The History of Climbing Shoes
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2020
- This is a brief look at the history of Climbing Shoes. A sport that hasn't been around that long has seen some serious innovations and changes to one of the most important pieces of equipment in the sport. By understanding how the shoes used in climbing changed alongside how the sport changes can give us an insight on what we can expect in the future.
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So one dude basically designed all of my favorite climbing shoes. Solutions, instincts, boosters, katanas, testarossas, vapors. So basically he's responsible for why I love La Sportiva and Scarpa. Good to know.
Jeremy Redd he is also a great climber and important figure in the history of European free climbing in the 70’ and 80’.
@Kingsley Jamal instablaster ;)
Darn him and his skinny feet (or my wide feet) becuase I love those shoes but can't fit them for long periods, pushing me towards Evolv
Darn him and his skinny feet (or my wife feet) becuase I love those shoes but can't fit them for long periods, pushing me towards Evolv
Shoe designer: How much velcro do you want on the shoe?
Mad Rock: Yes.
Haha, now they use less!
This dude makes quality videos of a multi million sub channel and only has 20 k cmon ppl 😑
Bruhmoment 57 probably because he puts so many ads in his videos... Good video, but this amount of ads makes its unwatchable
makes videos with errors lmfao
Just thought I'd add that there was a cool history of mountaineers (and early rock climbers I believe) using tennis or felt shoes on rock because their stiff boots couldn't climb rock well. These kind of softer shoes were the genesis of modern climbing shoes in a lot of ways.
I did read up a bit about the original Keds being used for mountaineering, but I couldn't find any concrete information about it. I would love to sit down from someone who lived through that era and get a really in depth look!
I think the history is also a bit different in different parts of the world. For example, in Poland and Czechoslovakia (which had a communist system at the time and they couldn't afford Western technology), there was a transition period in the 70s/80s when people would cut off the rubber 'spikes' from football/soccer shoes and glue some appropriate rubber over that part.
In an issue of alpinist magazine I read about how the first party to climb La Meije in the Hautes-Alpes of France decided to tackle the top of the mountain barefoot because it allowed them to climb the mid 5th class slabs much more easily. Maybe the original climbing shoes are our bare feet haha. Charles Albert would agree.
@@AlbertOkay You should try to contact and interview Gary Neptune, the original owner of Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder, CO. I think he still actually owns all the historical gear in the shop and knows many famous climbing company families as he has been climbing since the ‘60s (early?). I worked for him in the early 2000s and he could talk your ear off. He had felt soled shoes in his display and could definitely tell you more about all that history. TBH I haven’t been in the US since 2014 so I don’t know if he’s even still around but he was always a super friendly guy.
@@dankennedy3365 Oh man I've been to that store so many times I didn't even know he had so much historical artifacts! Thanks for the heads up, I'll go see if I can talk to him when I visit this summer!
OMG such a good video! make another one for harnesses!
For sure in the future!
@@AlbertOkay See "Ray's Red Truck", The Climbing Zine, issue XVI
You'll find it useful when doing something about harnesses and their makers.
@@AlbertOkayI’m still waiting for it man
Great video sir! Appriciate to being mentioned.
I started rock climbing 2 months ago and now Im watching vids about shoes and really enjoying them. What happened to me?
No but seriously dude, really nice video keep up the good work!
Heck yes! I'm so psyched you're starting your climbing journey and hope you keep crushing it on and off the walls!
I definitely think you should be out of the rental shoes after max 3 months. The rental shoes at my gym had zero stiffness and when I got my Tarantulaces I remember being able to flash a problem I couldn't even start in the rentals. The rentals were smooth as eggs and limp as a flour tortilla.
Yeah that would have been ordered, but at the time I couldn't afford any. Once I could I could see drastic improvement!
In our gym, the tarantulas are the rental shoes. They are horrible imo :D
@@alexanderhandjiev2845 the tarantula is a great beginners shoe. Maybe your footwork is one of your major weaknesses in climbing?
