Shoes for Alpine races

[Ed Sned]

In a rash moment, I entered the 35km race of the Eiger Ultra Trail event next July. So what do people wear for alpine running?

Back here, I use Mudclaw 265s for pretty well all my Lakeland & Peaks races (and a second very worn pair for most of my training, which being in Wiltshire, is pretty tame by comparison), but I doubt they'll be great for dry, rocky, single-track, trail etc. I've had some roclite 243s in the past, but found my feet felt a bit battered after longer distances on hard surfaces.

So what's the view on the newer Inov8 trail shoes? or Salomon, in which case which ones and how does the shape compare with Inov8?

[ChevinbyTorchlight]

Obviously depends on the weather - but for the trails around Grindelwald i'd say F-Lite's or road shoes if it's very dry, or something like the Roclite's if it's wet/greasy. I think Mudclaws would be overkill and pretty uncomfortable unless it's biblically wet.

I've done a good bit of running/mountain biking round that area, but the only alpine race I've done is Glacier3000 which I did in racing flats, and they were fine even in torrential rain on the higher part of the course as it was rocky, and even on the glacier I managed fine.

Did the Eiger Bike Challenge this year a few weeks after the Eiger Ultra had taken place, so plenty of the signs were still up, looks a good course so best of luck with it.

[EwenM]

I used Brooks Pure Grit for running the trails around Chamonix including a 23km race this summer with no problems.

[murph]

I ran Sierre - Zinal this year in a fresh out of the box pair of Salomon SLab Sense 3s, and they were perfect, even coupled with a very wet first 3rd of the race which is mainly climbing.

[Willowisp]

Inov 8 Trailrocs or Ultras maybe. I don't find trailrocs last very long but I happily completed a South African 100km in them a few weeks ago.

[Ed Sned]

Thanks all. I've bought a pair of TerraClaws which so far, I'm pretty happy with

[TheChizler]

Well for a trail running shoe, consider checking this list I found at Running Gear Lab