climbrunride
Sport climber
Durango, CO
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 20, 2009 - 08:20pm PT
|
I was digging through some old shoes the other day looking for something which would fit a friend who wants to try climbing, when I came across my old Boreal Aces. They were the first pair of brand new (not used) climbing shoes I ever bought. And they are still my favorite ever. They have been through 13 or 14 resoles, four rands and countless routes. If I'm not mistaken, they were a Bacher design - and they were FANTASTIC!
I finally retired them, thinking they were at their end. I bought some second generation Aces, but they were different. They just never stretched out or broke in like the original version.
So now, about a dozen pair of other shoes later, my Aces have new laces and I'm excited to get out and climb in them again. Maybe they can make it through another couple sets of soles...
|
|
Pate
Mountain climber
Poor Valley
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2009 - 08:56pm PT
|
I pulled mine out of a storage unit last week- lookin' sweet! Rock 'n Resole new job.
I have 2 more pairs too.....
Jealous?
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2009 - 08:58pm PT
|
Boreal Ballets - best shoe EVAR (high top of the ACE)
Boreal Ballet Golds - decent, but just didn't feel the same, still better than lots of others.
|
|
up2top
Big Wall climber
Phoenix, AZ
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2009 - 09:01pm PT
|
I ran across mine last weekend while moving. They were the 2nd pair I ever owned and definitely one of my favorite for long trad routes.
Ed
|
|
Pate
Mountain climber
Poor Valley
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2009 - 09:06pm PT
|
Gunna have to go with the Vector as the best ever. Pulled them out too- also bought in triplicate!
|
|
climbrunride
Sport climber
Durango, CO
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 20, 2009 - 09:29pm PT
|
First gen vs second gen:
Only small differences, and I know the second gen Aces ROCKED too, but they just never felt quite as great.
Pate - I wish I would have gotten some Vectors. Everyone I knew who had them, loved them. And yeah, now I know that when I find something that fits so well, to buy several pair!
|
|
Pate
Mountain climber
Poor Valley
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2009 - 09:33pm PT
|
I never realized the difference between the 1st gen and 2nd gen Ace. I can see how the 1st gen stretched out a little better with less rubber.
Maybe someday the shoe companies will start doing what Nike and Adidas and others are doing: releasing retro identical versions of old shoes.
I'd be down for new La Sportiva Megas and Mariachers, Boreal Ballets, Aces and Vectors.
|
|
Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2009 - 09:39pm PT
|
oh snappadellic, yeah Vectors were DEElux. I think I did some of my hardest onsights in them. Couldn't wear em for too long those first years.
I still have em though. hrm, resole...
|
|
Pate
Mountain climber
Poor Valley
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2009 - 09:41pm PT
|
Vectors were the first shoes I took off at every belay. Torture chambers, but they climb SO good.
|
|
zip
Trad climber
pacific beach, ca
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2009 - 09:45pm PT
|
 Missing photo ID#131791
I concur.
I bought two pairs around 1987.
Last year i took a pair to Locker for a resole, and he told me they were a gonner, so i am down to one pair now.
Shortly after i purchased my Aces I moved to CO, and went to Shelf Road for my first time.
I was with my friend , who was climbing at Shelf for the first time too.
We warmed up on some easier stuff, and started to look for some routes in the mid 11 range.
We ran in to Derek Hersey, and asked him where we might find something in our range to climb.
He recommended a wall and we headed over there.
We were in an area where all the walls sort of looked the same, and weren't really sure what we were getting on, but my friend decided to give it a ago. We figured it was around 11b.
My friend ends up backing off of it after struggling about half way up it.
It was Winter, the ground was covered with snow, and i was pretty cold, but I decided to give it a go.
I am able to climb it, but with great difficulty. I am thinking, what's wrong with these shoes? I clip the last bolt, totally flamed, and am counting the feet to the chains.
Right before i grab the chains, i rip. I fall past 3 bolts and wonder WTF is my belayer doing, and when am i gonna stop?
He finally does catch me, and i look down and laugh. He was belaying me from a rock off to the side of the route, to get off the snow. I had dragged him through the snow to the base of the route, and he had left two deep tracks, that reminded me of Fred Flintstone's brakes.
