So one dude basically designed all of my favorite climbing shoes. Solutions, instincts, boosters, katanas, testarossas, vapors. So basically he's responsible for why I love La Sportiva and Scarpa. Good to know.

Shoe designer: How much velcro do you want on the shoe? Mad Rock: Yes.

This dude makes quality videos of a multi million sub channel and only has 20 k cmon ppl 😑

Just thought I'd add that there was a cool history of mountaineers (and early rock climbers I believe) using tennis or felt shoes on rock because their stiff boots couldn't climb rock well. These kind of softer shoes were the genesis of modern climbing shoes in a lot of ways.

I definitely think you should be out of the rental shoes after max 3 months. The rental shoes at my gym had zero stiffness and when I got my Tarantulaces I remember being able to flash a problem I couldn't even start in the rentals. The rentals were smooth as eggs and limp as a flour tortilla.

I started rock climbing 2 months ago and now Im watching vids about shoes and really enjoying them. What happened to me? No but seriously dude, really nice video keep up the good work!

Great video sir! Appriciate to being mentioned.

OMG such a good video! make another one for harnesses!

At 14:28 you talk about Unparallel and how the creators of that are from 5.10. That isn't the exact story. Adidas bought out 5.10 and fired all the climbing shoes engineers and hired ZERO replacements. They are mainly just selling remakes of their older shoes now.

I feel that the most important thing about climbing shoes, is whether or not they fit your footshape well. If Solutions feel like Adam Ondra is squeezing your forefoot while the heel constantly slips out, and yet the rental Tenaya's have no deadspots and feel good, then the latter is the better shoe for you. It's really interesting to see some Scarpa athletes switching between Instincts and Drago's, seeing as the latter is so much more narrow in the forefoot. Or Daniel Woods going from Solutions to Evolv shoes, which also tend to be much wider in front and narrow in the heel.

This is such a high quality and informative video. The amount of research that must have gone into this is incredible. Thank you so much for this video!

This is the first time I hear his name clearly, it's Albert "Ork" Not Albert "Okay"...

I really love and enjoy your honest, upright content! I just started this year and your beta break videos are a must for every beginner! keep crushing it :)

amazing effort (: thank you for such a comprehensive video! lots of research done here.

Amazing work. A huge thank you for this video and all the information it contains. Very instructive! Keep crushing!

Just came back home from the gym, a pretty disappointing day, fell on some routes I should flash easily. The end of the video cheers me up instantly, it reminds me the time when I first started. And the passion will never change. Next time I’ll crush those routes!

Great video dude. Really appreciate the effort you put into the video!

Interesting final comment about beginning in rental/beginner shoes. After climbing in higher performance shoes I’d never go back, but I still got a lot of climbing done in my sloppy first pair of shoes, and had a lot of fun. Blissfully unaware of what I was missing

Amazing! Loved to know about that evolution!!! This was a Piece of art!!!

This was a super cool video. I think you could take this concept and make it into a series like “History of Climbing gear, hold, gyms, etc.” Can’t wait to see more!

Thanks for another awesome upload Albert, i always get so stoked when i see that there's a new video out! :D

Your content is always so top notch in so many ways. Thank you for what you do!

This is great! I love the way you've summarized and condensed the history and future of climbing shoes! P.S. I love your poster of Jain Kim.

Yet another amazing video mate! You're absolutely killing it. Always looking forward to what's in store from you :)

When I started climbing in 1972, Royal Robbins climbing shoes were all the rage and were being used by many climbing in Yosemite. I believe they first came out in 1969. I bought a pair of PA's in Italy in 1976 and climbed in them enough to have them resoled once.

Great video man ! The quality of your channel consistently blows me away, you definitely deserve more subscribers (and I'm sure you will get them). Cheers from France !

Great video bro! Thanks for the effort!

I've been climbing for about 15 years now. For most of that time I used rental shoes. (Due to it being a regular climbing group where most people did the same, and me still growing at that time) only three years ago I got a pair of leasing shoes from Edelried. Now I own my first pair, that really belongs to me (Scarpa Apira). Tomorrow is the first time I will use them for real, I am exited, but I had a lot of fun until now.

Actually researching all the way back to prehistory to give us the full history of climbing shoes, nice. Good thing I have this video to tell me my ancestors climbed with dirt on their feet XD (but for real, great video! It was really cool to see the evolution of climbing shoes over the years, it's crazy how much things have changed in just my lifetime.)

So happy to be a part of your audience when you were starting out! Love your stuff

I told my friend that I found a new great climbing youtuber and I strongly recommended him to subscribe. He asked me what was that? I said Albert OK, he said he subscribed it long time ago and recommended me before...

thanks for the video! Great research and very interesting. Keep up the good work!

