There’s good underfoot protection too, but compared to some, the Wings Pro 2 feels a little stiff and unresponsive though that might improve with use. Outdoors Grabbit? Maybe, if you want a super sturdy, well-made, comfortable shoe for mostly hardpack to medium terrain where cushioning and grip are both okay. Slightly heavy and a little firm generally. Outdoors Tragic: Tentative on wet rock and slippy on the sloppy stuff. Grip is good on harder surfaces and they feel like they should last a good while. Outdoors Magic: Solid, sturdy, secure and reliable shoe with good underfoot protection and a nice rolling feel. It lacks the durability or specific benefits offered by more narrowly focused footwear choices, so be aware that you’re making a series of compromises to achieve a better blend of attributes.‘Tough but slightly wooden-feeling, trail-running shoe that’s happiest making whoopee on hardpack trails rather than in the slop’ Wings Pro 2 If you’re looking for a do-it-all trail running shoe that stretches the boundaries of running, scrambling, and low 5th climbing, you’ll find a good foot partner in the Salomon Wings Pro 2. If I can get 400 miles out of them, that seems plenty by running shoe standards. Other Salomons have looked just as bad and done me a ton more service. That said, I’d bet that I’m only halfway through the life cycle of my Wings Pro 2s. The price of going light and breathable, in this case, is durability. Nothing out of the ordinary for running shoes in the mountain environment. ![]() Mine currently sport a few rips in the mesh of the main shoe, small holes in the heel cup mesh, one of the toe caps is peeling, and the soles are somewhat worn from all the scree and talus play. The weakest aspect of using a trail running shoe for things it wasn’t intended to do is that they will fall apart sooner than you’d wish. I’m also a little leary of the lace system lacking plastic brackets, as I’ve seen the kevlar saw through the loops before after a bunch of use. The S-Lab Wings does feel a bit less built out than the Wings Pro 2, meaning I’d be less inclined to pick it for the rough, off-trail readiness that I want in my shoes. The sole is also stickier, which I enjoyed while doing a bit of scrambling on the choss of Lone Peak. In the S-Lab Wings, the result of all the stripping down they do to make a race worthy shoe is that they genuinely feel lighter on your feet (The S-Lab Wings 8 comes at the claimed 275 g, fully 60 g lighter than the Wings Pro 2). The Wings Pro 2 proves that blends of attributes do the best.Īt this year’s Rut race, I took advantage of the Salomon demos to try out the S-Lab Wings for the sake of comparison in the same size, but in a more shocking red color. The Wings Pro 2s kept up marvelously on these sorts of days, and I never felt like I was completely undergunned. My feet edge while climbing, glissade, walk trail, slide through screen, and grip on dust. Such details are the things that seem to happen on my Glacier days. We then retraced part of our route, dropped to a trail, and walked seven miles out. The trail continued along exposed cliffs to a saddle, and we did some 4th class moves up a ridge to a summit. At one point, the goat trail ended in wet slabs, which we downclimbed into a bergschrund.Ĭhimneying across that fissure, half snow half rock, through a little squeeze tunnel coated in mud, we made it through onto the goat trail on the other side. We did nearly six miles by trail, then veered off into slanting scree, talus, and ledges while navigating below cliffs high above the Going to the Sun Highway. In July, my friend Jill and I went off to check on the existence of a high route via goat trail in Glacier National Park. Most bigger days in Glacier mix together a whole pile of attributes. And if stickier rubber is a big deal for you, the S-Lab Wings delivers a grippier sole in what is mostly the same shoe. Can you climb lower class 5th in the Wings Pro 2? Sure. I did feel like I could trust my feet, which came in handy with all the fourth class scrambling I did. David Steele in the Salomon Wings Pro 2, Glacier National Park, MT. Yet, with good technique, they did just fine. I led some 5.6 crack climbing, did some foot jams, and led a pitch of 5.5-5.6 choss chimney to see how they did.They don’t have sticky rubber, and once broken in, the soles are medium stiff at best. This holds true for the Wings Pro 2, but they aren’t incapable. Approach shoes for climbing are typically stiffer, more sticky, and more durable than shoes designed for trail running.
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