So, I got my first pair of climbing shoes today, eeeeee! They are beeaaaautiful.
For the past few weeks I’ve been renting shoes, as I was trying to figure out whether I’d stick with climbing long enough to invest in some, but after realising I was spending so much money renting shoes that had been worn by about thirty thousand million people, I eventually decided to go for it today. And I love them. They’re pink. They’re cute af.
Vegan Climbing
I originally wanted to get some shoes that were around the £50 mark, as I’d seen some on discount and that’s around the price my other new climbing friends had gone for.
However, when looking at the vegan options, the only shoes available were £99 and up. Non-vegan climbing shoes can contain leather (ew) and non-vegan glue (double ew!), and apparently there used to be (and still are) some cheaper vegan options available, but they just fell apart, and so companies put effort into making vegan shoes work and last. Hence the price tag.
But, I figure that I’m just helping myself by getting some better shoes!
Today, I found a difference in my climbing almost immediately, especially after taking off my socks and wearing my new shoes bare. On my last climb I got up a blue I’d been struggling with all morning, and even got a little round of applause from some bystanders as I was sure I wasn’t going to manage it.
Check out these blogs for some more tips and lists of vegan climbing shoes:
Any other vegan climbers/ boulderers out there? I’d love to hear about your journey! I’m still a baby boulderer and I’m loving it ^.^
A Vegan Adventurer 