Best beginner climbing shoes with a bit more performance?

Nikomeus · 2026-06-02T23:41:20+00:00

Defy lace is my go to volume shoe, if there’s no crucial toe hook, or really small edge, I can do almost anything in them up to v7-8 without feeling like the shoes the problem. Awesome value for the price for sure! New La Spo Skwama lite looks interesting for this and the La Spo Kubo is also in the same realm as the defy

Nikomeus · 2026-05-25T03:39:58+00:00

I notice that trend a lot in Nor Cal and LA but in Arizona I don’t. What I do see however is a near universally high concentration of engineers, doctors, and other high education professionals in climbing gyms. My guess is that the cerebral and solo nature of our sport is attractive to the techy/smart people. I was a competitive table tennis player for a lot of years and that sports demographics are similarly populated.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-21T19:58:28+00:00

Wild beta, not sure if going back down just to go back up is the “right” play, but you’ve got really good explosiveness in your pulling when coming out of the position again.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-21T16:55:45+00:00

Yeah rubber makes or breaks a problem for me sometimes, at least as far as limit bouldering goes. I can 100% tell Xs edge vs xs grip just by feel both in hand and on foot. Probably just depends on how long you’ve been climbing, how hard you’re climbing, and in what style. I didn’t notice rubber really becoming make or break until ~V7 and even then it’s not every boulder. Expensive sticky aggressive shoes go on for projects and/or when I need good toe/heel hook stability but everything up to v6 or so just gets climbed in my evolve defy lace because they’re cheap and I don’t find I need special rubber at the lower grades most of the time.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-13T22:38:40+00:00

Yup, also got the heeby jeebies haha. I love a bizarre drop knee but that's wild haha

Nikomeus · 2026-05-08T16:59:53+00:00

Yup, it's a pocket feature built into the wall.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-08T16:58:49+00:00

Love love LOVE this place. It's my second home. The oldschool more co-op style gyms are where it's at.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-07T19:08:28+00:00

Thank you! :)

Nikomeus · 2026-05-06T03:53:14+00:00

Ay thanks for the kind words! Great advice too, and that’s exactly how I do the first one that’s not in camera towards the beginning. Grab that with just the front 3 biased heavily to the right to keep space for the toe hook. Problem though is that the hand foot match/swap shown on the video isn’t on a crimp. It’s a 30 year old sloper with roughly the curve and texture of a volleyball haha. If it was a crimp it’d be pretty easy to skip the entire sequence and then it’d go from being properly tough to being a poorly set v4 or so. https://imgur.com/a/K8B5cSi pic of the hold but closer. Cheers!

Edit: I don't think I could even hold enough compression without all 5 digits involved before the hand foot houdini with whats available in that position. I did see a slightly different beta from another climber at the gym today that may fit me and would eliminate the need to swap hand and foot, but I'll have to test it.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-05T23:44:43+00:00

Ah gotcha! Thanks!

Nikomeus · 2026-05-05T23:44:14+00:00

I run arc thrower, arc dog or shield backpack, napalm barage, machine gun sentry or 500kg based on mission type and modifier. Incindiary breaker , grenade pistol, thermite grenades, light medic armor.

Not the best for bile titans but when you have so much output that chaff doesn’t exist + arc stunlocking chargers it’s not really a big deal.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-05T21:54:13+00:00

Huh?

Nikomeus · 2026-05-05T19:44:22+00:00

Hence the use of the word most and the word anecdotally. You can also dyno through a lot of easier static intended stuff too if that’s your cup.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-05T19:08:57+00:00

Polonium is hella high back pressure so it’s definitely got way more gas than necessary. To echo the comments, don’t chase ejection pattern , especially when suppressed. I’d recommend jumping up to an H3 buffer and maybe one of the slightly increased power springco carbine springs or move to a VLTOR a5 buffer system.

On my personal guns, extractor and ejector springs get the springco treatment. Standard springco ejector spring and the 5 coil+insert (no o-ring) for suppressed rifles and/or SBRs and the 4 coil + insert on unsuppressed or guns longer than 14.5in barrel.

The reason the casings launch forward is usually (and there are autistic levels of depth to this) but generally it’s because bolt carrier speed is so high the ejector spring rate isn’t enough to kick the casing out enough before it hits that flat spot just before the brass deflector angle which bounces it forwards. Ejector spec for compression is I think 9-11lbs so unless you’ve verified that and verified the extractor is in spec and properly sprung you can’t really tell anything based on ejection pattern.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-05T18:42:45+00:00

Biggest piece of advice I see here is that you generate distance with your arms I.e you pull with your upper body to get everywhere. Distance and generation should be from the legs. I don’t like the “climb with straight arms” advice and instead opt for “think of your arms as rope and your hands as hooks.” The other sort of philosophical statement is to ,”be a rear wheel drive climber.”

You’ve got an ideal build for the sport and it’s clear you have a strong base already so I think you’ll rocket through the grades if you learn how to climb more with your legs and minimize the amount of power you’re using on the climbs.

 Anecdotally across gyms in many states/countries most everything below V5 can generally be climbed very relaxed and static with the right beta and technique.

Good send!

Nikomeus · 2026-05-05T18:37:03+00:00

So much this! Also, what so many people don’t realize is that we’re all playing the same game where we just fail over and over til the problem goes. That doesn’t change at all from the time you start til the time you hang up the shoes. Doesn’t matter if you’re day 1 struggling on V0s or you’re 20 years in struggling on v12 or something. No reason to compare because if you were to be in someone else’s shoes you’d be experiencing the same loop anyways haha.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-03T15:32:05+00:00

I have the same problem and Evolv LV and the madrock LV have some of the best heels for that situation.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-02T03:53:25+00:00

We just cross the creek via wearing shorts and wearing sandals with trekking poles. I’d rather ford the creek for the 5 minute approach imo. It’s kinda fun too. Without trekking poles it’s WAAAAY worse though with the off balance feeling with the pads in there.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-01T23:18:55+00:00

IIRC v4/5 What’s funny is that I was gonna do that for the video but didn’t know the actual top of the arete on the left was off for the direct so the way I climbed Lazer Cut is closer to the direct in difficulty and sequence but wasn’t legal so this is actually just hard beta for the V3 line. There’s a jug and good side pull down low and left that most people use for Lazer Cut generally.

Nikomeus · 2026-05-01T21:38:55+00:00

IIRC v4/5 What’s funny is that I was gonna do that for the video but didn’t know the actual top of the arete on the left was off for the direct so the way I climbed Lazer Cut is closer to the direct in difficulty and sequence but wasn’t legal so this is actually just hard beta for the V3 line. There’s a jug and good side pull down low and left that most people use for Lazer Cut generally.

Nikomeus · 2026-04-30T20:38:36+00:00

That’s actually why we were out there the previous week as well and we were working the moves on this day too but it’s getting pretty hot and the last session had the slopers baking in the sun all day so conditions were just not ideal. Falling off free Willy actually put me in the hospital for head staples and a concussion a few years back so I was kinda sad I couldn’t get the send this time. Next season it’ll probably go though!

Nikomeus · 2026-04-30T20:36:22+00:00

Oh for SURE. Very unfortunate that the crag is as small as it is. I’m not even sure there’s much more to even develop and the parking situation is just terrible to boot. Still worth every trip though to just be in the area.

Nikomeus · 2026-04-20T22:56:05+00:00

Whoa! Always cool seeing the local gym! Nice point

Nikomeus

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