I spent 1,5 years with the tarantula and since then got stuck on the scarpa instinct which is such a great allrounder!!!
yap I also found out that my feet are super narrow so when they were giving me men's rentals, despite them being the right length, I had so much side to side play. At the least I would recommend going to an REI or something and figuring out what size actually fits you in the brand of the rental shoe. Or at that point just buy the good fitting shoe, I also picked up the tarantulaces and I've been amazed at my own growth lol
late to the party: they're probably also deformed and worn out from so many different feet.
At 14:28 you talk about Unparallel and how the creators of that are from 5.10. That isn't the exact story. Adidas bought out 5.10 and fired all the climbing shoes engineers and hired ZERO replacements. They are mainly just selling remakes of their older shoes now.
also Adidas bought the naming rights of the stealth rubber, but not the actual chemistry, which Sang Lee knows (same gut who created dark matter rubber for so ill). If anything unparallel is the old 5.10 that we all love. Quite a few pros who used to wear 5.10 have switched to unparallel, namely Tomoa Narasaki. I believe he used to be a hiangle wearer, so that makes a lot of sense.
@@cyhe66 i didn't know about the stealth rubber part thx yeah the switch makes sense.
I met with the owner briefly at a trade show and he told me some details of the departure. I wanted to go into detail about it, but thought it might be a bit too drama-y right now haha. Maybe I'll visit what happened with the owner the next time I see him!
What was the point of that? People are already complaining the replacements are poorer even.
@@alexgalays910 The point of firing all the people who had made great shoes? No idea. My *guess* is that they just didn't want to pay them and thought that developing new climbing shoes and making slight edits of older ones would be easy and they didn't need to pay people to do that for them.
I feel that the most important thing about climbing shoes, is whether or not they fit your footshape well. If Solutions feel like Adam Ondra is squeezing your forefoot while the heel constantly slips out, and yet the rental Tenaya's have no deadspots and feel good, then the latter is the better shoe for you. It's really interesting to see some Scarpa athletes switching between Instincts and Drago's, seeing as the latter is so much more narrow in the forefoot. Or Daniel Woods going from Solutions to Evolv shoes, which also tend to be much wider in front and narrow in the heel.
I had a thought about that brand switching, and I thoght maybe the company or brand that sponsors a climber has a special last modelled after the feet of that climber, so they get taylored shoes whatever the brand, and the average consumer gets the standard shoe.
I almost exclusively use evolv for the wide feet, but keep a pair of Instinct VS as project shoes, because while they hurt like hell after a while for me, they climb incredibly.
This is such a high quality and informative video. The amount of research that must have gone into this is incredible. Thank you so much for this video!
I really love and enjoy your honest, upright content! I just started this year and your beta break videos are a must for every beginner! keep crushing it :)
Great video dude. Really appreciate the effort you put into the video!
This is the first time I hear his name clearly, it's Albert "Ork" Not Albert "Okay"...
Yeah it's more close to Oak, but honestly I go by whatever. People call me Okay all the time I don't really care!
@@AlbertOkay Albert Okay sounds cool, I thought it was your own "brand" that you came up with!
Max E. $6 but go man kazoos
@@maxe.1598 it doesn't sounds good enough, just Okay
Amazing work. A huge thank you for this video and all the information it contains. Very instructive! Keep crushing!
Thanks for another awesome upload Albert, i always get so stoked when i see that there's a new video out! :D
Thanks allot John!
Amazing! Loved to know about that evolution!!! This was a Piece of art!!!
amazing effort (: thank you for such a comprehensive video! lots of research done here.
Your content is always so top notch in so many ways. Thank you for what you do!
Thank you so much, I'll be definitely keeping it up as much as I can and trying to improve as much as I can!
Yet another amazing video mate! You're absolutely killing it. Always looking forward to what's in store from you :)
Thanks so much! I got a new series coming out that I'm excited to release!
