John Ramuta by Garth Jacobson

John begins the day with an alpine start at O-ugly-early and starts work at 5 am. He repairs climbing shoes in a simple studio work space located near the Woodland Zoo. The room contains a collection of shoe repair equipment, stacks of climbing shoes and an autographed poster from Lynn Hill. His trusty climbing dog supervises the operation.

John’s advice for care and repair can be summed up by simply keeping your shoes dry and bringing them in for repair before they are worn too much. But that guidance fails to cover the other things you should know about your climbing shoes.

As mentioned, extending the life of climbing shoes depends primarily upon keeping the shoes as dry as possible. Never put wet or damp shoes in your pack or gym bag. After climbing, loosen the laces and pull the tongue out, then clip them to the outside of the pack to promote drying. If you must put your sweaty damp shoes in you bag then stuff them with newspapers. If your shoes stink don’t clean them in a washing machine. Instead, use Kiwi sports odor neutralizer or Lysol. If you have to clean the shoes, use a damp cloth and then dry them in a warm place but not in the direct sunlight.

	John Ramuta by Garth Jacobson

Keeping the shoes dry will extend the life of the leather. However, the duration of the sticky rubber soles depends on the quality of your climbing footwork and the texture of the climbing surfaces. Soles last longer if you avoid scraping your shoes when climbing. Likewise, the rough surfaces at the climbing gyms eat your soles quicker than many outdoor areas. Crack climbing tends to wear shoes much faster than other climbing methods because you are jamming and twisting your shoes in cracks. So, if you are a crack and gym climber, you can expect your shoes to wear quite fast.

You should get your shoes repaired before holes appear on the rands. Rands are the upper surface of rubber that connects to the lower sole area. Not only is early repair better for the shoes, but also the repair costs less if there are no holes in the rands.

	Cooking the shoes by Garth Jacobson

John performs the following repair process. First he grinds off the old rubber and replaces the rands if necessary. Next he heat glues a new sole on and lets it set overnight. The next day he presses the shoes to insure complete adherence of glue. He then trims, grinds, pounds, and shapes the new sole. He preserves the shoe’s stretched shape to retain their comfort. (Remember how long it took to stretch the shoes to make them fit.)

John shared some interesting facts about climbing shoes. First there are two types of shoes; board-lasted and slip-lasted. Board-lasted shoes have a cardboard type material that stiffens the midsoles and provides more foot support. Slip-lasted don’t have this stiffener, but they provide more feel of the climbing surface for climbing more difficult pitches. Unfortunately that softness may make the slip-lasted shoes hurt more for beginning climbers. Therefore, beginning climbers usually prefer board-lasted shoes. Likewise board-lasted shoes may feel better for all day multi-pitch climbs.

Not all shoe rubbers are the same. Some sticky rubbers grab better than others. John uses 5-10 rubber for most repairs because the rubber performs very well and provides a great purchase in those dicey places. But unfortunately that rubber wears faster. Another favorite is the LaSportiva’s Viberam XSV. This rubber isn’t quite as sticky but it wears longer.

	shoes by Garth Jacobson

So the next time you think about buying new climbing shoes, consider the cheaper alternative and just get those old shoes repaired. You can drop off the shoes at Vertical World Climbing Gym or at Ramuta shoes in downtown Seattle. A week later you will enjoy great climbing performance from your old shoes. Well maybe the shoes can’t do that for you but at least you can’t blame “spinning off” on the shoes.