A climbing shoe comprising: a shoe-upper shaped so as to accommodate the user's foot; a sole made of a polymeric material, which is attached to the bottom of the shoe-upper so as to cover at least the front part of the bottom of said shoe-upper; and manually-operated closing means that are adapted to tighten the top part of the shoe-upper on the user's foot and include a transversal locking strap that extends like a bridge between the inner side and the outer side of the shoe-upper remaining astride and grazing the top part of the shoe-upper, and is adapted to pull said inner and outer sides of the shoe-upper toward each other; said transversal locking strap comprising: a plate-like head which has, on at least one of the two major faces, a Velcro surface structure; and a flexible cord that has a substantially unextendible structure.

A heel-cup structure for climbing shoes having increased edge-contact properties and friction on uneven surface where the heel area has a protrusion around the outer sole area under the heel and rimmed indentation between the heel counter and the outer sole. The heel-cup structure with protrusion of the outer sole made of soft, polymeric, synthetic rubber material provides a device to latch onto a thin edge of the rock surface in contact, to effectuate edging and heel-hooking.

A heel-cup structure for climbing shoes having increased edge-contact properties and friction on uneven surface where the heel area has a protrusion around the outer sole area under the heel and rimmed indentation between the heel counter and the outer sole. The heel-cup structure with protrusion of the outer sole made of soft, polymeric, synthetic rubber material provides a device to latch onto a thin edge of the rock surface in contact, to effectuate edging and heel-hooking.