This video is really amazing. The information are easy to understand and the editing is really tought trough. I recently got my first shoes. The classic beginner shoe. In my case it is la sportiva- Tarantula blue.

Bravo Albert! The last thing about having fun is the core! I have climbed lot of routes with the old scarpa spider and unfortunately broke them two years ago... Now it's tenaya tarifa for all the rock I can get

You definitely deserve more recognition, great video as always!

Love your videos Albert !!

Fantastic video! Heinz is a true hero to the climbing scene

Great video, really enjoyed it.

Great video man, really enjoyed it and learned a lot. New sub. I’d love to see a comparison between the testarossa and the solution, pros and cons!

Amazing video! Subscribed!

Great video! Thanks! You could have mentionned the rise of "No Edge" shoes, other than that very thorough! Side note: Super gratton (Gratton meaning "crimp" in french) what the model name, EB is the brand (still exist)

Great history vid! Hope to see more in the future, like the origin of cams or something and you good sir keep crushing as well 🤙

Interesting video! PS The timelapse of the gym being built beginning around 11:39 is the gym I climbed at for years, TRC morrisville :P it was cool to see it being built.

Hey cool, the footage of the gym being built at 11:40 is my climbing gym TRC in morrisville! Thought I recognized that wall lol.

Awwwsssooommmmeeeee!🤘 Now my head hurts from so much new information. 🤣 Great history and would definitely never found it like you did. My first pair of shoes were the La Sportiva Muiras and I too the advice of the gym staff to buy 2 sizes down? 😲 They hurt so bad but got my first indoor V5 cave climb. In the short 5+ years I’ve bought about 15 pairs of shoes with all brand & makes, but kept closer to my street foot size. I’ve noticed that as my skills improve, a certain style works better. When I climbed 12 hours a couple weeks ago (a combo of Stoney Point and 3 indoor gyms), I switched between my Unparallel Uprise VCS and 510 Team. Like you said, doesn’t really matter of the shoes, as long as you’re having fun. 🤘

Love the cover with Jain Kim behind you! ♥️

no way!!! the footage of the gym being constructed is my local gym (triangle rock club)

Thank you for this history lesson! Very informative video!

I got a pair of the 2012 Solutions still on my feet, they just feel awesome. Made a longer climbing pause that's why I still have them :)

Nice research! Very much enjoyed it :)

Interesting video! My first climbing shoe was an old brazilian entry level shoe called Snake Blox, mas was super thin and soft, but quite gripy (I'm from Brazil). Then, as I progressed, I bought a La Sportiva Tarantulace and honestly it was the worse shoe I have every owned. Since my thing is long trad climbs, not too technical, it is easier to find. I currently own Millet and probably the best shoe I've ever owned!

One of the best and well-edited videos of yours, constantly improving, ive watched this video at least 1000000000 times... btw - nice Kim Jain Poster

Thanks for your great sharing 👍

Great video, a few things I would have loved you to flesh out or include though was the use of rope soled shoes in Bleau to advance the standards of the time, some of the test pieces from the 30's done with these shoes are still solid today. The advent and importance of tensioned rands, and lastly the importance of more shoes that really progressed the sport. The Boreal Laser being a great example ;)

You did not mention too much about Boreal except for the beginning. That company has evolved so well. They have a new line of asymmetric shoes, depending of the climbing needs, such as Satori, Dharma, and Mutant

Awesome video!! love the history here.

Very educational, I loved this. I learned so much.

super! great work!

I am a beginner and I have tarantulas (velcro) for outdoor climbing 😁 they are really good. (At least for me for the start) but this video was really educational! Thank you. Hope my skill and shoes will evolve one day.

nice video, very informative!!!

Well done Albert, always enjoy these types of videos and your pace was great! My first pair of shoes was the Five Ten Moccasym, purchased 2006 on Zappos haha. I was told that was the shoe to get because all of the local crushers were wearing them and they were a favorite of Chris Sharma. I then bought the Five Ten Anasazi VCS because all of the Dosage videos at the time showed Sharma crushing in them, plus the edge was so much different from the soft toe of the Moccs. I remember when the Solution came out and also the buzz about the new kid crusher coming into the scene, Daniel Woods. Awesome to see the evolution of things in climbing, hope you do more like this, keep up the excellent work!

Idk if you want to change it, but at 3:14 you can’t read the full text

Albert you truly inspire me to get outside and go climbing! keep up the good work!!

Such a great video!! Very interesting, thank you. Ps: you forgot the brand Garra

Great video! Thx

If you could do a video on shoe care and simple shoe fixes, I think that would be huge hit. A lot of climbers (myself included) have limited knowledge of best practices to maintain rubber for stickiness and longevity. As well, some shoes become less comfortable over time with wear, whether leather hardening or stitching becoming more pronounced/abrasive. Addressing climbing shoe issues outside of resoling and initial fit, would be a huge resource to the community.

