LIGHT BUT SUPPORTIVETake a closer look and you can see it: One solid, continuous piece of polyurethane forms the midsole and sidewall supports on the awkwardly named AL-T. Because fewer materials are...
Some low-cut shoes beg for mercy under the weight of a 40-pound pack. But the Passage Ventilator can bear a load, thanks to a muscled chassis that includes an injection-molded plastic plate in the...
GREEN KICKS WITH GUTSEco-friendly shoes used to be fine for backyard lounging, not the backcountry. With its new footwear, Patagonia makes it clear such restrictions no longer apply. Here's why....
LIKES IT ROUGHThe Voyageur was one of several shoes that we sent to our most abusive tester. His take: They're "as tough as beef jerky." After several weeks of hiking, the upper's sturdy leather hide...
You wouldn't expect Guinness to make anything but stout, and you shouldn't expect Five Ten to make a shoe that can't climb. The Prodigy has obvious rock-shoe features: sticky Stealth C4 rubber on the...
PROTECT YOUR JOINTSCan a low-cut hiker really deliver the ankle support of a high-top? Um, no. But the Camp Four comes darn close. The trick is accomplished with bands of thick PU molded to the rear...
PREFERS TECHNICAL TRAILSThe mashed-up name says it all: smear + edge = "smedge." True to the equation, the Smedge is a serious approach shoe that won't let you down when the trail gets vertical....
Though it's not billed as a trail runner, the Kota is constructed on a running-shoe last, and it shows. Racing to beat sunset, I sped down north Georgia's Hemp Top Trail in these shoes and reached...
LEATHER GOES NEW-SCHOOLWhile others try to reinvent light hikers with synthetic materials, Merrell went another route: It transformed the classic leather midweight into a new breed of light hiker...
THE WETTER, THE BETTERNot surprisingly, sandal maker Chaco's first-ever light hiking shoe excels in soggy conditions. As one of our testers shimmied down a waterfall drainage, he bloodied a knee, but...
Testers didn't want to take this shoe off, thanks to its blend of trail-worthy guts and low-key style. The sole's balance of support and flexibility was perfect for speedy trail hiking. And while the...
LITTLE BIG BOOTA hike on the eight-mile trail to the top of Colorado's 14,259-foot Longs Peak demands a lot out of a shoe: support, traction, durability, agility, and low weight. That's a tall order...
GREAT ANKLE SUPPORTIn a world of Honda Elements and Subaru Outbacks, the Ranger is a Ford Bronco: old-school and well-built but certainly not flashy. The crux of this classically designed boot is the...
Though some manufacturers like to throw around the sexy-sounding "approach shoe" title, the CTC is no marketing gimmick. When my trip up a creekbed turned into a bouldering session, the CTC proved as...
The fuel miser: It's freezing and the wind's howling—a perfect time to fire up the Reactor, which has a completely enclosed, windproof burner. The integrated pot/burner system puts the...