What are the best shoes for Canyoning?

This might be a great opportunity for a sponsored collaboration here to sell a particular shoe! But that’s not what’s happening. In fact we’re not even going to suggest one particular shoe – instead we’re going to talk about the characteristics of the best types of shoes for canyoning so that you’re all prepared for your tour.

You might think that the best type of shoe is the all-terrain hiker-type of shoe that seemingly has the best tread for all-terrain and high sides to help with ankle stability… But we’re going to suggest that actually those aren’t the best type of shoe for canyoning. Instead, we believe the best shoes have the following characteristics:

• THIN SOLED – (as long as your foot can handle the extra sensation) I know that might sound counter-intuitive, but we’ve seen time and time again that the thicker soles do two things in canyoning that you don’t really want. Number 1, they are more rigid, meaning you can’t bend your foot around slippery rocks. Number 2, they don’t allow you to feel well the surfaces underneath you and that doesn’t help your balance. So we recommend a thin soled shoe so that you can feel the surfaces beneath you, getting more of that proprioceptive input for your balance, and also so that your foot can shape more to the rock surface – because the more contact you have, the more friction you have – and the less likely you are to slip! Of course, it does require a foot that is a little more accustomed to being on rough surfaces. If that’s NOT you, then add thickness to the sole and we’ll figure out the balance as we go.
• Rubbery textured sole – when you think of the hiking boots mentioned above, you might think about the tread being seemingly all-terrain. What’s more important than a big tread is a material that’s more “rubbery” than it is “plastic-y”. Think of the texture something more along the lines of a rubber band. This type of material is usually found on the soles of cheaper footwear and in this instance is helpful because it gives you more grip – and when you’re canyoning over wet rocks, the better the grip, the happier everyone is.
• Sewn instead of glued – all the movement that comes from the thinly, rubbery-soled shoe will mean that glued shoes will come apart much sooner. When they’ve been stitched instead, you’ll get more life out of them.

These characteristics even mean that something like a “barefoot” show is usually even better than the sturdy hiking boots. Which is strange to think about, but we’ve seen it loads on the tour. An unforgiving sole won’t help you on the slippery rocks we walk over in canyoning. You’ll want something that moves with your foot and with the rock to keep you in more contact, more of the time.

So whether you’re searching for shoes to do canyoning in for the first time or whether you think you’ll be doing it a bunch, we recommend searching for shoes that have these characteristics.