For years I’ve been an enthusiastic user of Salomon trail-running shoes, with my all-time favorites coming from the Sense family—the,Sense Pro 2, and.
But Salomon has never broadly or successfully extended the winning features of its trail-running shoes—notably, the glove-like fit, the reliable outsole grip, and theupper’s best-in-class durability—to backpackingorcrossover categories like high routes and nontechnical scrambles. Its best entry might be the XA Elevate, which has been discontinued for 2020.
When I saw the ($160, 10.9 ounces) at Outdoor Retailer , I was hopeful it would help fill this void. Salomon sent me a pair in August so that I could size them up.
The X Alpine Pro is best suited for high-mountain running. To methat means long days, rocky and loose footing, prolonged ascents and descents, and a healthy share of hiking. I’d consider it for the toughest-of-tough ultras, too, like Hardrock and Italy’s Tor des Géants.
Personally, I found the X Alpine Pro ideal during four recent adventure runs in Rocky Mountain National Park and the Indian Peaks Wilderness, all ranging from 20 to 35 miles,with 4,000 to 11,000 vertical feet of gain andoff-trail terrain up to Class 3. These five-to-eleven-hour efforts would have pushed the limits of my aforementioned favorites, but the X Alpine Pro owned it.
As a backpacking and high-route shoe, the X Alpine Pro is definitely worth consideration. Compared to my go-to, La Sportiva Bushido II, it’s more cushioned and roomyand less stiff, so it performs relatively better on trail than offandwill fit more feet.
Key Product Specs
- Breathable upper with extra-thick TPU reinforcement
- Quick laces
- Endofit elasticized midfoot yoke
- 24-millimeterstack height in the heel and 18 millimeters in the forefoot
- 6-millimeterdrop
- Contagrip TA outsole with a wide “climbing zone” lug under the toes
- 310 grams/10.9 ounces(men’s size 9), 270 grams/9.5 ounces(women’s size7)
- $160 MSRP
Fit
The X Alpine Pro has a masterful fit, as I’ve come to expect of Salomon. Theheel locks downsecurely, partly with the help of a sculpted foam collar. An elasticized yoke and a wide cushioned tongue hugthe midfoot. And there’sjust enoughvolume in the forefoot to avoid constriction while still maintaining control.
Compared to other Salomon models I’ve worn, the fit most closely resembles the original S-LabSense Ultra, which used to be Salomon’s bestselling S-Labtrail shoe. In particular, the X Alpine Pro shares that roomy and rounded toe boxand has a Sense Pro–like heel and midfoot.
Ride
The X Alpine Pro is not as nimble as a pure trail-running shoe, but I found it surprisingly capable. In the midfoot and forefoot, it’s actually more flexible than the Sense Pro 2 or S-LabUltra, which I think is largely explained by the absence of a film-on-mesh rock plate (“ProFeelfilm”).
Not including a rock plate seems like an odd decision for an alpineshoe. I wonder if, when combined with the 18-millimeterstack height and large outsole lugs, the shoe was excessively stiff or insensitive during prototyping. Probably soif Salomon’s goal was to design an alpine runningshoe. Probably notif itsgoal was to create an off-trail specialist.
It’s worth noting that the chief complaint among trail runners of the comparable SportivaBushido, which I think is better forhigh routes than running, is that it’s too stiff.
Upper
The upper uses Salomon’s classic,time-tested mesh-and-TPU construction. But it’s been ruggedized, with thicker TPU coatings, heavier-duty mesh, and a beefy toe bumper. Its breathability is satisfactorybut not amazing; only fine dust gets through, and it’s resistant to some splashing.
After about 100 miles on generally rocky trails, and a few miles through talus and scree, my uppers were entirely intact. I don’t think the uppers will be the first failure point of the X Alpine Pro.
I did not submerge the X Alpine Pro in water, but I think the time its takes the shoe to drywill be slowish, due to the cushioned heel counter and tongueand the mediocrebreathability.
Grip
The outsole consists of large five-millimeterlugs and is made of Contagrip TA, a trusted proprietary rubber that’s proven grippy and durable.
Unique tothe outsole is the single, wideclimbing-zonelug across the toes. This approach-shoe-like feature sticks well to clean rock, but compared to a more conventional pattern of smaller lugs, I thought its performance was inferior on loose sand, mud, and wet grass.