The Altra Lone Peak 9 is a zero-drop path working shoe that’s good for mountaineering and path working throughout a variety of situations. It’s a reasonably cushioned shoe with a really huge toe field so your toes can splay out and chill out. The impact feels such as you’re strolling in naked ft with an enhanced diploma of path grip. A 25 mm stack peak makes the Lone Peak 9 a steady shoe and helps forestall ankle rolling. The sneakers have grippy 5 mm multi-directional lugs with a rock plate and a rubber toe kick for defense, with well-draining mesh uppers that forestall sand and path grit from getting into and consuming your socks.
RELATED: 10 Greatest Mountain climbing Footwear and Path Runners
Specs at a Look
- Gender: Males’s (Ladies’s additionally accessible)
- Extensive Sizes: Extensive sizes can be found in sure colours – go to Altra for greatest choice.
- Weight: 11 oz (males’s)
- Heel Drop: 0 mm
- Heel Stack Peak: 25 oz mm
- Forefoot Stack Peak: 25 mm
- Midsole: Proprietary Foam
- Outsole: Proprietary Outsole w/ 5 mm Lugs
- Rock Plate: Sure
- Gaiter Entice: Sure
- Width: Common & Extensive
- Weight (pair): 1 lb 6 oz
Path Really feel
The Altra Lone Peak 9 is a reasonably cushioned path working shoe that can be utilized for mountaineering, backpacking, and path working. The shoe’s signature function is an outsized toe field which lets your toes splay out as in case you have been strolling barefoot by way of sand. That is very totally different from most trendy sneakers, together with many path runners, which nonetheless have slender toe bins that limit toe motion, placing extra strain on the balls of your ft and metatarsals, and can lead to longer-term situations like Morton’s Neuroma, which manifests itself as a tingling or burning sensation in your toes. I’ve had Morton’s, and a shoe with an enormous toe field just like the Lone Peak helps forestall a recurrence of the situation.
The Lone Peak can be a zero-drop path working shoe that means that the heel and the toes are stage and an equal distance from the bottom. The concept is that this permits for a extra pure and extra steady foot strike, mimicking the movement of barefoot steps, leading to a extra pure and environment friendly stride. It additionally implies that impacts will be unfold out throughout the whole floor of the foot.
Certainly one of my favourite options on the Lone Peak is the gaiter lure, situated on the again of the heel of the shoe. It’s a bit of velcro that makes it quite simple to put on a Soiled Woman Gaiter and removes the necessity to glue a strip of velcro there for that objective. It additionally stays affixed completely, whereas the homegrown velcro patches I’ve to attach on different path runners fall off comparatively rapidly.
The Lone Peak 9 is barely wider within the toebox in comparison with the earlier mannequin, even in a daily width measurement. I used to be initially involved about this, however it hasn’t been a problem. If it nonetheless feels too huge for you there are many lace holes on the shoe to tighten the match. Should you nonetheless desire a narrower match, notably within the heel, the Altra Superior will likely be a more sensible choice.
Stability
The Lone Peak may be very steady, partly as a result of it’s a zero-drop shoe the place your forefoot and heel are on the identical peak. With its 25 mm stack peak, which is fairly common for a path runner, it’s much less susceptible to ankle rolling since you’re fairly near the bottom. That and the improved proprioception you get from strolling with spayed toes make it a lot simpler to sense altering path situations and terrain so you possibly can adapt your stride accordingly.
Safety
As a path runner, you will need to have a shoe that’s going to guard the bottoms of your ft from what lies underfoot but in addition have a breathable higher that enables your ft to ventilate whereas additionally preserving out particulates of mud, sand, and grit that may wreak havoc in your socks.
The Lone Peak 9 does each. The finely pored, breathable mesh of the higher retains your ft cool whereas stopping coarse sand and grit from getting into the shoe. Drainage can be glorious for these occasions, particularly in spring, when you possibly can’t keep away from large mud pits or excessive stream crossings. This can be a huge deal since many path runners with large-pored mesh uppers fail miserably on this dimension, particularly in sandy desert terrain.
The Lone Peak 9 has a rock plate (Altra calls it a Stone Guard), which is a must have for mountaineering on extra technical rocky trails. It’s embedded between the shoe’s outsole and midsole for underfoot safety and helps shield the soles of your ft from being bruised by any of the sharp rocks and stones you might stroll over.
There’s additionally a well-padded rubber toe kick in entrance of the toes, barely off-center and positioned in entrance of the large toe. It’s considerably wider on the Lone Peak 9 in comparison with the Lone Peak 8, offering extra safety on your toes and toenails. There are additionally longer bumpers on the perimeters of the toe field that additionally present extra safety and assist cut back abrasion to the shoe’s uppers, so your sneakers will last more. I’ve gone by way of many pairs of path runners from La Sportiva and Sauncony that break down on the perimeters of the toe field from abrasion, so these added bumpers are an enormous sturdiness win.
Traction
The Lone Peak 9 has multi-directional 5 mm lugs that grip trails and rock properly. Whereas they’re made with a comfortable rubber that gives good traction, the soles have a tendency to wear down pretty rapidly, someplace between 250-400 miles, particularly in case you hike or run in rocky terrain. Whereas Altra soles present sufficient traction on moist rock, sneakers made by a climbing shoe firm like La Sportiva carry out a lot better in such situations, though the mileage you get out of them will even be comparable.
The Lone Peak’s lugs are intentionally organized on the underside of the only, sized, and oriented for various features. For instance, the lugs underneath the metatarsals on the ball of the foot are the biggest and designed to supply traction when working or climbing on steep terrain. The lugs towards the rear of the shoe are oriented in the other way to reinforce braking and broadly spaced to reinforce drainage, whereas there are strengthened areas underneath the large toe and on the skin of the heel to make the only last more.
Interspersed in and among the many lugs are drain holes within the entrance of the shoe to shed water if the sneakers get soaked, for instance, in a stream crossing. The drains are fed by a round gap minimize into the footbed underneath the ball of the foot and under the insole that comes with the shoe. Whereas many of the water that will get into the shoe drains by way of the mesh higher, some does make it underneath the insole and thru this drainage port. Good drainage in a path runner is a must have in case you hike in a moist local weather with plenty of stream crossings.
Advice
Altra Lone Peak 9 Path Runners are a sensible choice if you’re somebody who’s on the lookout for a path shoe that gives plenty of floor really feel, a reasonable diploma of safety, and a reasonable cushion. They’ve a big toe field that lets your toes splay out and chill out with aggressive lugs underfoot which can be positioned and oriented to supply enhanced traction and braking. This new mannequin is barely wider within the toe field than the earlier Lone Peak 8. If you would like a narrower match, we suggest that you just strive the Altra Superior 6 path runner as an alternative.
Whereas zero-drop sneakers just like the Lone Peak promote a extra “pure” stride like that of strolling barefoot, they put much more stress in your decrease legs and ft than sneakers the place the heels are greater than the toes. You’re greatest off transitioning to the Lone Peaks or different zero-drop sneakers over a interval of 4-6 weeks to stretch and strengthen your ft and calves earlier than working off to hike in them on a long-distance thru-hike or a high-mileage day hike.
