Climbing is a good way to enjoy the physical ability to adventure. Both indoor gym climbing and outdoor rock climbing are challenging. To take that challenge, your need to wear the necessary gear. One important thing is climbing shoes. But, would you like to wear socks with climbing shoes?
The answer is totally up to you, whether you like to wear socks while climbing or not. There are many controversies have taken place on this concept. Many people agree with this, but others don’t. Wearing socks with climbing shoes have many advantages as well as drawbacks also. If you are confused about this debate, then keep reading to know what is best for you.
Key Takeaways
- Wearing socks with climbing shoes is a matter of personal preference.
- Some benefits of wearing socks with climbing shoes include added comfort, a better fit, reduced bad smells, warm feet, and blister prevention.
- Some drawbacks of wearing socks with climbing shoes include reduced sensitivity and reduced ability to “feel” the rock.
- Ultimately, the decision to wear socks with climbing shoes comes down to the individual climber’s preferences and needs.
Why Wear Socks with Climbing Shoes?
Climbing shoes are very compact to give you full potential over your foot flexibility. These shoes are specified for climbing. Wearing socks with the climbing shoe will help you with many different angles. It will give you an advantage rather than not wearing socks with climbing shoes.
Even though, it is not a debate about wearing socks, especially with climbing shoes. You can wear socks with any other shoes if you want to. It totally depends on your habit of footwear and your opinion. You may think that wearing socks while climbing is unusual. But you should know that many climbers wear socks while climbing. Let’s see the benefits you can get from wearing socks with climbing shoes.
Comfort
Socks are invented to ensure the comfort of the foot. It could be comforting for the cold or your skin from shoes. The same goes for climbing. People wear socks during climbing to have comfortable climbing. It is reported that climbers can climb higher for a long time due to added comfort of their socks.
People from the 70s believed that comfort and climbing does not go well. They also had a funny concept that all kinds of sports outfits should be sports shoes with long socks. However, both of these ideas are not quite true. You can climb wearing whatever socks you want to wear for climbing.
Make a Strong Fit
Wearing socks with climbing shoes can fill up the unnecessary gap inside. Many climbers suffer this problem during a middle of a climbing. This gap between your feet and shoes will give you less confidence about rock climbing.
You may think that climbing is not for you. But, believe me, from my experience, wearing short socks during rock climbing will fill up this unwanted shoe gap which will make you confident and increase your concentration on climbing.
Prevent Bad Smell
Rock climbing or indoor gym climbing is addictive and it consumes a long hour. Climbers often forget the track of time. It is hard to track actually. During this lengthy process, a climber sweats a lot, and their feet get sweaty also. This invites a bad smell in your climbing shoes.
Wearing a pair of nice socks will reduce this problem pretty much. Especially for climbers, this is really annoying to get sweat and smell all over shoes after climbing. A pair of socks will soak all the dirt and keep your shoes from smelling. This will also help your focus on climbing.
Warm Feet
While climbing, keeping your feet warm is important. Most importantly for those who climb in cold weather. Most of the climbers wear socks for the same reasons. Keeping a climber’s toe warm is important during climbing.
If you have climbed in the snow, then you may know exactly what happens when your toes get cold while climbing. Even so, when you are climbing indoors, you may feel cold toes due to lack of rotation or if the gym keeps everything cool inside.
Prevent Foot Blister
Climbing is important for a climber, as well as keeping his or her foot from getting infected by blister effects. This is very common for many people. Even for those who do not climb at all. The blister is caused by wearing dirty shoes without protection. This infection looks really ugly.
Blisters can mess up your climbing experience and may make you think to stop climbing before you are ready to be done. Blisters on your toes are usually caused by sweat and shoes being too loose. However, depending on where blisters are forming, a little step can prevent this and save your feet by wearing socks.
Easy to Wear Shoes
Wearing socks during rock or wall climbing has many benefits. One of them is to wear on and off your shoes easily. Socks make your foot get less friction with the shoes. This makes it easy to wear.
During climbing, a climber has to wear off shoes many times. This habit keeps a climber calm and it helps to sweat less. A pair of socks can help to get climbing shoes on and off easier. This is likely as the sock is super flexible and can either stick to the shoe or provide an easier means for your foot to slip out. Adding a surface that is easier for your foot to remove from the shoe.
Prevent Slippage from Sweat
Slipping feet inside shoes is a common problem for climbers. This happens when sweat and dust mix up with each other and makes a muddy compound inside climbing shoes. This is very annoying and hard to clean.
