How to choose your first pair of shoes

There is a moment, usually three or four sessions in, when the hire shoes start to feel like the limiting factor. They are battered, stretched, slightly damp from the last person, and they smell of every climber who came before you. Buying your own pair is one of the small joys of getting into climbing. It is also where a lot of beginners go wrong, talked into an aggressive, painful shoe that looks the part and actively holds them back.

Choosing a first pair is not complicated once you know what actually matters. It comes down to shape, fit, and resisting the temptation to buy the shoe a strong climber wears.

Shape: go flat, not downturned

Climbing shoes broadly fall into three shapes, and the difference is mostly about how curved they are.

As a beginner, you want the flat, neutral end of that table. A flat shoe is more comfortable, lets you stand on your feet for long sessions while you build up the habit of using them, and is far better on the slabs and gentle walls where you will spend most of your early time. Aggressive downturned shoes are built to pull on steep terrain and tiny footholds, which is not where you are climbing yet. They are also genuinely uncomfortable, and a shoe you do not want to put on is a shoe that does not get worn. There is more on this in how to choose climbing shoes and aggressive, moderate or neutral, choosing a climbing shoe shape.

The best first shoe is one you can wear for a whole session and still want to climb in. Performance you cannot tolerate is not performance.

Fit: snug, not crippling

This is the part everyone overthinks. You will read that climbing shoes should be agonisingly tight, that real climbers curl their toes and grit their teeth. Ignore most of that for a first pair.

A good first shoe should be snug with no dead space, your toes touching or very gently curled at the end, and no painful pressure points. You want it to feel close and precise, not like a medieval torture device. A shoe that hurts at rest will hurt ten times more on the wall, and you will end up taking it off between every climb, which teaches you bad habits.

Some practical fitting advice:

• Try shoes on later in the day when your feet are slightly larger
• Wear them with no socks, or thin ones if the shop allows
• Walk and stand on a small edge or fixture if there is one
• Expect leather shoes to stretch a little, synthetic ones much less
• If you are between sizes, the more comfortable size is usually right for a first pair

Sizing rarely matches your street shoe size, and it varies wildly between brands, so do not buy purely off a number. If you can try before you buy, do. A shop that lets you stand around in a few pairs is worth more than a small saving online.

Velcro, laces or slip-on

You will see three closure types. For a first shoe, velcro straps are the easy default. They are quick to get on and off, which matters when you are taking your shoes off between climbs as a beginner often does, and they give a decent enough fit for the climbing you are doing.

Laces give the most precise, adjustable fit and tend to suit people with awkwardly shaped feet, but they are a faff to keep doing up. Slip-on elasticated shoes are comfy and good for training but offer the least support. None of this is a big decision at this stage. Velcro and crack on.

Rubber and stiffness, briefly

Two more terms you will hear are rubber and stiffness, and they matter a little even at the beginner end.

The rubber is the sticky compound on the sole, and softer rubber grips better but wears faster, while harder rubber lasts longer and supports your foot more. A stiffer shoe supports your foot on small edges and is more forgiving while your foot muscles are still weak, which is genuinely helpful early on. A very soft, sensitive shoe lets you feel the holds but demands strong feet to use well. For a first pair, a moderately stiff, flatter shoe is the friendlier choice. You can chase softness and sensitivity later once your feet have got stronger. If you want to go deeper, soft versus stiff shoes, which suits you covers the trade-off properly.

What to ignore for now

A few things genuinely do not matter for your first pair:

• The colour and how it looks, however tempting
• What grade your strong mate's shoes are designed for
• Whether it is the newest model
• Heel and toe hook rubber, which you will not use much yet

You are buying a tool to learn in, not a status symbol. A comfortable, flat, well-fitting shoe at the budget end of the market will serve you better through your first year than an expensive aggressive shoe you wince to put on.

Looking after them

Once you have your shoes, a little care goes a long way. Take them off between long rests so they air out, and never leave them baking in a hot car or stuffed in a sweaty bag for days, because heat and damp wreck the rubber and the smell. When the front edge wears smooth and slick, you do not necessarily need a whole new pair. A resole is far cheaper and keeps a shoe you have broken in going for ages, which we cover in when to resole your climbing shoes.

Buying your first proper pair of shoes is a small milestone, and it is hard to get badly wrong if you keep it simple. Go flat, fit it snug but bearable, pick velcro, and spend your money on comfort rather than aggression. Get that right and your feet will quietly become one of the best things about your climbing, which is exactly what a good first shoe is meant to do.