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View Full Version : Are approach shoes worth the extra money?



wormer
09-26-2014, 17:26
I have been looking at approach shoes for hiking the AT, has anybody had any experiences with them? The Salewa approach shoes look well made, but I was wondering if approach shoes in general are worth the extra money?

Another Kevin
09-26-2014, 18:21
They might help on Katahdin, Mahoosuc Arm, the Wildcats or Beaver Brook. Otherwise, the soft, sticky rubber is just going to wear out faster. Approach shoes are really for tricky scrambling, not for general hiking. I certainly wouldn't want to go long distances in mine - I bring them out for peak bagging.

Mags
09-26-2014, 18:41
Ditto what AK said. They are really meant for scrambling and easier technical climbing (5.6 and below generally). Don't think they would work well for truly long distances .

Trance
09-26-2014, 20:01
Honestly.... a lot of people over think their preps for the AT.

Simple is better. You'll regret the weight and clutter later on...... however, the people at Neels Gap will love helping you send it all home.

Lone Wolf
09-26-2014, 20:10
hikin' shoes, camp shoes, approach shoes. where does it end? just walk with some shoes

Another Kevin
09-26-2014, 22:00
hikin' shoes, camp shoes, approach shoes. where does it end? just walk with some shoes

Uhm. I think we agree - up to the difference in our hiking styles. "Just walk with some shoes" is mostly what I do: cheap New Balance trail runners work for 80% of my hiking. I do have some other shoes for hiking - but that's because I hike in more varied places than most of the people here. Rock scrambling, bushwhacking, winter peakbagging, are all things that I think I do more of than most of the hikers on this forum. They're fun things for a clueless weekender.

I wear approach shoes on day or overnight trips when I expect tough scrambling. Examples: The Devil's Path in the Catskills from the eastern terminus to Stony Clove; the north side of Mansfield on the LT with the infamous soapstone; Mount Colden in the Adirondacks starting from Avalanche Pass, particularly the wet granite by the waterfall. These places all have moves that are about 5.4, and slippery, slabby rock. The trails don't get labeled 'climbing routes' only because the hardest moves aren't all that exposed while the exposed sections aren't quite as difficult. Nothing on the A-T, not Beaver Brook, nor Wildcat E, nor Mahoosuc Notch and Mahoosuc Arm, has scrambling as challenging as the places I mentioned.

I bring water shoes if I expect a lot of use for them. (Example: The Florida Trail, the Northville-Placid Trail, the Hundred-Mile Wilderness in a wet season.) The water shoes serve as camp shoes if I bring them, otherwise my trail runners are my camp shoes. I'm bringing water shoes in October for a thru-hike of the Northville-Placid trail, because pretty much the whole trail is beaver swamp, and I expect flooded puncheon and bog bridging, very sketchy bridges that may be awash or off their footings, fords, and similar hazards, and I don't fancy trying to do the whole hike in wet shoes. For most of the A-T I'd leave the water shoes at home and not miss them, but I think I'd want them for the fords in Maine. In the unlikely event that I were doing a thru-hike, I might just have a pair sent to Gorham. Otherwise, on the A-T, I'd not bother.

I wear big clunky leather boots or Sorel pac boots (depending on temperature) when I need to attach traction devices, because my trail runners aren't compatible with my snowshoe and crampon bindings. In the South, you can wait out a storm. In the North, the snowpack that has you wallowing and postholing if you hit the trail in November unprepared will still be there in May. Moreover, New York requires snowshoes when there's 8+ inches of snow on the trails. For three seasons of hiking on the A-T, traction gear, and boots that can support it, are absolutely irrelevant.

So I have multiple pairs of shoes for hiking, but that's because of my eccentric choice of trips. On the A-T, my trail runners could handle pretty much everything, at least between about mid-May and mid-October in the North, and all year round in the South. I'd maybe miss the water shoes in Maine if I didn't have them. Approach shoes, leather boots, and pac boots have role to play in those places with my style of hiking.

But that's my "clueless weekender" perspective, where I get to choose the shoes that match the trip.

