Ard-

A while back you posted that one day you'd like to write a shoe review. Over past couple of years I've burned through several pairs of shoes buildering, and I thought I would pass this on.

Sportiva Cirque Pros- The best buildering shoe in terms of performance and running from the cops. When laced tight, they perform like a climbing shoe and edge like crazy, aren't worth a shit since the fell apart after several months.

The North Face Buildering shoe- Good shoe in terms of fit and edging performance. The soles are soft vibram rubber and don't smear worth a shit, but I like 'em. On the downside, they have this crappy toe cap that practically peeled off when I took 'em out of the box. But I reinforced them with barge cement, and there's no problem.

Five Ten Guides- The total shiznit. Great climbing performance and runnability, but the other shoes, in my opinion, edge better. The gudes smear well also, but, again, mine delammed after months of hard use.

After dropping $ on fancy approach shoes, I bought a pair of Chuck Taylor's for half the price, and while they're good on some surfaces, more foot strength is needed to squeeze more performance out of them.

I'm curious to compare notes with you and others.

Cheers