Great video. Wish you would’ve talked some about the La Sportiva Mirage, the first downturned aggressive shoe

And great video, as always, Albert! You're easily becoming one of my favorite informative climbing channels on YT. Quality content and I dig your editing style. :)

Keep up the awesome videos!

Wonderful documentary. Thanks

I've seen a documetary of Alberto Rabada and Ernesto Navarro wearing something called "Alpargatas de Cañamo" roughly translates to "hemp spadrilles". When thwy visoted the US locals where skeptical of their footware, but after seening what they could do, locals were more interested in way to get a pair of those alpargatas.

Proud user of the 5.10 Dragons! Loved them so much I got them re-soled when they wore out, and they still work like a charm. For some reason, the 5.10 men's Hiangles didn't last very long for me (blew a hole in the toe area within the first 6 months) so I went back to Dragons. Haven't tried the new ones though, not sure if I should cause I heard it's not the same as the first version.

Great video very informative!

Awesome video bro!!!!

I always thought it was pronounced “Albert okay” lmaoo

Great video Albert! How do your Furia airs compare to the Skwamas? I'm thinking of grabbing a pair after I got the Veloces as an indoor beater and absolutely love Scarpa's heel and fit.

Superb video.

My first pair after 2 months in rentals were Half Size Down Solutions. I can remember the pain of breaking them in, but the MASSIVE improvement in skill. After that I bought my Oracles and Mythos in January, and I’ve only been climbing in my Oracles since then, I’m planning on buying the phantoms, as I’ve heard they are way more aggressive than the Oracles. I just hoped they’ve finally made a good heel :(

Well made. In depth.

Great research man!

You only mentionned briefly Stealth C4 but it was a huge improvement in rubber. A bunch of Fontainebleau slab project got sent easily with C4. Most Bleausards were sponsored by Boreal but they all secretly resoled them with C4. Great videos. Hope to see more gear history.

Boreal Laser was instrumental back in early 90’s pushing the grades up.

Good bit of history there! Did you publish the list of brand makers somewhere?

That's was a really good video. 👍

this is so fascinating

The tarantula is such a great beginner shoe. I've never had the same comfort level in any other shoe. I have a greek foot and I've yet have to find a shoe as comfortable as a tarantula except with grip rubber.

Great video

Amazing video!

Barely talked about FiveTen and the anazasi shoe which is still in production today. I love their Stealth C4 rubber, but my favorite shoes used had Stealth Onyxx rubber which was perfect for super sharp routes in my area. I've since resoled them with vibram XS Edge which is the closest. I've yet to see better rubber than what Stealth produces.

Great video! you miss Acopa (made in Mexico by Ernesto Vázquez and John Bachar) and Rock On

Alright Albert you’ve convinced me to start climbing again, I’m HEADING TO COLORADO 🧗‍♀️

If I remember correctly, Heinz also designed the Scarpa Veloce. And boy did he a good job with this one as well.

I still have a pair of PAs somewhere in my basement. I thought Boreal Firé was pronounced "Fee-Ray", not "Fi-er"

Awesome channel

Yeah dude you really put an amazing content here for the rock climbing community. For me RedChili! '\m/ Thanks bro and we will crush it!

Thanks for the video. Acopa/RockOn is another company 🇲🇽. They had John Bachar behind them until he passed away.

At 13:32, the climber (Fanny Gilbert, correct me if I'm wrong) has got some SERIOUS hops!

Hi Albert Ok, great video! I just wanted to ask, where can I find the music that you used on this video?? I really like your music choices

great video man, ive seen your videos poping up more and more this one finally made me subscribe, i have a consult for you, as my local gym is reopening soon finally, i was thinking in buying new shoes, i have a problem tho, wich ones to buy, I currently use anasazi 510, had cobras before that, and a super super awful mad rock pair, mugen tech i believe they were, im more of an indoor boulder climber looking to improove my footwork, my main concern is that i have really thin feet, those mugen tech felt like flip flop after a month or so, care to advice wich kind of shoes for thin feet?

a quick thing on the Drago: It was released in europe as a limited edition in early 2016 (april?), and july in NA (you can find a video from april 2016 where it's already released: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ZsWXiLCT3djMZXk.html), so It's been around for more than 4 years. Incredible to think that Scarpa couldn't figure out that the whole world would want these amazing shoes, and only was going to sell 1000. I'm as much of a climber as I am a total hardware geek, so I really appreciate you bringing the janky art of shoe design to the wider climbing community who may otherwise overlook it. I really believe we've only scratched the surface of shoe design, but it will take a widespread interest in the sport to foster innovation. Without the financial backing to design new shoes (or materials for that matter), only truly visionary people who love what they do will innovate in the space, and the world hasn't found a new Heinz Mariacher yet.