Love your videos Albert !!
So happy to be a part of your audience when you were starting out! Love your stuff
Thanks Giancarlo, I remember seeing your name early this year. Thanks for the support!
This was a super cool video. I think you could take this concept and make it into a series like “History of Climbing gear, hold, gyms, etc.” Can’t wait to see more!
Great video man ! The quality of your channel consistently blows me away, you definitely deserve more subscribers (and I'm sure you will get them).
Cheers from France !
Merci! Thank you for the comment and hope you're doing well!
This is great! I love the way you've summarized and condensed the history and future of climbing shoes!
P.S. I love your poster of Jain Kim.
Thanks so much Mickey! It's my favorite poster!!
Great video bro! Thanks for the effort!
Just came back home from the gym, a pretty disappointing day, fell on some routes I should flash easily. The end of the video cheers me up instantly, it reminds me the time when I first started. And the passion will never change. Next time I’ll crush those routes!
You definitely deserve more recognition, great video as always!
Thanks so much!
Interesting final comment about beginning in rental/beginner shoes. After climbing in higher performance shoes I’d never go back, but I still got a lot of climbing done in my sloppy first pair of shoes, and had a lot of fun. Blissfully unaware of what I was missing
super! great work!
Great video, really enjoyed it.
Amazing video! Subscribed!
Actually researching all the way back to prehistory to give us the full history of climbing shoes, nice. Good thing I have this video to tell me my ancestors climbed with dirt on their feet XD
(but for real, great video! It was really cool to see the evolution of climbing shoes over the years, it's crazy how much things have changed in just my lifetime.)
Hahah thanks for the comment. Climbing is such a young sport that so much has happened even in the last 3 years! It's so amazing and I can't wait to see what happens in the future!
Fantastic video! Heinz is a true hero to the climbing scene
thanks for the video! Great research and very interesting. Keep up the good work!
Thanks allot Leon!
I told my friend that I found a new great climbing youtuber and I strongly recommended him to subscribe. He asked me what was that? I said Albert OK, he said he subscribed it long time ago and recommended me before...
Hahah, well I'm glad you're recommending my channel to your friends. Makes me PSYCHED!
This video is really amazing. The information are easy to understand and the editing is really tought trough. I recently got my first shoes. The classic beginner shoe. In my case it is la sportiva- Tarantula blue.
Love the cover with Jain Kim behind you! ♥️
Great history vid! Hope to see more in the future, like the origin of cams or something and you good sir keep crushing as well 🤙
I'm working on getting better at Traditional climbing and learning more and more about gear placing and cams. I've been a gym climber for all of the time I've been climbing so it's new to me still. Hopefully I learn enough myself in the future to talk on the content!
@@AlbertOkay I did mock trad for the first time a week ago and it was super cool
I've been climbing for about 15 years now. For most of that time I used rental shoes. (Due to it being a regular climbing group where most people did the same, and me still growing at that time) only three years ago I got a pair of leasing shoes from Edelried. Now I own my first pair, that really belongs to me (Scarpa Apira). Tomorrow is the first time I will use them for real, I am exited, but I had a lot of fun until now.
Awesome video!! love the history here.
Thank you!
When I started climbing in 1972, Royal Robbins climbing shoes were all the rage and were being used by many climbing in Yosemite. I believe they first came out in 1969. I bought a pair of PA's in Italy in 1976 and climbed in them enough to have them resoled once.
Thank you for this history lesson! Very informative video!
Bravo Albert! The last thing about having fun is the core! I have climbed lot of routes with the old scarpa spider and unfortunately broke them two years ago... Now it's tenaya tarifa for all the rock I can get
Thanks for your great sharing 👍
One of the best and well-edited videos of yours, constantly improving, ive watched this video at least 1000000000 times...
btw - nice Kim Jain Poster
Thank you so much! I appreciate that you appreciate the poster :)
Well made. In depth.
