Featured Brand: La Sportiva Crosslite
August 15, 2011
Crosslites for chicks! I was so excited to see they were finally available. I’ve had the men’s version for a while and, while clearly they are great shoes, they just didn’t fit me right, which tends to be the case for, you know, men’s shoes. So I rarely wore them for actual running. When my pair of women’s shoes arrived, though, I was all over it, and I haven’t looked back since.
I’m not sure that people really have clued in to the fact that Crosslites come in a women’s version now. Even the backcountry.com link doesn’t make it 100% clear that the Crosslites shown are new and improved, at least for women; they link to a pair that looks like the men’s version (from color scheme, at least), with men’s and women’s reviews interspersed, or so I interpret. Anyway, I’m here to tell you that the Crosslites do indeed come in a women’s version, (and are visible at backcountry.com here) and they are worth the wait (though in my opinion it’s been way too long of a time coming, with the Crosslites being such a great shoe). I tried them for trail running in the wet fall conditions here in Anchorage (yeah. August is fall, already…sigh) and I still get actually stoked just to put them on when it’s time to go running.
I usually prefer shoes with more padding, like the Wildcats or now-defunct (aw) Imogenes, but these are really working for me because they are so light and fast; easy to turn the feet over for faster pace and lighter impact. The thin sole provides good trail feel and gives the feeling of quick feet and soft impact as long as you keep moving along. Put more bluntly (heh), if you run in these with a heavy, plodding gait, you won’t be loving these shoes because they really aren’t built to absorb your Frankenstein thudding. But if you want to run fast, these are just the ticket – they’ll inspire you to keep zipping along as far as your legs will carry you.
This is great for me because I find that the quicker I get my feet off the ground, the faster I run and the more comfortable my aging joints are. Aging – ha. Come back to this blog in ten years when I’m pushing fifty, and prepare yourselves for the angst! In the meantime I’m delighted to report that I can still get in a run a few times a week and live to tell the tale, and my tale this week is how much I love these shoes. The trail grip is great, they’re light, they’re fast, they’re comfortable, and they shed water and mud just like we need them to in fall trail running conditions. They have enough support and rigidity to stay put on tight corners and descents, which is hard to find in a light trail runner, believe me. The elastic band over the laces seems to really be the key here, but the streamlined fit and flat sole certainly helps as well. Even if they happen to come untied, the “slip lasted upper,” as it’s called, will keep them in place. To Sportiva’s credit, though, they don’t come untied very easily, most likely due to the thinner laces, which is an absolute GODSEND because I totally hate laces that come untied all the time.
If you’re a serious trail runner, I highly recommend this long-overdue women’s version of the Crosslite shoe. They’re perfect for running on technical trail and I’d imagine they’d be ideal for mountain running races.
La Sportiva Glacier EVO Boots
July 25, 2011
Usually companies send gear reviewers their newest stuff; things that haven’t been on the market long or are just coming out. This is how they get press and buzz going for the new products. It’s tougher to get ahold of samples of established products, but I was lucky enough to get to take the venerable Glacier boots out for a spin on a press trip with Backbone Media, sponsored in part by La Sportiva. I am so glad I got the chance to do this, because even though I’m a solid Sportiva fan, it’s always good to have some quality time with the merchandise to verify my opinion of a brand and I was not let down in the slightest.
I was keen to have Sportiva participate in the site as a Featured Brand for that very reason – every single pair of Sportivas I’ve ever tried has been absolutely incredible, and the Glacier boots are another example. I wore them on a long overnight, during which I trekked about 20ish miles on variable ground (ranging from packed trail to trail-less woods, to loose snow, to packed snow, to sharp loose rocks – pretty much anything you can think of, we walked on it) with a moderate-weight load and absolutely zero boot break-in time. Ordinarily I would have cringed at the idea of doing this in brand-new-out-of-the-box boots but I’ve been in this boat with Sportiva before. Way back when, I was testing the Nepal EVOs and took them out on a three day winter camping trip with no break-in time. At the end of the trip my feet were warm and dry and I had nary a blister. Based on this experience, I had faith that I’d be fine in the Glaciers, and I was right. The one concession I made was to switch out the insoles to ones I know work for me, but I do that with all boots that I test so that wasn’t an unfair advantage.
Not only were the boots solid, supportive, and comfortable from the word go, they handled all the tough terrain with ease. Kicking steps up a snow field was kid’s play as to be expected, and I’d be happy in these boots for all but the most technical of ice and snow climbing (for that stuff, I have the Nepal EVOs). The Glaciers excelled in unstable terrain and a few of the other press types were a little envious that I got to head out with slightly beefier boots than they (though the Pamirs they all had performed flawlessly on all counts) during the step-kicking and post-holing portions of our trip. I was very glad to have them on the steeper parts of the climb because their stiff soles really helped with stability. I must admit that, faced with the 8 mile slog out to the parking lot, I wondered if I’d end up with blisters from such beefy boots, but in the end, I didn’t have any issues at all.
