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General Climbing Discussion

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Easter Henry Barber Reenactment Days at Araps 20-Mar-2008 At 9:44:46 AM ithomas

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Actually, no-one has the exact boots worn by Henry. His shoes were the first and only prototype for
what would became Shoenards. I had two pairs, an early dark suede pair made by Chouinard (1975)
and a later, lighter coloured pair made by Vasque (1977ish). Neither could smear, but who smeared
back then anyway; mostly we sneered. Nothing could out edge Shoenards, nothing. At Arapiles they
could be used in those weird shallow, fused, incipient, horizontal breaks that you find between dinner
plate sized bulges. The toe somehow latched on and stuck. In cracks they were very good and
supremely comfortable, if a little insensitive. If you had technique and trusted your feet, they were
superb. Henry's shoes, however, were different. He had Chouinard construct the prototype with softish
(slightly sticky) rubber. His shoes could edge and smear (sort of). None of the shoes which made it
into the retail world had that rubber. Point is, Henry's technique was so good he could climb anything in
anything, including barefeet.
Cheers
Ian