Mags
09-26-2014, 22:14
hikin' shoes, camp shoes, approach shoes. where does it end? just walk with some shoes


Spoken like a person who follows a well marked trail with pretty white rectangles! :D

If you are not familiar with approach shoes, they are very stiff soled shoes with a very sticky sole. Usually an uber-stiff edge.

Unlike climbing shoes for more technical climbing, the shoe itself can be used for limited hiking. The disadvantage is the sole is nowhere as sticky nor as pliable for really uber-technical moves. And for really long hikes, the sole will wear out faster.

Doing The Diamond? (http://www.summitpost.org/three-climbs-in-rmnp-longs-peak-the-diamond-the-spearhead/908269) *APPROACH* with trail runners or approach shoes and switch to climbing shoes (far beyond my skill level ! On a good day I can do a 5.8 )

Doing Upper Exum on Grand Teton? (http://www.summitpost.org/upper-exum-ridge/156434) Take approach shoes. That is my skill level. :)

Hiking a well marked and maintained trail? Take trail runners.

You get the idea.....

It may be "just walking" but sometimes the walking leads to vertical...

Then there is winter.


AK and I have to get together some time. I am a wussy Western off-trail hiker. Eastern bushwhacking is much more difficult (seriously!) :)

July
09-26-2014, 23:20
hikin' shoes, camp shoes, approach shoes. where does it end? just walk with some shoes
How Brother Jeff... no shoes?

July
09-26-2014, 23:41
I would like to send out a most Love Thread to Damascus Dave, Warren Doyle, HOMEGROWN

Another Kevin
09-27-2014, 03:31
Doing The Diamond? (http://www.summitpost.org/three-climbs-in-rmnp-longs-peak-the-diamond-the-spearhead/908269) *APPROACH* with trail runners or approach shoes and switch to climbing shoes (far beyond my skill level ! On a good day I can do a 5.8 )

Doing Upper Exum on Grand Teton? (http://www.summitpost.org/upper-exum-ridge/156434) Take approach shoes. That is my skill level. :)

en there is winter.

AK and I have to get together some time. I am a wussy Western off-trail hiker. Eastern bushwhacking is much more difficult (seriously!) :)

For what it's worth, Mags is being modest here. 5.8 is about the level that a novice climber will get to if he starts out athletic, and goes climbing every weekend with a good instructor for an entire summer. For us non-climber mortals, it's "how the heck does he do it?"

But sure, Mags, I'd love to get out there with you sometime, if you can cope with my limitations! I'm s-l-o-w, I talk too much, my climbing and ski skills are nonexistent, and I'm clueless about long-distance hiking. The 15-day trip that I'm planning (starting a week from Tuesday, gadzooks!) will be the longest I've ever done. And it has one piece that has me a little nervous: a nearly 60-mile section with no resupply opportunities. The only road that the trail crosses in that stretch is seasonal and will likely be gated off by the time I get to it.

wormer
09-27-2014, 19:23
Thanks for all the good feedback. Another Kevin must have read my mind, I just got back today from sectioning the 100 Mile -Wilderness. I was torn between approach shoes and a magic carpet being helpful, while dealing with roots in the trail.

Mags
09-29-2014, 11:15
re: 5.8

I should add that is NOT lead climbing. And, again, that is on a good day if I muscle through. Lead climbing, with my patient buddy who really knows what he is doing an can coach me, is MAYBE 5.6.

AK, have a great tip!

colorado_rob
09-29-2014, 13:28
Well, "approach shoes" is a broad category, and in fact, my wife wears "approach shoes" fairly exclusively for hiking (and climbing), including long distance hiking. She loves La Sportiva "approach shoes", and has recently "discovered" some addidas model she loves as well. Extremely comfortable for her, at least, and they seem to wear well.

All the "approach shoes" I've worn were, as said below, pretty much for climbing, including lead climbing, Mags, for the tamer alpine routes far from a trailhead where you just plain don't need actual climbing shoes, but you're right, 5.6 or below, maybe a tad higher if well protected.

But for some reason my wife loves them for just plain hiking; just the right balance of being lightweight, but somewhat supportive and nice grippy soles.

lemon b
09-29-2014, 20:19
Never even heard of them. That said I have never carried anything but whats on my feet and sometimes an extra pair of laces, and usually the laces get traded for some eat in place food.