The temps on our trip were really nice so we didn’t have to worry too much about cold, but wet was a problem as we had many river crossings, a lot of postholing through snow, and lots of creeks to ford. For the thigh-deep water, I went ahead and took my boots off, but for everything else I just splashed on through and the boots shed the water without any issues. No blisters. No wet feet. Nothing negative or even cautionary to say about these boots. If you want to buy them for your main hiking boots, I’d say go for it. If you need more of an endorsement, check it out – my wildland firefighting peeps are even using this boot as their fireline boot (though Sportiva won’t cover fire-related damage, sorry), which should go a long way to assuring you that the boots are tough, durable, and comfortable. And you know what? If I went back to the fireline I’d have no hesitation going out for weeks in the Glaciers. I love that Sportiva is now billing the Glaciers as fireline and/or linesman boots – in the special “WLF” configuration which features heat resistant heels and toe boxes. WLF = wildland firefighting, get it? Hey, if the shoe fits…(ha!)
Wildland firefighters are into them. The community is into them – check it – five star reviews on backcountry.com. I’M into them. I will reach for these boots in the winter months when I climb the peaks around Anchorage, knowing that my feet will stay warm and dry and I’ll have the stability I need on icy slopes. I didn’t try them out with crampons yet but they do take a step in crampon which would make these boots practically invincible.
It’s my understanding that the “regular” Glaciers – not the EVO – only have a 1/2 shank instead of the 3/4, and lack the locking lace mechanism. The regular Glaciers would be great for straight backpacking but I’d recommend going for the EVO version if you have to do any technical, sketchy, or high angle climbing.
True to size in my opinion.
Buy them at backcountry.com and let me have the itty bitty dregs of commission.
Press Trip Time!
June 24, 2011
Oh, the press trip. One of the best perks of being a media person. Clients put together press trips to show off their new stuff. They’re usually a few days long and involve a fun adventure or activity, bookended by (usually swanky) lodging and excellent food. I always find this funny because we might go out ice climbing or on a trek or a hard few days of skiing, but naturally since a client wants the media to have a good experience, they always make sure we are well fed and well rested to take the sting off any discomfort experienced in the backcountry. What could be better?
So I’m very stoked to have been invited on a trip with my new featured brand, Black Diamond. This is the first year I have worked with BD and what better way to get to know their gear than to trek across a mountain pass in Colorado with their PR people and some other bloggers?
This trip is being organized by Backbone Media, which represents BD and La Sportiva, a longtime client which is also another of my featured brands. We’re also trying out gear from Big Agnes, Gerber, and Honey Stinger. I’m really stoked and I can’t think of a better way to wrap up my time in Colorado for the time being (but don’t worry, Colorado – I’ll be back). I will report back to you on the new gear and hopefully I’ll remember my camera!
**Special bonus content! Woo. Hey, if you’re here from Daily Hiker, here’s my response to that article, which hasn’t gotten through the moderation cycle over there. I think it’s worth posting what I think of that article, though. The person who wrote it didn’t contact me at all and in fact is the anonymous “John” posting below in the comments. He posted another comment and I meant to respond to it but he write his Daily Hiker post before I got back online to do so. So here is my response to him, in case he doesn’t post it on his own site. Fun stuff! After this it’s back to regular programming.
So you are the person who posted anonymous comments on my post on Geargals.com, using a fake name and providing no contact information while claiming to be “media.” IP address tracking is a useful thing, as it turns out.
You didn’t even try to contact me for comment before publicly accusing me of being unethical (journalists contact the people they are writing about before printing such things, you know), you didn’t bother to research your topic and your statements are inaccurate (let me help you: http://bit.ly/puBraG and http://bit.ly/pxUcsJ), and you didn’t mention to your readers that I’d provided you with links to the extensive discussions regarding this issue I’d already posted on my site (here http://geargals.com/2011/03/26/the-fate-of-the-gear-gig-its-up-to-you/ and here http://geargals.com/2011/04/07/more-gear-review-ethics-musings/).
You took a lighthearted blog post that was meant to provide readers with the information I’ve long promised to always disclose (and am required by the FTC to reveal) and tried to turn it into a “scoop” for your site. It’s hardly a “dirty secret” when I just TELL readers about things like press trips.
I’ll refer you to this article from my blog: http://geargals.com/2011/03/07/place-nice-in-the-shark-tank-bloggers/ and hope that in future you have the simple decency to speak directly to the people you attempt to trash in your blog before making accusations.