The route didn't seem that steep, but i never hit the wall on the way down.
I got back up on it, and finished the route.
When i came down, i told my friend that that was the hardest 11b i had ever been on.
A couple other people were near by and had heard my comment, and replied that it wasn't an 11b. Oh great, i am thinking, i can't even climb 5.10 without falling?
They tell me the name of the route is Unusually Stormy Weather, or something like that, and the route is rated 12b or c.
I am staring at my partner, and then we just started laughing.
Derek walks by, and i yell at him...I just climbed a 5.12!
He reply's...........It's the shoes!
I believe he was right.
|
|
Skeptimistic
Mountain climber
La Mancha
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 05:44am PT
|
So I loaned out my wife's pair to a friend and now they're stretched out. My wife is more than a little upset and I want to buy her a replacement pair, but of course they're not available. What would be a good replacement shoe?
|
|
Dingus Milktoast
Gym climber
CALIENTE!
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 05:53am PT
|
Aces - I liked em and went through 2 pairs at least. Boreal last fits my feet best and I always seem to return to the fold - Ballet Golds is what I use nowadays.
Aces were black, a poor choice for hot weather climbers. Those f*#kers were melt your feet HOT.
And the lack of an outside rand on the widest part of the foot was in my opinion a fatal flaw for a so-called 'all arounder'.
I actually stopped buying Boreal for a long time because of that shitty and I mean shitty.... Ace rand. Both version suffered that flaw and it was never corrected.
DMT
|
|
skywalker
climber
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 07:55am PT
|
I still have mine but don't wear em. Seem to remember them bein' pretty damn hot in the sun. But nice blast from the past!
Cheers!
S...
|
|
OR
Trad climber
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 08:00am PT
|
Luv em. Best all around shoe ever.
|
|
tom woods
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 08:23am PT
|
I loved the Aces. After Aces, I moved to blue Kuaks for cracks and lasers for thin cracks and sport.
I also loved the vectors, but shoes have changed. The Sportiva miura works better for me than the vector by a long shot.
I recently had a chance to buy a pair of almost new Vectors at the Mammoth Mountaineering used store in Bishop. I tried them on for old times sake, and really couldn't see what I used to like about them.
I did buy an pair of Kuakulators that were in great shape.
All the black aces that are out there are getting pretty old and beat up. Odds of finding a new pair are slim.
How were the red/pink aces? I never had those.
|
|
Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 08:26am PT
|
The Ace is still advertised on the Boreal website. Different styling, but maybe not different performance or fit. Perhaps something like Neptune's would have them, or you could mail order them.
http://www.e-boreal.com/ing/comienzo.htm
|
|
k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 08:38am PT
|
Talk about hot in the sun, these Secret Weapons *made* you climb in the shade:
Synthetic black uppers (oooh, what's that smell??). But they fit like sprayed-on gloves.
I cherished my Ace's for years, then went to buy a new pair. Got the "new and improved" model, those red cement blocks. Never, never the same.
Two Jokers and a pair of Aces.
To what event does this phrase refer?
|
|
Mike Bolte
Trad climber
Planet Earth
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 08:42am PT
|
I bought three pairs of Aces off ebay this year and two were brand new! Got some green-heel new 43s. The rubber felt sticky. Took them up Great Circle Route in the Tmds. Felt great going up the initial crack, but on the little edges on the face they were sliding. Looked down and I was trailing bits of rubber. Was halfway through the sole by the time I got to the first belay bolts. Put some C4 on them after that trip and climbed the rest of the summer with them.
You notice a lack of sensitivity in the Aces after climbing in more modern shoes, but for cracks and some kinds of edging they are pretty hard to beat.
As I've posted before, my son loves them outdoors.
EDIT: K-man that was the line from a Boreal ad with Peter C. and Dave S. in the meadow with El Cap in the background.
|
|
k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
|
|
|
Dec 14, 2010 - 08:49am PT
|
Mike, at first I remembered it as something different, but now I've gotta think--I believe you're correct, Shultz and Croft. After grabbing the Nose speed record.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!