Guide to Finding the Right Spelunking Shoes

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Of all the different types of shoes in the world, the ones that are manufactured to withstand the most torturous environments are the outdoors shoes and more specifically, spelunking shoes. Since your feet give support to the rest of your body, the shoes in question will be supporting 100 to 300 pounds. They further have to be capable of withstanding harsh terrain such as large and small rocks, mud, water and sand. To find the best shoes for spelunking, there are some qualities that you need to look for.

QUALITIES TO LOOK FOR:

• GOOD TRACTION: The spelunking shoes you choose should be capable of firmly griping on both rocks and mud as you go about walking or climbing. What’s more is that these kinds of shoes reduce one’s chances of sliding or falling.
• IMPACT PROTECTION: To prevent injury and bruises, the shoes ought to be capable of absorbing different impacts such as springiness and/or stiffness. Thus, the ideal shoe has to have a thick sole and sides. But, despite being thick, they should be light in weight.
• ANKLE SUPPORT: To aid balance, pushing and reduce muscle fatigue, your spelunking shoes need to be capable of supporting your ankles as well as the whole leg. This way, you won’t end of suffering from muscle cramps or joint pains later on.
• COMFORT: To enable you concentrate on the adventure ahead, the one thing that should stay off your mind is the state of your shoes. To make this possible, you need to wear shoes that are fitting and comfortable. In essence, the shoes ought to be of the right size, be capable of giving you good ankle support and have good traction.

In addition to all this, the shoes should be of low weight so as to reduce/prevent fatigue, be resistant to abrasion hence withstand all kinds of damage, require minimal maintenance and, be inexpensive. Sadly, it’s hard to come across shoes that have all of the above features. This being the case, what should you do?

Firstly, you’ll need to stay away from your everyday athletic shoes such as the running and tennis shoes. This is because despite being comfortable, they have poor traction in mud and don’t provide good ankle support. Also, they are bound to make your adventure harder and dangerous. You should also rule out the wearing of sandals. Instead, the type of spelunking shoe you wear should be determined by the cave’s terrain. As such, if the cave is somewhat dry, hiking boots would do be perfect. But, if the cave is somewhat wet, then, you should go for the rubber boots, such as the wellington boots. Also, depending on the weather and the state of the cave, you may choose to wear socks. The most ideal socks to wear are either the synthetic or the woolen socks.