La Sportiva Boulder X Approach Shoe
June 24, 2010
Ah, the age old debate: what exactly IS an approach shoe? To what are we approaching while wearing this shoe? Traditionally, the answer is “the crag” but that still doesn’t explain the difference between a snazzy, official “approach” shoe and a regular old hiking shoe. This grizzled old gear tester doesn’t even know. When I go to the crag I wear hiking shoes. I suppose that approaching a rock route would be a reasonable inference; after all you need rock shoes to climb a rock route and it is SO not fun to hike in rock shoes. I know, because I have tried. What can I say, I hate carrying stuff. If I were to approach anything bigger, say, an alpine route, I sure wouldn’t want to bring along an extra pair of shoes just to approach the route, because then I’d have to carry them UP the route, unless of course I just discard them.
No chance of that with these babies; they are just tooo sweet to cast aside. Their value as an “approach” shoe is going to be dictated by the wearer; if you want to use them to approach something you go right ahead, they’re made for that. They have a climbing-boot look to them though they don’t have the beefiness of tread that climbing boots offer; most likely to up their “sticky” factor. They are nicely stiff which is a cool feature if you’re approaching anything steep. They’ve got enough padding for long hikes and enough stiffness/support for carrying loads. The sticky soles cling to steep inclines which I guess is a good warmup since you’re allegedly approaching a crag where you’ll don even stickier shoes. The fit is nice thanks to a longer-than-usual row of eyelets; you can really dial in the fit from arch to toe. The rubber sole extends up along the toe piece to keep your tootsies dry if you’re gauche enough to step in the mud in these high-class hoofers.
As usual with La Sportiva offerings, the Boulder X excels (ironically) on the downhills; the Impact Brake System footbed nicely cushioning your footsteps. I thought the steep-walled heel piece would be tricky and lead to ankle rolling, but so far so good. La Sportiva makes a really stable shoe and these are no exception. I’m sure the sticky rubber excels on red rock-type terrain, but we don’t have any of that here so I’ll just take La Sportiva’s word for that. In Alaska, we have razor sharp unstable choss piles for crags; that’s about the same thing as red rock, right? Shh, let me maintain my delusion that rock climbing in Alaska is a reasonable pasttime.
Though I love the looks of the Boulder X too much to abuse them as much as I could, I can recommend them as a light hiker. I’d even like to see a mid or high version of these for more burly, er, approaches. Fair warning; they do require a bit of a break in period so don’t go hitting the PCT on your first weekend in the Boulder X. Give it a few wearings and you’ll be happy as a well-shod clam. Quite a visual, that.
Other approach shoes I’ve tried tend to be on the heavy-on-style, low-on-function side, but the Boulder X covers all your bases. For once the women get a better-looking version than the men; the grey/sage looking nicely understated which my readers know I like. I do looove grey. Ooh, I even got some great grey bike shorts this week so I can wear a grey shell, grey bike shorts, and these lovely grey approach shoes. What? I can rock that look, just watch. But seriously, this is a great looking shoe with oodles of function, if you’re into that type of thing.
La Sportiva Wildcat Trail Running Shoe
March 9, 2010
Every time I think La Sportiva has created the ultimate shoe, they go and create something even better. I replaced my precious Imogenes with the Wildcats this year, and although I still love the Imogenes, I think I love the Wildcats even better (“love them better” – sounds dirty, but I’m going with it). This might be because they have a big more padding and cush, which is very noticeable in the heel. Somehow, though, they retain an impressive amount of feel for the trail beneath, and are so wonderfully neutral that it’s hard to put a foot wrong.
In my Imogene review, I mentioned that I’ve never before worn a truly neutral shoe, but now I have TWO neutral runners in my arsenal. This is unprecedented. Most of the time I have zero good shoes, and now I have TWO pairs. I really must have done something right! The running goddesses are pleased with me and have blessed me with shoes.
Most running shoe manufacturers seem to be aiming towards those with inward-rolling feet (pronators) so us high arched runners are left with “cushioned” shoes which are better than nothing, but still leave us prone to twisting ankles and having to awkwardly adjust our strides to compensate for unbalanced shoes. So I’m not sure how La Sportiva does it but they really get it right. The Wildcats are so nicely neutral that it’s easy to place one’s feet on the trail.
The Wildcats are nice and light, yet strong enough for those burly, rugged trails. They are incredibly well-ventilated; I can actually feel the breeze through the mesh. Even so, they stay put and don’t let my foot slide around. They haven’t stretched or compressed yet, though I expect with that much mesh they probably will end up stretching. One thing I’ve found about La Sportiva is that when their running shoes are done, you really feel it. You can’t tell by looking at them, because they don’t seem to ever visibly wear out, but when the sole is compressed, you can tell. Which is a good thing because it will remind you to replace your shoes when appropriate, which is also recommended by orthopedic surgeons everywhere.
