Aaron's Status

7:01 pm

Fall

On our way back up from the in-laws, we stopped at “Clyde’s Cider Mill,” which is an absolute institution in southeastern Connecticut. They have an actual steam engine that runs their cider press and going to see it in action is one of those “must-do” townie activities in the area.

We got a gallon of cider, a couple of hot ciders for the road, and a dozen apple cider donuts. You know fall has arrived when the apple cider donuts come out. Some people celebrate the season with pumpkin spice, but those people are demented monsters; apple cider donuts are the true autumnal tradition.

Gear

My first “real” pair of climbing shoes were “LaSportiva Tarantulas” and they definitely dramatically improved my climbing ability from wearing ill-fitting rental shoes. I think most people would agree with this; feet are all different shapes and when you find shoes that work for you it can be a real game-changer.

But those shoes are starting to separate at the sole, so I decided I should get some new shoes. Perhaps, I thought, it is time now to move to a shoe with a bit more of an arch.

After chatting with one of the guys who works at our gym and has been around the climbing block a lot more than I have, it seemed like the LaSportiva Kubo could be really good for me. The toe box is the same shape as the Tarantulas and that’s the hardest thing for me to find.

At the gym they only had up to size EU 44 and they were painfully small. We figured I’d probably need a 45. I looked on REI’s website but theirs stopped at 44 as well. I looked at all of the websites on the internet and found only a couple of pairs of 45s at all (but they are out there).

I really wanted to try some on in person, though, to dial in the sizing, so I started trying to find any place locally that sells climbing shoes. That’s when I (re)discovered Public Lands.

Public Lands opened in our town a couple of years ago now, but as a devout REI shopper I never had a reason to go in. That is, until I discovered that they have all manner of climbing gear. I went immediately.

Not only do they sell all manner of climbing gear, but they have a decently sized climbing wall that apparently they allow shoppers to use on the weekends, or so I overheard someone say. Long story short, they didn’t have EU 45, but they had EU 44.5 and EU 45.5, so I figured if I tried both of those I could be pretty sure that EU 45 would be the correct move.

But as luck would have it, I felt very good in the EU 45.5 ones and got them.

I also bought some rope and a water bottle and none of that is important, but as I was walking around the perimeter of the store to see what else they had, carrying all this stuff, a nice older guy says to me “Do you want to try those shoes out on the wall?”

You don’t have to ask me twice!

So it is thanks to my new friend Jeff who works at Public Lands that I was able to briefly get onto the bouldering wall and see how they felt for real. I could tell immediately that the toes were firmer, and the rubber is so sticky compared to my current ones.

Tomorrow will be my first “real” go with them at the gym and I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes!

Also, after we do our regular “family climb,” I’m sticking around with my friend and regular belay buddy to take the first of our lead climbing classes, which will get us “certified” to lead climb at our gym (but also teach us how to actually do it ha ha).

I’m pretty excited to add lead to my skills repertoire, and curious to see how it spices up lower-grade routes that we’ve already done to death.