Gear We’ve Tried Shoes for the Approach Four hybrid shoes offer extra grip for hikers who like to scramble water to get in. This shoe is ENSEN J the hands-down winner in EREK D the comfort department, though we weren’t thrilled with its durability. This shoe is a great choice for summer trail running, talus, and walking on granite slabs. Also available in a women’s model. By Allison Woods Scarpa Lite Climbing shoe manufacturers make a Ascent special type of hybrid shoe they call an La Sportiva’s Exum Ridge has a comfy fit, “approach shoe.” It’s a cross between a but doesn’t sport a lot of climbing traction. $159 light hiking boot, a trail runner and a www.scarpa-us.com climbing shoe. Approach shoes are great for hiking, especially if you’re La Sportiva Exum The Lite Ascent is a great-looking heading off-trail, crossing talus fields, Ridge shoe, and every time we wore them, climbing or scrambling. We’ve climbed people commented. More a low-top easy technical rock in them with no $90 boot than a hopped-up climbing shoe, problems. www.sportiva.com we liked the Lite Ascents for scram- Approach shoes are set apart from bling, and would not other trail shoes by a few traits you This very hesitate to bag a few won’t find in a trail runner or a hiking ENSEN peaks in them. The popular shoe felt J boot. The first thing you’ll notice is that great right out of EREK laces extend all the they have sticky rubber soles for extra the box. The soft D way to the toe, grip. Most approach shoes have rands, soles give it a allowing for a precise which is a wrap of rubber around the kind of “bed- fit. The rands extend heels and toes. This is similar to what room slipper” up over the toe, and you’d see on a technical rock climbing feel that we partway up the heel shoe, and helps provide more sticky found pretty counter, providing surface area on the shoe. Approach irresistible. This good grip at every shoes typically lace all the way down to shoe is much angle. The Lite near the front of the shoe so that you more of a sticky- Ascent’s fine Euro- can crank them tight for more precise soled trail runner pean styling might footwork—and have laces that have than it is a not seem important, some texture to them to keep them climbing shoe. but if you are doing cinched down when it matters. The any traveling, it looks Sole grip is The Lite Ascent from Scarpa laces are a terrific feature that we’d like good enough for consistent with hasgreat styling and excellent to see on all technical footwear. You around town and still the other shoes traction on rock. won’t find approach shoes to be as we tested, but delivers the goods in cushy as trail runners, but they excel on minimal rands the backcountry. If hard surfaces and grip like mad on rock. make it less suited to climbing. Most of you have narrow feet or heels, try a We think you might really like them for the Exum Ridge is mesh, providing a Scarpa boot. They tend to fit narrow- day hiking shoes. cool ride, but the mesh allows mud and footed people better than some others. April 2005 WASHINGTON TRAILS Gear We’ve Tried the Scarpa, but in a more shoe-like ENSEN J package. The Guide is the lightest Neat Stuff! EREK D of all of the shoes we tried, with a pair of size 41/Men’s 8/Women’s 9.5 coming in at less than a pound and a half. They still feel substan- tial in spite of this. The toe rands, which come all the way down to the sole, did a fine job of sticking us to the rock, though this shoe lacks a heel rand. At $89, we think it’s a good value. The Guide seems to run a little on the small side, so Flatworld Orikaso fit them carefully, and keep in mind that Five Ten shoes tend to Folding Dishes fit wider feet particularly well. Of These new dishes from Flatworld all the approach shoes in this test, will make you grin. They store flat these are the ones being worn the in your backpack, and then when most, and we consider them the you get to camp, make a few folds, The lightweight Guide Tennie is a good best all-around performer. and voila! Dishes! They are easy to value for penny-pinching scramblers. assemble and clean, and are comparable in weight to titanium Montrail D7 and other plastic dishes. We $80 especially like the plate for its Five Ten Guide www.montrail.com multi-functionality. Tennie Small snaps in the corners allow it The D7 is the closest thing to a to work as a funnel or a pasta $89 climbing shoe in the lot. Stiff soles make strainer, or leave it flat for use as a www.fiveten.com it edge like a champ, though some may cutting board. Our favorite thing find it a tad stiff for walking. The about the Orikaso dishes is the This is a nice-looking, very good all- monster rands made us squeal with way they look. Bring a little modern around shoe, and a solid addition to our delight in boulder fields, and the lacing art on your next backcountry romp test. It shares many of the features of system snugged down securely. The with these stylish and innovative styling of the shoe didn’t do a lot for us, dishes, available starting this but the D7 is all business, and we would month at REI stores. —A.W. ENSEN not wear it around town. At $80, this Cup $4, Bowl $3, Multi-function J EREK shoe provides an excellent value for the Dish $6, Picnic Set (2 each of cup, D performance. The D7 is also available bowl & dish)$24 in a women’s model. Conclusions We didn’t have an overall quietly competent. We liked the winner in this test. The Exum fact that they were so light- Ridges were the most comfort- weight. The D7s were by far the able, and the worst climbers. best technical rock shoe, but we The Lite Ascents were the most didn’t like them as much as the substantial, the best looking, and others for walking. Every shoe the most expensive. And they brought something to the test, were the best scrambling shoe. and we vow to spend more of Montrail’s D7 has acres of rands— The Guides didn’t do a lot to set our scrambling and dayhiking patches of rubber on heels and themselves apart from the days wearing these all-terrain toes— to help your feet grip while crowd, but we found them wonders. scrambling over boulders. WASHINGTON TRAILS April 2005.