For those of you not familiar with how climbing works, to keep yourself on the wall and to move upwards, you mostly stand on your toes (so you can rotate your feet and shift your body in all sorts of ways) and grip the wall with your fingers (could be as little as one finger for the advanced climbers). Hey, I didn't know how climbing worked when I started. I would use my whole hand and whole foot for maximum contact (= feeling of security) with the handholds and footholds.
So, what about the feet?
Well, one of the essential piece of climbing equipments is climbing shoes. These shoes are made with a thick layer of sticky and relatively stiff rubber all around the shoe, encasing your foot such that all of the toes are squished together, acting as one unit, so you can push hard off of your big toe and generate a lot of force to propel yourself up the wall. The more advanced shoes also allows you you stand on tiny ledges on overhung terrain, and lets you heel hook or toe hook a ledge to balance yourself on the wall.
I have wide, flat feet; so called "fallen arches". I have bunions on both feet. Wearing climbing shoes feels a bit like Chinese foot binding. To be fair, even people with narrow feet don't feel great in climbing shoes, which are supposed to be worn pretty snug, with no deadspace in the shoes. I have purchased several pairs of climbing shoes. I blamed the first one for being too much of a beginner shoe (La Sportiva Tarantulace) that it didn't let me climb harder routes (though I have witness many other people climbing harder routes with the said shoe model). My second pair of climbing shoes, the Scarpa Vapor VS, is supposed to be "the most comfortable intermediate performance-based climbing shoe". It's true that this pair is made with stickier rubber and squeezes my toes more, so I did have more confidence standing on very small holds and climbing climbing harder routes. However, it also was super uncomfortable. It's partly that I have long toes that are weak and can't handle my body weight for very long. So I got another pair of shoes with a flatter profile but is not a total beginner shoe (La Sportiva Finale Women's). It squeezes my foot in a different way. I could keep the shoes on my feet for longer periods of time, but it also isn't as precise on small footholds as the Vapor VS. My toes would still hurt after a period of climbing. With my toes so long, I'm not sure how much stronger they will get, but I will keep trying.
To be honest, I think I'm a bit too heavy for my toes to handle, but I have never been good at losing weight. My feet cramp a lot, sometimes they cramp just from me trying to put the Vapor VS shoes on. The cramming effect of the shoes can't be good for my feet. When I try to do yoga (feet flat on the ground), I can feel different parts of the foot clicking to try to clear the tension and cramps caused by rock climbing. But at the same time, climbing must strengthen parts of my feet somehow, as I do put a lot of body weight on the toes, and I do feel I can push off of each foot more than I did a year ago. I don't know what are the overall effects of climbing on my feet. Do they make the bunions worse? I'm not entirely sure. I think I should try to do other activities to balance out the effects of climbing shoes on my feet. I should also look into foot reflexology. Someone suggested that I get orthopedics foot inserts for my shoes. I think I would try barefoot footwear first actually, to try to strengthen my foot muscles and tendons.
So, what about the feet?
Well, one of the essential piece of climbing equipments is climbing shoes. These shoes are made with a thick layer of sticky and relatively stiff rubber all around the shoe, encasing your foot such that all of the toes are squished together, acting as one unit, so you can push hard off of your big toe and generate a lot of force to propel yourself up the wall. The more advanced shoes also allows you you stand on tiny ledges on overhung terrain, and lets you heel hook or toe hook a ledge to balance yourself on the wall.
I have wide, flat feet; so called "fallen arches". I have bunions on both feet. Wearing climbing shoes feels a bit like Chinese foot binding. To be fair, even people with narrow feet don't feel great in climbing shoes, which are supposed to be worn pretty snug, with no deadspace in the shoes. I have purchased several pairs of climbing shoes. I blamed the first one for being too much of a beginner shoe (La Sportiva Tarantulace) that it didn't let me climb harder routes (though I have witness many other people climbing harder routes with the said shoe model). My second pair of climbing shoes, the Scarpa Vapor VS, is supposed to be "the most comfortable intermediate performance-based climbing shoe". It's true that this pair is made with stickier rubber and squeezes my toes more, so I did have more confidence standing on very small holds and climbing climbing harder routes. However, it also was super uncomfortable. It's partly that I have long toes that are weak and can't handle my body weight for very long. So I got another pair of shoes with a flatter profile but is not a total beginner shoe (La Sportiva Finale Women's). It squeezes my foot in a different way. I could keep the shoes on my feet for longer periods of time, but it also isn't as precise on small footholds as the Vapor VS. My toes would still hurt after a period of climbing. With my toes so long, I'm not sure how much stronger they will get, but I will keep trying.
To be honest, I think I'm a bit too heavy for my toes to handle, but I have never been good at losing weight. My feet cramp a lot, sometimes they cramp just from me trying to put the Vapor VS shoes on. The cramming effect of the shoes can't be good for my feet. When I try to do yoga (feet flat on the ground), I can feel different parts of the foot clicking to try to clear the tension and cramps caused by rock climbing. But at the same time, climbing must strengthen parts of my feet somehow, as I do put a lot of body weight on the toes, and I do feel I can push off of each foot more than I did a year ago. I don't know what are the overall effects of climbing on my feet. Do they make the bunions worse? I'm not entirely sure. I think I should try to do other activities to balance out the effects of climbing shoes on my feet. I should also look into foot reflexology. Someone suggested that I get orthopedics foot inserts for my shoes. I think I would try barefoot footwear first actually, to try to strengthen my foot muscles and tendons.
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