Depending on what type of climbing you want to do, the choice of your climbing shoes might be different. Climbing boulders, long routes or indoor walls is very different and your needs will be different. Most of climbers have several pairs of shoes regarding where they climb.
You can find our article in French, to help you choose your EB climbing shoes.
Which pair for which climber?
The following lines speaks about the “Theory”. Climbers don’t have to follow those “rules”, as long as they feel that they use what they think it’s best for them 😉
To make it simple, we can say that EB makes two types of climbing shoes:
Leisure climbing shoes: flat shape, no asymmetry. They are usually comfortable and allows climbers to evolve during their career
Sports climbing shoes: technical, asymmetrical, downturned
Bouldering climbing shoes?
Efforts in bouldering compared to lead climbing are shorter yet more intense. Climbers usually don’t keep their climbing shoes for a long time and take them off more often. Therefore bouldering climbing shoes have to be accurate and easy to fit in and take off.
Velcro or slippers are in theory what would be best to wear for bouldering. These type of shoes are easier to put on and faster to fasten.
However, this is just theory. Most climbers have their own preferences and it is not surprising to see climbers doing bouldering with shoes with laces. Once again use what you think it is best for you.
Lead climbing shoes?
As for bouldering, the shoes has to be accurate. Climbers won’t have to take their shoes off as much as bouldering. Therefore, a Velcro or a laces fastening system should be good in order to adjust the shoes to the feet.
Long routes?
In this case, comfort is the priority.
