UKC

What shoes do people tend to wear for mountain running?? Super light boots with ankle support or trail shoes???

In reply to mattc:

Not boots! Fell or trail running shoes.

In reply to mattc:

Shoes - as above, usually fell shoes (great on steep grass and broken ground) or sometimes trail shoes (for harder, more "made up" trails).

In reply to mattc:

yup shoes, something like walsh pb extreme or inov-8 trailroc for me.
That said, you can run in pretty much anything depending on the conditions, other than heavy boots

In reply to mattc:

I use Innov8 Mudclaws for full on fell running and Salomon Speedcross 3 for trail or if there is any significant distance on a hard surface.

In reply to hokkyokusei:

I was under the impression that the mudclaws werent that good on wet rock, so it depends on the type of mountain terrain and season.

In reply to mattc:

I do alot of trail, off road and mountain running. I just completed the LAMM in my Salomon Speedcross 3's.

But it seems personal preference and fit type (SC3s are narrower) between the SC3s and Inov8s

In reply to Wonrek:


Ah, that's good to know - finding my Inov8s a bit wide - fine most of the time, but a pain traversing slopes without a path.

In reply to mattc:

Trail shoes (inov8 trail roc's I think) if I think i'll mainly be running on harder packed paths/trails as well as a bit of off trail. If going running in the wet or up munro's that will primarily be off path I use my pair of inov8's with more aggressive studs (x-talons I think...)

In reply to ow arm:

Mudclaws used to come with two different sole compounds - perhaps they still do. I've got the ones with sticky rubber and they work pretty well on wet rock, though like someone else who commented earlier, I find them a bit broad in the fore-foot when contouring.

In reply to mattc:

Back in the early days we had a choice of Walsh PB's or........Walsh PB's. Hill runners wore them and got on with it as best they could, a friend of mine recently told me he used to go along to Walsh's and have trainers made to fit (he was wider or narrower or something), no big hassle at the company, but all Walsh's.

Then a few companies started to produce their equivalent fell shoes - which were pretty much copies of Walsh, then innov8 came along and everyone else jumped on the bandwagon and chaos reigns.

I can't advise, every time I need new trainers the models seem to have changed and I rarely end up with the same trainers twice, so I just wear whatever is cheap or "on offer". Reminds me, I have a pair of More Mile trainers to try, they were cheap and must give them a go soon.

In reply to Moley:

the more mile ones look really clunky, i wouldnt personally

In reply to mattc:

I also find mudclaws too wide, particularly contouring. They are a bit slippy on wet rock though I think most fell shoes are and they don't seem atrocious. I also use fell shoes for climbing approach shoes and I've found with the long cleats they're a bit unstable when scrambling with a heavy rucksack. Having said which on boggy ground they are superb.

Most of the time I use sportiva crosslites on which I find the fit more comfortable and the sole is pretty decent though it is significantly less aggressive (seems to cope ok even in the West highlands though, at least in summer). They do seem to wear through/fall apart quicker than I'd like.

I'll probably have a look at the salomon SC3 or fellcross to replace the mudclaws for boggy winter.

In reply to Moley


They'll fall apart soon. A number of my friends have bought pairs and they've all fallen apart quicker than more expensive brands. The shoes, that is, not my friends.

In reply to ow arm:

Mudclaws are fine on everything, there are fell shoes which are better on wet rock, such as x-tallons, but the trade off is that they wear down quickly if you run on rock on them.

I do everything in Mudclaws, except short races, which I do in x-talon 190's, because they are so light.

In reply to tony:

Yeah, I've heard mixed reports, bought these 6 months ago and they haven't come out of the box yet, they'll do fine for something. I manage to destroy trainers so fast that they are worth a go at that price, especially for day to day trundling about.

In reply to ow arm:


I know loads of people who run fine in them, so quite fast. As Tony says, they don't seem to last as long as some of the other brands, but they are a fraction of the price.

In reply to mattc:

Has any body tried brooks cascada??

In reply to mattc:

I do a lot of trail running and use fairly standard asics gels. I think a lot of people buy trail shoes for a perceived rather than actual need.

In reply to Morgan Woods:


Totally..

The biggest con there is. I've been interviewed a fair bit by trail running magazines in the US and UK and they never want to mention that I only wear road shoes.. they also paddle the myth that a trail shoe should be healthier and bulkier than a road shoe..

In reply to IainRUK:

That's odd, isn't it. When I opt for a trail shoe over a light road shoe, it is normally to get something that is lighter and lower.

In reply to hamsforlegs:

I just get told its because 'I'm a racing snake'.. I'm 180 lbs.. 13 stone..

I'm not a light runner but its a positive feedback, runners are inundated with this info that they need heavier more substantial trainers for trail running and then go and expect it..

Inov8 have just brought out a new ultra trail shoe.. well over 300g.. way too heavy. I said this and was told I was wrong...

In reply to IainRUK:

I use road shoes a lot on trail, but I have misjudged it a few times and struggled. Routes that are fine in road shoes in the dry often need something with much better grip in the wet, particularly grassy descents, they don't even have to be steep.

In reply to Carolyn:

Be careful, all innov8s seem to have different widths. My Talon 212s are far narrower than my old mudclaws (330s I think) and are narrower than the Salomons (and don't feel as unstable).

In reply to the OP:

In the dry/on decent paths I use my (road) running trainers, in the wet/mud/off-trail I use Talon 212s.

In reply to The New NickB:

I find this too. I've only had one pair of off road-shoes - Mizuno Ascends - and they are noticeably better than my road shoes - Brooks Adrenalines - on greasy rock and slippy mud and grass. They fit my wide feet well, especially around the heel, and are light. I really like them. But if I haven't got them, I just cope with the road shoes, like I did all the time for years.

In reply to IainRUK:


It may be a bit different here in Oz as we run on mostly dry rocky firetrails or single track. Muddy fels might be a different scenario, but even so our running shops are starting to have a dedicated trail running section with sally's and inov8 etc. This is not a bad thing per se but if people are thinking you MUST have trail shoes to run on tails they are getting the wrong message.

I've heard that trail shoes have some kind of plate in the sole which means rocks won't dig into your soles but i managed about 2,000km over 2 years in my last pair of standard asics and never really noticed this while doing trail work.

In reply to The New NickB:

grass is different.. around the peak it depends on the trails I was on.. peaty trails needed a proper trail/fell shoe.

In Snowdonia, especially on Snowdon, a road shoe was often fine.. but light weight does sacrifice durability, if you wear a lightweight canvas road shoe and race on rocky trails the constant nicks off rocks do destroy them. Its a balance. I'm not one who thinks light weight match a heavy weight shoe in all aspects. But for me the uppers wear slower than the soles, so by the time the uppers are ripping the sole if already fairly smashed and squashed.

In reply to mattc:
You can also resole a road shoe with a stud outer. I agree with Morgan and Ian, most trail shoes seem designed to make life difficult.