Altra Lone Peak NeoShell Review

[Chase Jordan]

Companion forum thread to: Altra Lone Peak NeoShell Review

The Altra Lone Peak Neoshell: light, zero-drop, wide toebox, waterproof-breathable. An ultralight backpacker’s shoe for the fringe season?

[Justin Baker]

Neoshell is supposed to have a CFM of 0.5. That makes me wonder if these shoes dry out in a reasonable time. If that’s the case, these shoes could eliminate the major disadvantage of a waterproof shoe. But the other consideration is neoshell has 10k hydrostatic head and drops to 5k after a good amount of use, would be that sufficient for walking around in puddles?

[Mitchell Ebbott]

Justin, I think a 5K HH would be plenty for puddles. Stepping in a puddle puts very little water pressure on the fabric—far less, I’m sure, than a falling raindrop in a heavy storm. And 5K is more than enough to stop a raindrop.

[Mark Baker]

Was that 12 oz for a shoe or the pair.

 

Thanks

[Ken Thompson]

Per shoe

[NFN Scout]

I’ve had my version of these shoes since they first arrived and have put hundreds of miles on them. Let me add some more info to the spotlight review:

• I’ve been using them lots with Hillsound Trail Crampons (we shy away from Kahtoola on the White Mountains, because Hillsound have sharper spikes for the steepest ice). I find they work great. (see pic for a really steep ice section) But they are not as easy to use fixed crampons with, the sole is too flexible. Also fine for my snowshoes.
• I’ve used them on 12 hr hiking days with pack and don’t need to take them off at end. Really nice.
• With wet from bottom (puddles) they are very good.
• With foot sweat… moderate to good. Had some sweat in my socks after longest days.
• With heavy rain? Horrid. Tongue soaks up the water. (but they survived the light rains of Ireland fine)
• Overall? Light and I find I use them as my main hiking shoes in all but very coldest weather. BUT???? I find these shoes among my most slippery on wet rocks. Kinda crazy for a waterproof shoe. I still just deal with it… but it’s an odd weakness. 

[Ryan K]

Thanks for the review!  These look pretty good – the only other ones I’ve found comparable are the Merrell All Out Terra Ice Waterproof.  After some hikes/trail runs this mild winter in wet, sloppy snow and massive puddles (and complete fails using plastic bag WPB), I was considering getting something waterproof, but I just love my Trail Glove 3’s too much and don’t think I can handle having more than double the stack height and loss in ground feel.  I’ve been debating instead trying a pair of waterproof socks like Dexshell.  Ice is still a problem – I’ve tried every type of microspikes available at REI and they all just crumple my shoe and foot, very uncomfortable.  Once I need to get a new pair, I think I’ll try inserting some metal screws in the bottom of my old pair, although I’m sure they won’t handle anything like the picture above.

 

[Iago Vazquez]

@ Ryan K,

Not sure if these would be of any interest to you… https://gearjunkie.com/altra-golden-spike-track-shoe-review

[Ryan K]

Thank Iago!  Those look pretty nice – reasonable prospective price too.  The article seems to emphasize these are only for sprinters, but seems like they would work fine long-distance for barefoot-style forefoot runners/hikers.  Not waterproof like Neoshell or Terra Ice, but I’m still not sure if having waterproof on a trail runner is ideal anyways for cold, wet conditions vs waterproof socks.  We had such a mild winter this year in Boston, there were only a few weeks I was stomping through slush puddles and trying to crawl up icy rock ledges.

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