Thanks Josh!
Awesome video bro!!!!
Thanks so much!
Superb video.
Great video man, really enjoyed it and learned a lot. New sub. I’d love to see a comparison between the testarossa and the solution, pros and cons!
Nice research! Very much enjoyed it :)
Thanks Roger!
Albert you truly inspire me to get outside and go climbing! keep up the good work!!
Heck YES!! This comment makes me psyched to train then CLIMB Crush it John!
Great video, a few things I would have loved you to flesh out or include though was the use of rope soled shoes in Bleau to advance the standards of the time, some of the test pieces from the 30's done with these shoes are still solid today. The advent and importance of tensioned rands, and lastly the importance of more shoes that really progressed the sport. The Boreal Laser being a great example ;)
The Boreal Laser was an absolutely great shoe! I couldn't find enough information about the rope soling, although I did find a few forum posts that talked about them. Maybe I'll make a follow up video talking about older shoes more in depth if and when I can talk to some people that are more familiar with the older generation of shoes. Would be a fun project to work on!
Very educational, I loved this. I learned so much.
Thanks so much and I'm glad you got to learn something!
Keep up the awesome videos!
Thanks Jackson!
Wonderful documentary. Thanks
Thanks for the comment and support!
nice video, very informative!!!
Great video! Thx
Hey cool, the footage of the gym being built at 11:40 is my climbing gym TRC in morrisville! Thought I recognized that wall lol.
Great video! Thanks! You could have mentionned the rise of "No Edge" shoes, other than that very thorough!
Side note: Super gratton (Gratton meaning "crimp" in french) what the model name, EB is the brand (still exist)
Interesting video! PS The timelapse of the gym being built beginning around 11:39 is the gym I climbed at for years, TRC morrisville :P it was cool to see it being built.
this is so fascinating
Well done Albert, always enjoy these types of videos and your pace was great! My first pair of shoes was the Five Ten Moccasym, purchased 2006 on Zappos haha. I was told that was the shoe to get because all of the local crushers were wearing them and they were a favorite of Chris Sharma. I then bought the Five Ten Anasazi VCS because all of the Dosage videos at the time showed Sharma crushing in them, plus the edge was so much different from the soft toe of the Moccs. I remember when the Solution came out and also the buzz about the new kid crusher coming into the scene, Daniel Woods. Awesome to see the evolution of things in climbing, hope you do more like this, keep up the excellent work!
Thanks Max! The Moccasym was a shoe I always wanted to try, but never got around to it. I got a pair of the Anasazi's for like 15 dollars and really liked them. The toebox and stiffness was way better than I expected. The Solution was definitely one of my favorites and I'm definitely going to get a pair of the Solution comps once my shoes blow out. You've had a great personal history with climbing shoes which I'm really happy you shared! I'm doing well and I hope you're doing well! I'll hit you up next time I'm climbing in the front range!
@@AlbertOkay I've been looking at the new Solution, currently rocking the Skwama. I'm in ATL as of last Dec. so if you're ever out this way we can hit up some stuff in the Southeast! Take care!
Awwwsssooommmmeeeee!🤘 Now my head hurts from so much new information. 🤣 Great history and would definitely never found it like you did. My first pair of shoes were the La Sportiva Muiras and I too the advice of the gym staff to buy 2 sizes down? 😲 They hurt so bad but got my first indoor V5 cave climb. In the short 5+ years I’ve bought about 15 pairs of shoes with all brand & makes, but kept closer to my street foot size. I’ve noticed that as my skills improve, a certain style works better. When I climbed 12 hours a couple weeks ago (a combo of Stoney Point and 3 indoor gyms), I switched between my Unparallel Uprise VCS and 510 Team. Like you said, doesn’t really matter of the shoes, as long as you’re having fun.
