i have spent a lot of money on shoes...well 60 quid you probably wont like them but i am excited

[zippitippitoes]

....these scarpa vantage

now what should i wear with them

bearing in mind i am hoping to encounter some hunky climbers

Hotpants?

and once again my faith in mumsnetters is restored

a cocktail dress?

i am wearing them now

the guy that sold them to me was rather nice too

i have six evening sessions booked starting monday

in the local posh boys school

i like Scarpa's as climbing shoes.

not as much as La Sportiva, which really seem to fit my feet best. i cherish my Kaukulators (long since out of production), Mythos and orange slippers.

i have bunions from shoving my feet into too tight climbing slippers for sport climbs and doing too many walk downs (unplanned) in climbing shoes and had calluses on all my toes for years.

but man, you could soooo feel the stone under your feet in those shoes!

if they super hurt - like, you're ripping them off as soon as your partner starts to lower you - i recommend breaking them in by wearing a stocking sock or knee high under htem.

believe you me, the real climbing guys don't care about how it looks, they get turned on by someone's good attitude towards climbing and by how someone can move and keep their wits.

well i am not sure i am going to make a very impressive climber but i am giving it a whirl

two years ago i would have been too old and fat and unfit

well i baulked at getting them too tight

i have climbed with many a paunchy, well-past 50-year-old climbing dude who could climb circles round people 20+ years younger.

my first pair of shoes were not tight at all.

then i gave them away because i couldn't climb in them- couldn't feel my feet .

they do have thin soles, though, so teh feet can feel knobbly no matter what.

if you can wear a sock under them, they're too loose .

but starting at fat and 50 is a bit different?

do you still climb tho? you always sound as tho you gave it up

Nope, starting at 50, or any age, is the right time. There is something for everyone in climbing, it's just a matter of finding what that is.

I gave up when I fell pregnant with DD1.

Still have my stuff, though.

It's like driving a manual car or riding a bike, it's not something you forget.

well as my first date with bf was climbing i think i should take it as an omen that i am meant to do it

its a lot less claustrophobic than scuba too

Or caving/spelunking, which is how my ex came to climbing.

I tried it once and it was like ice climbing, not for me.

it's so much fun. it's such a high (no pun intended) .

well i shocked myself at climbing up these walls the first time never mind the fact that i was on a date with someone off the internet

but i do quite like the strategy idea

the bit that scares me is being responsible for belaying someone

i casnt seem to convince bf of the scariness of that or my worry at making a mess of it

and the logic of a great big bloke on the end of your rope is difficult to get my head round

are you still going to do it lapin

Go naked just with the shoes on

i am afraid naked would be alarmingly scary

even falling down trousers is scary...i have experienced that one the riding up top and the falling down trousers

I find climbing very spiritual myself.

A famous German climber once said, 'You're only as good a climber as you are a belayer' and this is very true.

But it's only really tricky if you are belaying a leader, especially outdoors, who is much heavier than you are (and you are not good at setting anchors) or in some tricky situations outside like a meandering route or in a stormy situation or a pitch outside with a shite belay.

In a gym situation, though, on a top rope, it is truly the best way to practice the technique and gain confidence.