High Sierra Topix

Approach shoes for hiking? They'll wear out in no time. Those soles are not meant to be durable and the last doesn't give much rigidity - my pair rides in the pack until they are needed. It would kill my feet to hike in them.

My La Sportiva Ultra Raptors performed quite well for the HST Meet-up, sticky
enough to boulder, enough cushioning to prevent foot fatigue, but not so much
that you do not feel the terrain. Plenty of toe protection, and the toe box is
pretty spacious to prevent toe jamming on steep descents.
My only grip, which for these type of shoes on this type of terrain is normal, is
durability is only okay, soles looked worn, and the are below the toes got punctured
leaving a hole in the shoe.

Weren't those La Sportivas new? Has anyone mentioned the Altra Lone Peak? It seems to be another popular PCT choice along with Cascadias & Ventilators. What about Oboz?

I feel fortunate to have locked in my shoes (NB MT1010v2), even though they need liberal amounts of shoe goo to glue them back together after every hike. Remember those dangling bits? LOL

My wife is going through the same search - she's realized she prefers a zero to 3-4mm drop max shoe. According to her FitBit, we walked 30+ miles in SF over two days this weekend - including one trip across the peninsula from the Ferry bldg to Seal rock. She wore these:

http://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/broo ... 10163.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And is checking out the Altra's for our rapidly approaching annual 395 car camp expedition.

OTOH, I wore my Jesus 2.0 sandals:

http://www.lunasandals.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm going to take them up Lyell canyon in a few weeks (along with my NBs) to see how they work on rougher terrain.

Yeap , they were pretty new Hobbes.
None of these trail running shoes can really stand up to the abuse of cross-country
backpacking for long. Sierra granite just wears them down like sandpaper, the soles
look okay still, but I am a little disappointed in the uppers of the shoe.
Overall they preformed well, and I will continue to backpack in them with the
understanding that they will only last a season, maybe.

OTOH, I wore my Jesus 2.0 sandals:

Let us know ifLuna has solved the age old problem of trail debris constantly getting between the sole of the foot and the footbed of the sandal.

My Cascadias didn't make it. A great shoe out of the box with traction and comfort, but both shoes failed in exactly the same place- a tear along seam on the side of the upper, at the base of the big toe. Took em back to REI for a refund, so I guess its back to my old standby, Vasque Mindbinders. I still have a pair from 2 season ago, thin in some spots but still holding together at all the seams.

Give the La Sportiva Ultra Raptors a try Freestone, getting ready to by 2 more pairs
of them.

Jim F wrote:Like Richard, I have been a fan of the Inov8 Roclite 295 for several years, despite some questionable changes in the construction as the shoe "evolved." This week I purchased my 6th and 7th pair. Last week my fifth pair continued to serve me well hiking the JMT in Lyell Canyon, going cross country to the glacier, crossing the glacier, and then ascending some rock to the summit of Mt Lyell (June30).

After some use, my small toes tend to protrude through the side of these shoes. However, other than cosmetically, this does not present much of a problem for continued use.

They dry so quickly in typical Sierra weather, that I do not hesitate to wear in water while crossing streams.

I know my size in this shoe, so the purchase this week was at Amazon with a 35% discount.

Good luck in the search for a shoe that works for you.

Jim

How would you compare the old 295s to the new 295? I read about the last being more narrow so I ended up going with Altra Olympus as a replacement. Old 295 fits better but I prefer the cushion and zero drop on the Olympus. Not a fan of the stack height so I'm going to try Lone Peaks next.