Revisited – Trail Runner vs Boots for Sierra (Late May)

I’ve read there were PCT folks in Bishop a few days ago. I’m guessing everything will be pounded down pretty quickly.

I’m definitely not the person you want to take advice from but if I was entering in two weeks I would take meshy trail runners and maybe some goretex socks.

I was on that loop in a high snow year. Through hikers that I met wearing trail runners were freaked out. Their shoes were flat out dangerous on ice and snow they were encountering. And even a small amount of snow over steep passes will be icy in the morning. There can be  very steep0 run outs on those passes. So, having a pounded down snow trail won’t solve all the issues.

But this is a low snow year. Still, I can think of at least one spot on the trail up to Dusy Basin, and several on the pass descending from Humphrey basin that would freak me out if there was ice and I was in trail runners.

I’d bring shoes for 99% of the time when I was on trails, rather than boots for <1% of the time on snow.  Sure, that 1% is the most exciting, but bring a skate-key style screw/nut-driver and place some 1/2″ self-taping screws into your trail runners before each of those few snowy stretches and remove them afterwards.  This was my first attempt at doing so:

But helpful folks on BPL explained that fewer contact points get more force on each one so 3-4 in the heel plus 4-6 under the ball are optimal and I now agree.

Are you bringing microspikes?

In 2019 I wore my microspikes on trail runners around Garnet lake (not on your route, but has some nice steep icy slides into the lake) and would have turned around if I hadn’t had the spikes. Then I post holed into deep soft snow for a while, mid-thigh. Almost lost a shoe doing the post holing. Fun!

Yes, i will have microspikes.

Oh, well, microspikes change the equation. Now the question becomes, wear light boots and leave the spikes at home, saving a lot of weight…or trail runners and carry the spikes.

Thanks for the input.

I was going ask about microspikes as well.  Even in this low snow year you have plenty of snow/ice runs over the passes. in May.

And unless your boots have exceptionally deep cleats you’ll want them with your boots too.  If I were going out it’d be with trail runners and spikes.

Why not approach shoes? Lighter than boots and more burly than trail runners. Something like a La Sportiva TX3/TX4 or Salewa Mountain Trainer (low cut model). TX3 shoes work amazing with micro spikes as they have a full rand around the whole shoe. They are sort of like mountaineering boots given an UL trailrunner type of treatment.

I have a great pair of calf-high three ply event gaiters from MLD, if I remember right. They weigh about an ounce each. May will be wet, with lots of little streams crossing the trail. Those gaiters really help. Help with snow too.

You can do that route in runners, but it would not be ideal.  I guided in that quadrangle for years, and even in June and July I always preferred boots.  You hear a lot of negatives from the ultra-light crowd regarding mountain boots; yes, they are heavy, but I can move faster across snow fields all day in boots and with a lot more security, too.  Kicking steps is just sublime in a pair of Galibier ‘Super Guides’ or Asolo ‘Yukons’; it’s a joke in a pair of trail runners.  As for plunge-stepping, well, runners just don’t work that well. Thru-hikers really are probably better off not using boots, given their 20 plus miles per day schedules, but for the loop you are going to do, you need security and dry feet far more than you need super-light footwear.  I really hate all that slipping and sliding that happens with trail runners on soft snow– unless you are thru-hiking, there is no reason I can think of to put up with that.

People keep talking about a low snow year. In WA State we’ve been having an extremely cold Spring and lots of snow in the mountains. That being said, if you’re on a compact trail, micro spikes and runners (optional GTX runners) are best. Your feet will get cold, when wet, in and around all that snow. If you’re knee high diving into snow and muck, boots.