I wore a pair of Topos Ultraventures last summer for 700 miles on the CT and then up in the Wind Rivers, Teton, and Yellowstone. More or less loved them to death. As one reviewer has written, they seem like the perfect balance between the cushiness of Hokas and the ride of Altras. Other than some mid sole pain just from extended walking (which my wife had the same with a pair of Hokas), I couldn’t find much fault with the shoes. I tried on several brands of Altras at the time I bought the Topos and just thought they were so flimsy in make compared to the Topos, while the Hokas I tried either seemed to feel too awkward/cushioned, with perhaps too high of a drop (the Topos are 5mm) and not quite as wide of a toe box. At any rate, was planning to buy the same shoe for an AZT start next month, but Topos have taken the Ultraventure out of circulation and replaced it with the Ultraventure Pro, which has not gotten great reviews, and has a rock plate which has made it much stiffer. Haven’t gotten a chance to try a pair of these on, as they sound like they would be well equipped for the rockier AZT, but at any rate, am looking for shoe recommendations that have worked for those with similar specs: I’m looking for something with no more than a 4-5 drop, wide toe box, and hopefully construction that is better than what I’ve seen from Altras (as they joke in REI, “you’ll need two pairs of Altras for every one pair of X brand,” and while this isn’t necessarily true, just comparing flimsiness, I would tend to agree). All suggestions though much appreciated!
