What? You wear socks when you climb? Yes, I’m the odd climber in the gym who wears socks with climbing shoes.
Why don’t most climbers wear socks?
- Climbing without socks allows you to have your feet feel the wall better. This is particularly important during bouldering and sport climbing as you can get a better idea of the hold your weight is being placed on.
- Additionally, not wearing socks allows one to wear a smaller shoe for a tighter fit. Many advanced climbers wear multiple sizes lower than their standard shoe size to have more precision.
- Climbing without socks is also the convention of climbers. Just as most climbers use chalk, most climbers also climb without socks because that’s what others do.
So why do I wear socks if virtually no other climbers do?
- My feet have never felt comfortable in climbing shoes without socks. Since the first time I climbed, I always felt better climbing in socks.
- Without socks, I get a lot of blisters and skin tears on my feet which are painful and take time to heal.
- I can climb longer in a training session with socks. Given that I travel a long way to train on a speed wall, the longer I can train, the better.
- My feet recover much faster after a training session when I wear socks.
- There are few advantages to climbing without socks during speed climbing. You do not feel the wall at all when speed climbing and downsizing is not as important for speed.
So go ahead and give socks a try. You may have a few climbers ask you why you wear them. It’s one of my tricks for training longer and more frequently. Sometimes you just have to find your own way with climbing equipment.