New Altra Lone Peak 3.0

[Jake J]

I did an out and back on the Register Ridge trail to Mt Harwood which is a sub peak of Mt. Baldy here in Socal on Saturday morning. The trail gains 3500′ of elevation over it’s 2.6 miles so it’s a little steep to put it mildly. The trail consists of a lot of scree and loose rock over the majority of it. The LP3’s handled it well. Traction was great both on the uphill and downhill. There is a short optional mild class 3 line about 2/3 of the way to the top that I took and the grip on the rocks was better than with the 2.5’s Overall I’m pretty pleased with the 3.0’s. Less mesh overall equates to a lot less dust getting into the shoes which was always a problem with the 2.5’s. Only gripe that I have so far is that I had tightened down the laces in the midfoot before my decent on Register Ridge and when I got to the bottom it seems that the insole had shifted a bit to the instep of the shoe. Not sure what happened there, will keep an eye on it. Going to head back up and do the same route this Sunday morning so we’ll see if I have the same insole slip when I get to the bottom.

[Jake J]

Just an update-

I’ve put about 150 miles backpacking/hiking as well as about 100 miles on the treadmill and walking around the neighborhood with the wife and dog and the cushioning on these are done. I tried running a 9 mile loop that I do pretty regularly which is mostly hard pack single track with some rocky sections thrown in here and there with 3K feet of elevation gain over the course of the loop. I was getting a lot of pain in my ankles and knees and ended up just hiking at a brisk pace over the majority of it. Anything more than a jog and my dogs were barking, so to speak.

The upper on these with the overlays are a lot more durable than the previous generation. I’m just beginning to see a little bit of wear in the mesh where it meets the overlays on the outside edge where the toe box flexes. The tread is still holding up well, although getting a bit worn on the outside edges as I tend to supinate.

That being said this pair of shoes is done and I’m on the hunt for a replacement pair… I went by the New Balance store yesterday and tried on a pair of V3 Leadvilles. They felt good overall, plenty of room in the toe box and the cushioning felt good. They did feel a bit odd since I’ve been using zero drop shoes for the past year, but that’s something I think I will get used to once they get broken in a little.

[Steve Collins]

I guess everyone’s feet are different!  I wore the 2.5 for about 4 months including a trip over 16K feet where we dropped fast to close to 8K in 6 hours, this trip that ended my use of the 2.5’s. Going up was great but my heel wouldn’t lock on the descent and I ended up losing two toe nails no matter how tight I tied them.  Otherwise I was really happy with the width and feel even though my size 14s caused me to be confused as a circus clown…

I grabbed the 3.0’s when they came out and they have been fantastic over about 50 miles. I need to put a longer steady descent on them to give them a true test but so far so good!  Not only does the heel feel more snug the tread seems a little stickier on slick trail and they seem slightly more streamlined and less clown like.

Throw them on at an REI if you have one nearby and walk around the store for an hour like I did to give them a try, fortunately mine has stairs which helped. I’ll report back after a couple hundred miles.

Steve

[Moze C]

Resurrecting this because I didn’t see a newer thread. I did exactly what @chicagomoose suggested – wore a pair around REI for a bit today. For me, they seem to fit perfectly. I have trouble finding shoes that lock my heel in well but also have a generous toe box. These seemed to work well for both – no slip in the heel and toe box felt great. Time on the trail will tell, but they felt really, really good walking around the store. Ordered a pair of mid’s off Amazon ($40 cheaper than REI, sorry REI)…should have them Monday.

[Author]

Posts