Re: Trail Runners with sticky rubber soles
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 9:38 pm
La Sportiva and Inov-8 are the only two companies making rubber you could classify as approach-shoe grade on real trail runners.
LaSportiva calls theirs FriXion, and the XT is the good stuff. It's available on the Vertical K and Raptor only. The AT is pretty good, but not the same. It's on the Wildcat, Quantum, X-Country, and most of their other trail shoes.
Inov-8 has "Sticky" and "Endurance" compounds. Sticky is good, somewhere bewteen the two LaSportiva compounds.
I have the Raptor and the Vertical K. The Raptor is much beefier and has way more rubber surface area, so it climbs slabs better. Niether is stiff enough to climb anything else well. I love them for 4th class slab.
The Inov-8 line are a great waffle-pattern sole that does everything well. The Roclite sole in Sticky is the best sole for scrambling, and it's probably almost as good as the Raptor, but I don't own a pair to compare.
If you're not actually doing much running, Five Ten Guide Tennies are where it's at. My feet are like yours - low-volume, but not narrow at all. The Guide Tennies are lace-to-toe so they cinch down well. I tried the Camp Four and Exum Guide and they were big, clunky things. The Guide Tennie is light, agile, and can really climb. Unlike running shoes, they work great in hand cracks, and edge pretty well. I've done plenty of multi-day hikes and fairly long runs in them, too. I'm a 5.8-5.9 leader for the most part, and I'm usually happy on 5.5 with GTs, unless it's thin edges. Handcracks and slab I can climb near my limit with them.
The Scarpa Crux and La Sportiva Boulder X are similar, but a little more hiking-oriented, and without quite as sticky rubber as the Stealth on the Guide Tennies. The new Sportiva Ganda should climb harder than the Guide Tennie, but I haven't used it because it costs One Billion Dollars.
LaSportiva calls theirs FriXion, and the XT is the good stuff. It's available on the Vertical K and Raptor only. The AT is pretty good, but not the same. It's on the Wildcat, Quantum, X-Country, and most of their other trail shoes.
Inov-8 has "Sticky" and "Endurance" compounds. Sticky is good, somewhere bewteen the two LaSportiva compounds.
I have the Raptor and the Vertical K. The Raptor is much beefier and has way more rubber surface area, so it climbs slabs better. Niether is stiff enough to climb anything else well. I love them for 4th class slab.
The Inov-8 line are a great waffle-pattern sole that does everything well. The Roclite sole in Sticky is the best sole for scrambling, and it's probably almost as good as the Raptor, but I don't own a pair to compare.
If you're not actually doing much running, Five Ten Guide Tennies are where it's at. My feet are like yours - low-volume, but not narrow at all. The Guide Tennies are lace-to-toe so they cinch down well. I tried the Camp Four and Exum Guide and they were big, clunky things. The Guide Tennie is light, agile, and can really climb. Unlike running shoes, they work great in hand cracks, and edge pretty well. I've done plenty of multi-day hikes and fairly long runs in them, too. I'm a 5.8-5.9 leader for the most part, and I'm usually happy on 5.5 with GTs, unless it's thin edges. Handcracks and slab I can climb near my limit with them.
The Scarpa Crux and La Sportiva Boulder X are similar, but a little more hiking-oriented, and without quite as sticky rubber as the Stealth on the Guide Tennies. The new Sportiva Ganda should climb harder than the Guide Tennie, but I haven't used it because it costs One Billion Dollars.