The Altra Lone Peak 9 is a zero-drop path operating shoe that’s good for mountaineering and path operating throughout a variety of situations. It’s a reasonably cushioned shoe with a really huge toe field so your toes can splay out and loosen up. The impact feels such as you’re strolling in naked ft with an enhanced diploma of path grip. A 25 mm stack top 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 coming into and consuming your socks.
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Specs at a Glance
- Gender: Men’s (Women’s additionally accessible)
- Wide Sizes: Wide sizes can be found in sure colours – go to Altra for finest choice.
- Weight: 11 oz (males’s)
- Heel Drop: 0 mm
- Heel Stack Height: 25 oz mm
- Forefoot Stack Height: 25 mm
- Midsole: Proprietary Foam
- Outsole: Proprietary Outsole w/ 5 mm Lugs
- Rock Plate: Yes
- Gaiter Trap: Yes
- Width: Regular & Wide
- Weight (pair): 1 lb 6 oz
Trail Feel
The Altra Lone Peak 9 is a reasonably cushioned path operating shoe that can be utilized for mountaineering, backpacking, and path operating. The shoe’s signature characteristic is an outsized toe field which lets your toes splay out as for those who had been strolling barefoot by sand. This could be very completely different from most fashionable sneakers, together with many path runners, which nonetheless have slim toe containers that prohibit toe motion, placing extra strain on the balls of your ft 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 be a zero-drop path operating shoe that means that the heel and the toes are stage and an equal distance from the bottom. The thought is that this enables 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 signifies that impacts will be unfold out throughout the whole floor of the foot.
One of 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 Dirty Girl 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 an everyday 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. If you continue to desire a narrower match, significantly within the heel, the Altra Superior will probably be a more sensible choice.
Stability
The Lone Peak could be very steady, partially as a result of it’s a zero-drop shoe the place your forefoot and heel are on the similar top. With its 25 mm stack top, 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.
Protection
As a path runner, it is very important have a shoe that’s going to guard the bottoms of your ft from what lies underfoot but additionally have a breathable higher that permits your ft to ventilate whereas additionally maintaining 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 coming into the shoe. Drainage can be wonderful for these instances, particularly in spring, when you possibly can’t keep away from large mud pits or excessive stream crossings. This is an enormous 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 defend the soles of your ft from being bruised by any of the sharp rocks and stones chances are you’ll 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 is 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 edges 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 many pairs of path runners from La Sportiva and Sauncony that break down on the edges 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 effectively. While they’re made with a tender rubber that gives good traction, the soles have a tendency to wear down pretty rapidly, someplace between 250-400 miles, particularly for those who hike or run in rocky terrain. While Altra soles present sufficient traction on moist rock, sneakers made by a climbing shoe firm like La Sportiva carry out significantly better in such situations, though the mileage you get out of them can 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 most important and designed to supply traction when operating or climbing on steep terrain. The lugs towards the rear of the shoe are oriented in the other way to reinforce braking and extensively spaced to reinforce drainage, whereas there are strengthened areas underneath the large 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 lower into the footbed underneath the ball of the foot and under the insole that comes with the shoe. While many of the water that will get into the shoe drains by 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 for those who hike in a moist local weather with plenty of stream crossings.
Recommendation
Altra Lone Peak 9 Trail Runners are a sensible choice if you’re somebody who’s in search of a path shoe that gives plenty of floor really feel, a reasonable diploma of safety, and a reasonable cushion. They have a big toe field that lets your toes splay out and loosen up with aggressive lugs underfoot which might 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 need a narrower match, we advocate that you simply attempt the Altra Superior 6 path runner as a substitute.
While zero-drop sneakers just like the Lone Peak promote a extra “natural” stride like that of strolling barefoot, they put much more stress in your decrease legs and ft than sneakers the place the heels are increased 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 ft and calves earlier than operating off to hike in them on a long-distance thru-hike or a high-mileage day hike.