The Wildcats are here to stay, in my esteemed Closet of Favorite Shoes. I don’t wear them for ANYTHING but running because I want them to last. You can ask the Gearguy; once he put a pair of shoes ON TOP of my Wildcats in the closet. Oh, let me tell ye, hell hath no fury like a Geargal whose favorite runners had some stinky old boy shoes dumped on top of them. I protect them like a mama bear, because they are equally at home pounding the pavement and climbing steep terrain, and the cushy heel makes descending at speed almost feasible for this creaky getting-older runner. As a matter of fact, the Wildcats are my favorite shoe for speed work and sprinting, because I can let it out without feeling the sting in my feet. This is a good thing because my (imaginary) competition gets younger every year and I keep getting older. But you know, that’s OK, because I keep getting faster – and I hand a portion of the credit to La Sportiva for making shoes that don’t make my feet fall asleep or make me twist my ankle all the time. I know I am supposed to be neutral, myself – I’m a gear tester and I’ll test shoes no matter who makes them – but just a warning: the bar is set high, now, indeed.
La Sportiva FC 1.1
June 6, 2009
Today we are celebrating our 100th post by featuring something from our tried and true La Sportiva line. I’m such a La Sportiva fan. I’m kind of surprised they keep sending me stuff, as if I’m ever not going to like it. After burning through last year’s Sandstone GTX-XCR hiking shoes, I was thrilled when they sent their new FC 1.1 (which evidently stands for Flex Control 1.1. I don’t know what the 1.1 is all about) low hiker. A solid, reasonably stiff, waterproof hiking shoe, it’s light, comfortable, and strong enough for multi-day trips. La Sportiva says this shoe has a highly adaptable fit for all types of feet, and I have to concur that it really will adapt itself to your feet, and quickly. I was kind of unsure about the FC’s when I first put them on, but an hour later I kept saying “I really like these shoes!” and they’re the ones I reach for now on reflex.
The FCs feature my favorite IBS system, too! Yes, I love IBS! I can’t stop making that joke. IBS, in La Sportiva terms, stands for Impact Brake System, and it’s meant to reduce impact forces on the legs of wearers of IBS-equipped shoes. As an impact-forces sufferer, I think it really does work. These shoes grip really well and can be counted on to descend the loosest of screes and the slickest of wet rocks. It also makes going up, as in up a mountain, much more pleasant, since it doesn’t slip on the up or the down.
Once again I’m left short on words to describe a La Sportiva offering, because there’s simply nothing else to say, other than “These are great! You’ll like them.” Sheesh, good thing I’m the boss around here, or I’d get some serious nagging about my word count.
La Sportiva Nepal EVO GTX
November 7, 2008
I looooove to go ice climbing. Something about wielding dozens of very sharp things on all of my appendages makes me feel empowered. I mean, if people give you a wide berth because you might accidentally skewer them, imagine how much room they’ll give you if they think you WANT to stab them? So I guess it’s not really ice climbing I love, it’s intimidating other people. From now on, I will refer to intimidating other people as “ice climbing”.
My love of “ice climbing” had of late been tempered by struggles with uncomfortable boots. A day in ice climbing boots meant a day of blisters and numb feet – and usually not numb with cold. Pressure points and strangely shaped boots meant to accommodate men’s strangely shaped feet would lead to nerve irritation, giving me that weird tingly sensation that seems innocuous but really is my feet crying out for mercy.
My feet ceased their whining once I got my hands (and feet) on (and in) these La Sportiva women’s specific mountaineering boots. Many people don’t truly understand the importance of making footwear women’s specific, and think that “unisex” boots should be just fine as long as they are the right size. I think most of these people are not women, because unisex boots are the bane of my existence. The Nepal EVO GTX from La Sportiva are made for women’s feet, which means they don’t shift and rub like those roomy unisex types. The ankle is slender to account for women’s smaller bone structure, eliminating the hot spot that usually develops on the back of my heel. Beefy and substantial, these boots are stiff and serious – meant for big mountain climbing and technical ice. But they’re versatile: for lack of a better boot option, I wore these boots on a 4 day shoulder-season backpacking trip. I did end up with blisters after four days, but only minor ones, and since my feet stayed warm and dry the entire time, I was seriously impressed.
For technical ice, I had a little trouble finding crampons to fit these boots. The toe bail of my regular crampons is too wide for these delicate ladies’ boots (hint: that is sarcasm) and I ended up with my boot slopping around in the crampons. Not conducive for “ice climbing” success – tripping and falling while menacingly approaching your opponent is more likely to make them point and laugh than quake in fear and run away. So make sure to find crampons that are compatible with the boots before you try your hand at my special “ice climbing” techniques.
But in all seriousness, these boots really do climb well. They are super stiff and precise, and the fit is perfect – very unusual in a big-mountain boot for women. Sportiva put some thought into this design and fit, and for that my feet thank them.
