Smelly Shoes
I love my new climbing shoes. They bounce like rubber. They stick like glue.
Now, rock climbing tends to foster an easy friendliness between strangers—a bonhomie, a camaraderie, a fellowship. Why?
It may have something to do with the fact that, when you climb, you’re putting your life in someone’s hands, and they do the same. Sure, if your partner drops you, you might not die. Maybe you’ll just break a few bones. But still, nobody wants to see What Would Happen If.
But there is another reason why climbers are really chill, open-minded, and friendly: the Fellowship of the Stinky Shoes. Climbing’s dirty. There’s chalk, grime, and sweat. And then, at the end of the day, the shoes come off.
My shoes are so new that you can actually still tell what color they are. But this is rare, and doesn’t last long, anyway.
“I put wet tea bags in my shoes to make them smell better,” said my friend Natalie.
“Black tea, green tea, or herbal?” I asked.
“Green tea is best,” Ji said seriously.
“You know what tea is really good for?” added Rex, a very talented chef. “Take a hot bath with two bags of chamomile, one bag of jasmine, and some honey.”
“And put your shoes in, too,” Natalie agreed.
When my sister, Lynn, and I were very little girls my mother read somewhere that chamomile tea poured over our little heads would do something nice to our hair. So, she bundled us into the bathtub and lifted the pot of chamomile tea. And we screamed. I think she must have missed the part about letting the chamomile tea cool down. To this day the smell of chamomile makes my scalp tingle. In any event, I try to keep my nose out of my climbing shoes. Keeping a second pair and rotating them helps too. You might speak to Ed Keller, aka the Imelda Marcos of climbing shoes. Perhaps it takes a Recovering Installation Artist, like Yours Truly, to truly appreciate the neat rows of shoes he lays out on the floor whenever we climb. Your blog, dearest Marie, is a joy.