on the rest of the foot you can still see the original vertical marks and the "stealth C4" is still readable. Despite my pulling on them so hard because they were tight, none of the stitching has gave out yet. The inside stitching also hasn't come undone leaving no unusual marks on my feet. Even the velcro straps, which I admittedly haven't been all that nice with, have yet to show weak points!
All and all these are satisfying all around shoes. Not the most aggressive shoe for bouldering but the toe is pointy enough for precision placement of your feet. For cracks on the other hand, its gold! ...and the quest for more on the Anasazi rocks on....

4th May > Projects

Noodles > Projects / Guides: I've been back in town for less than an hour and i'm already locked to the PC again.
Myself and Eve headed off to the country for the weekend, usual stuff, being at one with mother nature and drinking some beer... just chilling... little did we know what would happen, and what we would find.

The details are sketchy because that's the way we're going to keep them for a while but we found rock, lots of rock. Virgin rock, unbolted and unclimbed, and no we won't tell you where until we bolt it and then get some FA's (First assents) on the stuff!

Guidewise, I was worried that because of the lack of ventilation and the weather getting hotter that the shoes were causing a dry skin problem between my toes. So I didn't wear them for a bit and then took them away this weekend... no problems, some of the rock was wet / mossy / covered in crap or all three and the Guides never slipped once, and we were climbing some pretty sketchy stuff. Impressed? I continue to be, the shoes are covered in mud but are still performing well.

Projects: Well the Pojects got me a FA or a route called CHR (yeah... Climbing Hold review), it's only a V3 and took less than a total of two hours to get up (not including the cleaning).
If the shoes had been stiffer and less sensitive I don't think I could have felt the small footholds that I was standing on!! Here's the route and my smiley face going for the slap to the top out:

Overall the sensitive nature of these shoes helped me, from being able to smear on NOTHING for the start to being able to tell me my foot was on something that I couldn't see when my feet were under the bulge of the rock. I nabbed a FA of something that is likely V3, so my weekend is pretty well complete! All the CHR team has to do now is go and bolt the other three crags that have never been climbed upon... I think there will be a lot of updates once we head on up there again.

(Oh yeah, the top our is on the left of the picture, I took the harder way out, rather than a mantle onto the moss covered face :P)