🤘
Miuras was my first aggressive shoe! It was such a good shoe for me and really developed my climbing style. Having a variety of shoes is a nice luxury if you can afford it, and it definitely helps having multiple shoes on hand when you want to switch out different shoes for different types of climbs or just purely based off your mood. I definitely can see how in your video that switching out the shoes from indoor to outdoor climbing would have helped you send and have fun!
Great video
Amazing video!
Thank you!
Great research man!
Thanks Raphael!
You did not mention too much about Boreal except for the beginning. That company has evolved so well. They have a new line of asymmetric shoes, depending of the climbing needs, such as Satori, Dharma, and Mutant
I love this channel
Awesome channel
I got a pair of the 2012 Solutions still on my feet, they just feel awesome. Made a longer climbing pause that's why I still have them :)
Interesting video! My first climbing shoe was an old brazilian entry level shoe called Snake Blox, mas was super thin and soft, but quite gripy (I'm from Brazil). Then, as I progressed, I bought a La Sportiva Tarantulace and honestly it was the worse shoe I have every owned.
Since my thing is long trad climbs, not too technical, it is easier to find. I currently own Millet and probably the best shoe I've ever owned!
Great video very informative!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Such a great video!! Very interesting, thank you.
Ps: you forgot the brand Garra
I am a beginner and I have tarantulas (velcro) for outdoor climbing 😁 they are really good. (At least for me for the start) but this video was really educational! Thank you. Hope my skill and shoes will evolve one day.
And great video, as always, Albert! You're easily becoming one of my favorite informative climbing channels on YT. Quality content and I dig your editing style. :)
That's was a really good video. 👍
Thanks Microwave Hate Machine!
Proud user of the 5.10 Dragons! Loved them so much I got them re-soled when they wore out, and they still work like a charm. For some reason, the 5.10 men's Hiangles didn't last very long for me (blew a hole in the toe area within the first 6 months) so I went back to Dragons. Haven't tried the new ones though, not sure if I should cause I heard it's not the same as the first version.
5.10 Dragons were GREAT. I had a pair and loved how soft they were. I can't find any of the old pair so I'm a bit sad it's gone.
If you could do a video on shoe care and simple shoe fixes, I think that would be huge hit. A lot of climbers (myself included) have limited knowledge of best practices to maintain rubber for stickiness and longevity. As well, some shoes become less comfortable over time with wear, whether leather hardening or stitching becoming more pronounced/abrasive. Addressing climbing shoe issues outside of resoling and initial fit, would be a huge resource to the community.
I'm planning on it in the future!
no way!!! the footage of the gym being constructed is my local gym (triangle rock club)
That really tripped me out! I was thinking that the gym in the video looked very familiar.......
Great gym!
I noticed it too! I came to the comments to see if someone mentioned it. Haha.
hey I recognized my local gym in this! Wild
I always thought it was pronounced “Albert okay” lmaoo
Haha you can call me whatever you like idc :)
@@AlbertOkay how about "favorite youtuber"
nice job on 20 k subs
Thanks Nate!
Miura Ever :) , nice video
Great video. Wish you would’ve talked some about the La Sportiva Mirage, the first downturned aggressive shoe
The predecessor for Testarossa! I considered it, but not enough time to talk about everything!
I've seen a documetary of Alberto Rabada and Ernesto Navarro wearing something called "Alpargatas de Cañamo" roughly translates to "hemp spadrilles". When thwy visoted the US locals where skeptical of their footware, but after seening what they could do, locals were more interested in way to get a pair of those alpargatas.
Idk if you want to change it, but at 3:14 you can’t read the full text
Oh no... That one exported wrong. Oh well...);
Albert Ok also at 12:46 the same sentence plays for a second time. Love the videos! Keep em up!
