Aggressive tread trail runners and Rocks

[Hops53]

I've been hiking in Salomon SpeedCross3 trail runners and loving them. My question is with their aggressive tread how will they do in wet areas with significant slate, smooth rock areas? Should I have alternative footwear for these areas?

[BirdBrain]

I doubt anything would help with smooth wet slate. Walk into a pool at Gulf Hagas to see what I mean. It is best to learn to walk like a penguin and concentrate on center of gravity in such areas. Of course a man from Tennesee would have less practice at that than a man from Maine would. We are trained at a very early age to walk like penguins. Banging your head on ice a few times is a great deterrent.

[MuddyWaters]

Rubber compound can affect grip significantly.especially wet.
Its just like car tires, soft grips better than hard, but wears faster. But gripping edges are the other part, and more treadblocs mean more edges. In a tire this is also accomplished with siping.

Before they discontinued them, i wore inov8 flyroc 310, very very aggressive tread with relatively few treadblocs. Never had any problem, and the tread was a pretty hard rubber. Im a fan of very aggressive treads in trailrunners for hiking.

No experience with the speedcross however.

[cjayflo]

Inov8 roclite 295. Great trail shoe for all around conditions. Nothing holds on wet moss slime rocks though.

[bemental]

Inov8 roclite 295. Great trail shoe for all around conditions. Nothing holds on wet moss slime rocks though.

+1 for the Roclites. They even have the super secret extra holes for tying your shoes that fancy way we all just learned about!

[q-tip]

I used a pair of Salomon XA Pro in and around the Bear Mountain area in NY. I spent an unusual ammount if time on my a**. Great in many respects, however on wet rocks simply unsafe for me. Replaced wiith Montrail AT Plus with a more aggressive tread, problem solved.

[Wyoming]

I don't think there is a perfect tread for a hiking shoe as the possible conditions are so wide ranging that no tread pattern or hard/softness could meet them all. I personally like a very aggressive tread, but not a vibram style as they seem to clog up with mud more than other designs. That being said I land on my ass occasionally just like everyone else - which I usually attribute to not paying enough attention to what I am doing and gawking around all the time. A while back I had to sit down and pull about 100 cactus needles out of my arm and leg because I slipped and slid into one. Annoying!

[Another Kevin]

If you really need extra grip, a rock climbers' trick is to work a little bit of stove alcohol into the soles of your shoes. That will soften up the rubber and make it sticky. It also significantly degrades the life of the sole, but sometimes on slick rock you need sticky rubber. Also, try to clean as much of the clay off your soles as possible before tackling the rock. It makes a huge difference.

[saltysack]

+1 for the Roclites. They even have the super secret extra holes for tying your shoes that fancy way we all just learned about!

What way is that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bemental]

What way is that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=111328