The Altra Lone Peak 9 is a zero-drop path working shoe that’s good for climbing and path working throughout a variety of situations. It’s a reasonably cushioned shoe with a really large toe field so your toes can splay out and loosen up. The impact feels such as you’re strolling in naked toes with an enhanced diploma of path grip. A 25 mm stack peak makes the Lone Peak 9 a secure 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 cover, with well-draining mesh uppers that forestall sand and path grit from coming into and consuming your socks.
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Specs at a Look
- Gender: Males’s (Girls’s additionally out there)
- Extensive Sizes: Extensive sizes can be found in sure colours – go to Altra for finest 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 climbing, backpacking, and path working. The shoe’s signature function is an outsized toe field which lets your toes splay out as should you had 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 packing containers that limit toe motion, placing extra strain on the balls of your toes and metatarsals, and may end up in 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 also be a zero-drop path working shoe which 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 secure foot strike, mimicking the movement of barefoot steps, leading to a extra pure and environment friendly stride. It additionally signifies that impacts will be unfold out throughout the complete floor of the foot.
One among my favourite options on the Lone Peak is the gaiter entice, situated on the again of the heel of the shoe. It’s a chunk of velcro that makes it quite simple to put on a Soiled Lady 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 shortly.
The Lone Peak 9 is barely wider within the toebox in comparison with the earlier mannequin, even in a daily width dimension. I used to be initially involved about this, however it hasn’t been a difficulty. If it nonetheless feels too large for you there are many lace holes on the shoe to tighten the match. For those who nonetheless desire a narrower match, significantly within the heel, the Altra Superior might be a better option.
Stability
The Lone Peak may be very secure, partially as a result of it’s a zero-drop shoe the place your forefoot and heel are on the similar peak. With its 25 mm stack peak, which is fairly common for a path runner, it’s much less vulnerable 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 may adapt your stride accordingly.
Safety
As a path runner, it is very important have a shoe that’s going to guard the bottoms of your toes from what lies underfoot but additionally have a breathable higher that enables your toes to ventilate whereas additionally retaining out particulates of mud, sand, and grit that can wreak havoc in your socks.
The Lone Peak 9 does each. The finely pored, breathable mesh of the higher retains your toes cool whereas stopping coarse sand and grit from coming into the shoe. Drainage can also be wonderful for these instances, particularly in spring, when you may’t keep away from big mud pits or excessive stream crossings. This can be a massive 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 climbing on extra technical rocky trails. It’s embedded between the shoe’s outsole and midsole for underfoot safety and helps defend the soles of your toes 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 massive toe. It’s considerably wider on the Lone Peak 9 in comparison with the Lone Peak 8, offering extra safety to your toes and toenails. There are additionally longer bumpers on the perimeters of the toe field that additionally present extra safety and assist scale 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 a giant sturdiness win.
Traction
The Lone Peak 9 has multi-directional 5 mm lugs that grip trails and rock nicely. Whereas they’re made with a delicate rubber that gives good traction, the soles have a tendency to wear down pretty shortly, someplace between 250-400 miles, particularly should 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 may also be comparable.
The Lone Peak’s lugs are intentionally organized on the underside of the only, sized, and oriented for various capabilities. For instance, the lugs underneath the metatarsals on the ball of the foot are the most important and designed to supply traction when working or climbing on steep terrain. The lugs towards the rear of the shoe are oriented in the wrong way to boost braking and extensively spaced to boost drainage, whereas there are bolstered areas underneath the massive toe and on the surface 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 should you hike in a moist local weather with quite a lot of stream crossings.
Advice
Altra Lone Peak 9 Path Runners are a good selection in case you are somebody who’s in search of a path shoe that gives quite a lot of floor really feel, a average diploma of safety, and a average cushion. They’ve a big toe field that lets your toes splay out and loosen up 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’d 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 toes than sneakers the place the heels are larger than the toes. You’re finest off transitioning to the Lone Peaks or different zero-drop sneakers over a interval of 4-6 weeks to stretch and strengthen your toes and calves earlier than working off to hike in them on a long-distance thru-hike or a high-mileage day hike.