My first pair after 2 months in rentals were Half Size Down Solutions. I can remember the pain of breaking them in, but the MASSIVE improvement in skill. After that I bought my Oracles and Mythos in January, and I’ve only been climbing in my Oracles since then, I’m planning on buying the phantoms, as I’ve heard they are way more aggressive than the Oracles. I just hoped they’ve finally made a good heel :(
Solutions are exceptionally painful to break in! I hope your future shoe purchases go well!
You only mentionned briefly Stealth C4 but it was a huge improvement in rubber. A bunch of Fontainebleau slab project got sent easily with C4. Most Bleausards were sponsored by Boreal but they all secretly resoled them with C4. Great videos. Hope to see more gear history.
Yeah there were allot of details I couldn't get into, but hopefully I can make more videos about gear in the future!
Barely talked about FiveTen and the anazasi shoe which is still in production today. I love their Stealth C4 rubber, but my favorite shoes used had Stealth Onyxx rubber which was perfect for super sharp routes in my area. I've since resoled them with vibram XS Edge which is the closest. I've yet to see better rubber than what Stealth produces.
a quick thing on the Drago: It was released in europe as a limited edition in early 2016 (april?), and july in NA (you can find a video from april 2016 where it's already released: czcams.com/video/0_gUMbxrh5E/video.html), so It's been around for more than 4 years. Incredible to think that Scarpa couldn't figure out that the whole world would want these amazing shoes, and only was going to sell 1000.
I'm as much of a climber as I am a total hardware geek, so I really appreciate you bringing the janky art of shoe design to the wider climbing community who may otherwise overlook it.
I really believe we've only scratched the surface of shoe design, but it will take a widespread interest in the sport to foster innovation. Without the financial backing to design new shoes (or materials for that matter), only truly visionary people who love what they do will innovate in the space, and the world hasn't found a new Heinz Mariacher yet.
I remember that time, they were like 250$ + and hard to get! I mentioned 3 ish years only because it was available to wide public then. The one shoe I would dream to try is the furia s 80...looks insane
@@AlbertOkay I would never want to climb in those, too valuable. Definitely would've bought a pair and put it on display though, an absolutely beautiful shoe. It's pretty much a furia S with some holes in the outsole and a red patch in the front though, and I bet you'd love it considering you use Furia airs.
I'm certain Scarpa will come out with another furia shoe that will be even more crazy in a year or two, so buckle up for that I suppose. might even see that red toe rubber again. probably not, but we can dream
Saludos desde Uruguay!
Alright Albert you’ve convinced me to start climbing again, I’m HEADING TO COLORADO 🧗♀️
Boreal Laser was instrumental back in early 90’s pushing the grades up.
Hahaaa I feel really stupid because I've been saying Albert "Okay" for forever! oops! But also, this is seriously an amazing video. I got so excited when my shoe was mentioned ahaaha. Love your content so much!
Haha thanks so much! You can call me Okay or Ok any one works I don't mind it at all! :)
Great video! you miss Acopa (made in Mexico by Ernesto Vázquez and John Bachar) and Rock On
The tarantula is such a great beginner shoe. I've never had the same comfort level in any other shoe. I have a greek foot and I've yet have to find a shoe as comfortable as a tarantula except with grip rubber.
Yeah dude you really put an amazing content here for the rock climbing community.
For me RedChili! '\m/
Thanks bro and we will crush it!
Thanks so much! The Voltage shoes look sick, would love to try a pair sometime. Also Laura Rogora is going on a RAMPAGE in the lace shoe from Red Chili!
Excellent video , and nicely presented. You missed a few steps in the evolution of climbing shoes from Heinz with rubber tension systems and the mapping of the upper materials around the toes , but these are really nerdy details of not much interest to the masses. Well done!
Yeah I could have talked about that, but I wanted to keep the video on the shorter side! Honestly this video could have been easily 2 hrs+ and still not be able to cover everything
@@AlbertOkay Agreed. It was well done.
If I remember correctly, Heinz also designed the Scarpa Veloce. And boy did he a good job with this one as well.