How To Break In Climbing Shoes: Fire, Ice & Water | Climbing Daily Ep.1813

Breaking in climbing shoes can sometimes be a painful process. Today we look at three ways of speeding up the break in time. With these tips you can achieve a tight, performance fit, without the pain...

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How To Break In Climbing Shoes: Fire, Ice & Water | Climbing Daily Ep.1813

[zacharylaschober]

Usually I just break the ice by asking the shoe’s name and what brings them to this crag.

[michaelreed]

Resoler here... Never EVER put your shoes in the oven. Chemicals in the glue are heat activated and this may lead to delamination. For the record, we use heat to remove the old soles a from your shoes when we resole. Sportiva shoes in particular react badly to heat. Can’t really believe that they are actually recommending this on a climbing video!!! Jeez!

[parptarf]

I took a shower with my dank-ass Testarossas and my shoes stopped beating my feet like an episode of the Sopranos and started serving me pizzas to help me do sick sends instead. 10/10

[MdElite]

I know it's not supposed to be completely scientific test, but you need to take into account that your feet might be of slightly different size, so the left shoes might be easier to put on to begin with regardless of the break in method.
And as others have pointed out, some of the methods might make you loose the guarantee of the shoe. I wouldn't definitely do the oven method, as is might cause melting of the glue and making the shoes easier to break apart, instead of breaking in.
In Finland we like to wear new climbing shoes in sauna to break them in. I'm not completely sure if it works, but gives you the excuse to go to the sauna :)

[ali_valhalla]

You can actually use wind too, with a hairdryer. Heats up the old rock clogs quite nicely, and it's easy to manage the temps.

[drogerflav]

Just where them till your feet stop bleeding

[frr]

After I bought my last pair of La Sportiva Solutions, I put them on and heated the top up with a fan. I think a fan is better than just throwing them in the oven, since you can actually target the area in which you can feel too much pressure. Mine are perfect now, very snug, but the top rubber layer stretched just the tiniest bit to make it comfortable for my toes👍

[chazott]

this is very helpful, thank you for making this video! I can add 2 things: 1) the packing plastic sheet that comes with many shoes (sportivas for sure) can be wrapped over the foot for the initial time putting them on. It gives a slippery surface which allows the new shoes to slip on easily. 2) they make nylon socks which can be worn during the break in period and also they are slippery so the shoes slide on easier and help prevent blisters

[iPVPTV]

I usually just chuck mine in the fucking fire of mt doom for a few minutes before sending. it makes them pretty uncomfortable but I can climb V2 with this method so idk whatever works

[beijihu]

Thanks for the video. The freezing method works wonders for people with slightly different sized feet!
I got a pair of BD Momentums which were tight but okay my right(smaller) foot. Left one i almost couldn't get in - extremely painful. After freeze-widening just the left shoe 5 times in a row and then once hotwater-bucket both shoes they fit perfect now.

[dereks]

This was the coolest episode of Cribs I've ever seen... that place is funky cool 😎 the freezer was interesting to see lol

Badass tips though! May have to try one...

[lorenzopontiggia]

what about the consequences of those three methods on the rubber? heating or freezing the rubber could compromize it. I guess that the second method could be the less damaging. it could be interesting to see the long-therm consequences on the rubber

[mayawitters]

Best combo solution:
- hot shower with shoes
- walk around
- get out your hairdryer and dry shoe on your foot
Perfect fit.

[richardbradley]

If the water isn't frozen do you have tips on where to get a new freezer?

[OlliOlli]

To whom ever has ever forgotten a beer in the freezer, the Ice method makes alot of sense.

[JamieMelhuish]

Freezing high performance rubber can ruin it. Especially hitting it while frozen, the rubber can crack. I use the warm water method, which is especially good with leather shoes. Stuff them with newspaper after to keep the shape.

[TimH]

So...the ice will be 11% bigger than the water, which is roughly one step in width settings E->F etc. But to be honest the stretching only manifests under certain circumstances. For example, I’ve tried this in full length laced shoes and the laces weren’t noticeably tighter when the water was frozen than before, because you can’t really tighten laces onto a bag of water, even with the top tied. The fire: find out what the melting point of the adhesive on the sole is before doing this. The water... this probably just lubricates your foot in the shoe, making it less painful to keep on for longer and allowing full insertion of the foot into the shoe’s volume. A plastic bag probably has the same effect.
There can also be up to 0.5 Euro size difference between L/R in a pair and between pairs, and 5:10/Adidas are no better than anyone else in this regard, so a bigger dataset than used here is required.
Incidentally, in my own research, Scarpa were the most consistent shoes size-wise and Butora the most variable.

[two_tone_xlophone]

the only real decent method is the hot water one, the ice one just stretches the shoe out in equal directions, which isn't what most people want, you may end up with it too loose in a certain area as it's not being conformed to your foot in any manner, i would only suggest this method if you're shoe is feeling tight all the way around....the over method is highly likely to destabilize the glue that's used to bond the entire shoe together, you may end up having to resole or re-glue your shoe sooner than later....doubly so if you're doing multiple bakes as the first one didn't hot water trick is safe for all materials used in the shoe, doesn't reach temps that would destabilize any of the materials and conforms to your foot unlike the ice

personally i do the hot water method and came here to see if there were any new ideas out there as it's been about 8-10 years since i last checked, just been buying the same shoes over and over again but decided to branch out and try something new, beyond the hot water trick i usually just wear them around the house for as long as i can, take them off and rinse and repeat until they're broken don't like breaking new shoes in on routes, sucks having to call it a day because your feet can't seems weird that all day comfort used to mean just that....all day, 8-12 hours without having to take em off....now people are considering all day comfort like 4-5 hours? seems a bit cheese....like who only climbs for 4-5 hours if they got a whole day? 4-5 hours is a session, not a day.

[nilsmorozs]

Just get some Tenayas my friends, no need for these gimmicks, they’re comfy out of the box! (Not sponsored by Tenaya) 😀 Also, I’d be a bit careful heating up the shoes too much as you might end up delaminating your sole.

[tonyking]

Thank you to all who recommended Scarpa fit being great. LaSportiva fit has gone down the toilet. I know my right toe is slightly larger. Im talking fit. TX Guide leather is a dream scrambling shoe but there is a bump inward at the big toe on roght foot. I can feel it inside the shoe. Otaki climbing shoes look different sizes slightly and a ruler though maybe not totally acurrate measuring curved surfaces shows small differences. My favorite shoes were 5.10 team but Addidas ownership killed that so I went to La Sportiva. Going to look at Scarpa.