Wearing the right socks will prevent this problem. The socks will absorb the sweat so that you do not feel slippery in your shoe and it will make it so that your shoe fits tighter around the heel.
Why not Wear Socks with Climbing Shoes?
People use to climb mountains barefoot a few centuries ago. Sports shoes have been developed in such a way that you do not need to wear socks. The texture of the fabric inside the shoe is unique and some shoes even have additional cushions around the heel so that you can be more comfortable while hooking the heel without wearing socks. However, there are more valid reasons why climbers do not wear socks climbing.
Decrease Touch Sense
One of the main reasons you should not wear socks is to decrease the space between your foot and the climbing wall. So you can have enhanced sensitivity to rocks and footholds. Having your toes closer to the rocks will give more sense as there is less material between them.
A thick pair of socks will delay your ability to feel the rock. Thin pair of socks would not make much difference, especially when you are just started climbing and not on particularly advanced routes.
Decrease Friction Between Foot and Shoe
Wearing socks can decrease friction between your foot and shoe. This can be dangerous for climbing. If you feel less in control over your shoes and you may not put your toe as you want, then you should not wear the wrong socks with climbing shoes.
Tight Fit Inside Shoes
Wearing the wrong or any kind of socks can make your feet feel tight inside your shoes. This feeling can increase the possibility of losing confidence and control in your toes. This tight fit keeps your feet under pressure which disturbs the blood flow. As a result, your toes get numb, and can’t feel them properly. It is not acceptable during climbing. Better take off your socks and rest your feet for a while.
Perfect Socks to Wear
Socks for climbing shoes should be specific. The purpose of these socks is to ensure safe climbing without facing uncomfortable situations.
Select socks that are thin to allow air to flow. So they can refresh your feet and bring comfort without disturbing your sensitivity.
For climbing, you should choose a pair of socks that are:
- Tight enough to avoid sagginess.
- Allows fitting not to slip inside the shoe.
- Not so tight that they affect blood flow to your feet when combined with the shoe’s tightness.
- Avoid any low-cost socks. They can slip inside the shoe or bring slight pain in the ankle due to the stand-out edges inside the shoe.
When to Wear Socks
Rental shoes are available in most of the climbing spots. If you ever wish to climb into a new location wearing rental shoes, do not put them on directly. Remember, they are used shoes, used by someone else right before your turn. These shoes can cause infections. So put on your socks and then put your rental shoes on. This is mandatory for anyone renting climbing shoes.
Borrowed shoes also have the same case and possibility. In a sense, they both are the same. So wear your socks before your wear borrowed shoes.
In winter, you might be wearing your favorite socks all the time. The cold season is severe for those who have sinusitis and migraine pain. They must wear socks in winter. Your feet are the gateway to getting cold. So, why not wear socks during climbing in cold weather?
To fit with shoes, you may want to wear socks. Fitting your shoes is important for climbing. It can be risky to wear loose climbing shoes while climbing.
FAQs
Do you wear socks with athletic shoes?
A good pair of athletic shoes are expensive. Wearing no socks will cause sweat and bacteria to build up inside your shoes, causing them to smell and leaving them dirty and smell out. Protect your new shoes by always wearing a nice pair of sports socks inside them.
Is it alright to wear shoes without socks once?
Many shoes are not designed to wear without socks. Making direct contact with your foot can easily get a blister from wearing shoes without socks for a day. A blister on your foot is very painful and annoying. But if there is no sock to protect you, you will be putting an open wound into a bacteria-filled shoe.
Is it gross to wear socks twice?
Yes, even if your feet are not sweaty enough, you should not wear the same pair of socks twice a day. The reason being is that your feet contain around 250,000 sweat glands and can excrete as much as half a pint of moisture a day.
How often should you throw away your socks?
Regardless of how long are your socks, they should sit comfortably on your foot and leg. If worn once a week, socks should last between six months to a year. It depends on the quality of the socks that you have.
Are white socks better for your feet?
White cotton socks are recognized to be the gold standard for protecting our feet from moisture, infection, and blisters. In fact, the gospel that white cotton socks continue to be adopted in many circles.
Final Thoughts
Wearing socks during wall climbing is not a universal thing to consider. It is totally up to you whether you want them on your feet or not. To decide that thoughtfully, you need to consider a few things to consider in your interest and choice. Wear the right kind of socks specifically for climbing. Choosing the wrong pair of socks, which is itchy and thick can increase the possibility of unwanted incidents during climbing. Woolen socks are prohibited for climbing shoes.
