There's been a lot of talk about trail running shoes around here lately, and I know a few people use the La Sportiva Crosslite and X-Countries. I just got a pair of La Sportiva Anakondas in the mail today, which is the slightly beefier remake of the X-Country. The Anakonda is a much more refined shoe that fixes a lot of minor problems that plagued the previous model.
Weight: 11.4 oz (versus 9.8 oz for my worn out X-Countries)
The outsole is exactly the same as the X-Country- thankfully Sportiva kept the Frixion XF and the deeply lugged outsole which were the best part of that shoe. I've climbed 5.10 rock in the X-Countries and I expect the Anakonda to do well here too.
The fit is significantly wider in the forefoot. The X-Country was quite narrow, these are closer to what I would consider an average shoe width. The extra room is very welcome.
One thing I was looking forward to on this shoe is it is claimed to have a forefoot rock plate. The X-Countries always felt like they didn't quite have enough protection for me. Unfortunately, I can't tell any difference in the two shoes from bending the forefoot with my hands- it's still ultra-flexible on the Anakonda. The heel, however, is clearly a lot stiffer and will offer more protection. I'll have to see how they feel on a trail run this weekend.
The upper is made of a thin but durable feeling material that seems nearly identical to the X-Country. However, there are a bunch of TPU overlays which the X-Country was lacking. These should greatly improve the durability of the upper, especially in high wear areas like by your little toe. One weakness of the X-Country was that despite the thin fabric, it took forever to dry after getting soaked, mostly due to a thick tongue and that weird scree gaiter over the laces. The Anakonda has much less material to stay wet- the tongue is a single layer of fabric and the scree gaiter is gone. Seems like they should dry much faster.
Overall they are a significant improvement that fixed a lot of little details that weren't quite right on the X-Country. I think they will fit in a similar niche to my old X-Countries: great for rock scrambling and steep loose dirt, but probably not something I'd wear for big mileage days due to the relatively minimalist level of protection. They will work nicely for weekend trips and trail runs to strengthen my feet, but my Scarpa Sparks offer much more underfoot protection for essentially the same weight. The Sparks will remain my go-to shoe for longer trips with higher mileage.
