Flume, Passaconaway/Whiteface, Cannon in Vibram Five Fingers

[dr_wu002]

My wife, Jess, is finishing up her NH48 so we took a 3-day weekend with some vague plans of doing a bunch of 4000'ers. I've had the Vibram Five Fingers KSO "shoes" for about six months but never use them hiking so I figured this would be a good opportunity. Wore them on all three hikes.

Flume via Slide Trail (Fri)
Wasn't sure how the Five Fingers would hold up having never taken them on rocky trails before (only used them street running and baby, very soft dirt trails). Flume Slide is of course a fairly fun trail although I'd rather go up the real slide instead of the blazed, overgrown one. Wasn't gonna happen this day. From Flume we went over to Liberty. Once we got past some of the steep stuff on the way down Jess and I ran the final 3 miles or so -- five fingers held up great on the rocky terrain.

Passaconaway & Whiteface (Sat)
My feet felt good the next day so I decided to wear the Five Fingers again. We parked @ Downes Brook, took the X-C ski trail to the Oliverian Brook Trail, Passaconaway Cuttoff, Square Ledge Trail (all new to me), went over to Whiteface then down the Downes Brook Trail. Ran most of / whatever we could on Downes Brook -- generally walked anything that seemed like dry stream bed a well, it hurts pretty bad running on that crap nearly barefoot. The remainder of Downes Brook is a cool and wild trail with its 10 (!) stream crossings (all easy on Saturday) and although runnable, very rocky. Good tryout of the Five Fingers running on mixed very rocky terrain. Feet hurt at the end a little but no bruising or blistering at all.

Cannon (Sun)
We were camping with my sister and family so we ended up getting a late start on Sunday so we decided to do Cannon via. High Cannon Trail (new trail for me) and then took Lonesome Lake Trail back to the lake and headed out. Plenty of tchotchke lovers on Cannon -- I love the summit of Washington.... it's a fun atmosphere with lot of people wandering around. The summit of Cannon sucks, everyone is herded around the rim trail and none of the "tourists" seem all that happy to be there. I don't particularly like it. But going down the KRT from Cannon summit is interesting boulder climbs and whatnot. NO running at all on the way down -- these boulder intensive trails are lousy for running so far with the VFF's plus I didn't feel like wrecking my feet on this trail.

Vibram Five Fingers KSOs These "shoes" are pretty great on trails. For a little background, I've been running routinely with "minimal" shoes -- Nike Free 5.0 and now 3.0 on roads and dirt trails, Inov-8 Roclite 295's on hikes and more serious trail running. VFF KSO's on some road runs and other things. I'm kind of used to being up on my toes and not heal striking but the VFF's force you to be honest all the time about it. The good point is you have tremendous stability and maneuverability: your arches and toes are naturally incredible springy and I didn't have a single instance of smashing my heel on anything. The balls of your feet, despite being soft can absorb tremendous impact: I did ~35 miles of hiking and running this weekend on fairly rocky trails and my feet feel awesome now. Also, no blisters, not even hot spots. My feet even with trail runners can get hot and develop hot spots (rarely blisters) but with the VFF's my feel were very surprisingly cool the entire time. NO hot spots, no crap pebbles and dirt getting in the shoe. There's no protection at all from mud and crap but in general they seem to dry out quick. I didn't dunk them in the water but they get wet/muddy a few times with no significant drop in performance. One last thing.... the VFF KSO's have absolutely zero traction (the new Bikila's do) you make up for it by being able to feel everything underneath you and move your toes around to grip the rocks in anyway you need -- no falls and not even many slips (no more than usual and I rarely fall to begin with).

Overall, they're way cool and I'll definitely be hiking more with them It's hard to run real fast with them because you have to be much more careful with foot placements than with normal trail runners but it's still a lot of fun running with them, plus a great workout on your calves.

Great weather too -- trails were all in great condition and we had a blast on all the peaks this weekend.

-Dr. Wu

 

[sapblatt]

Wu -
I cannot imagine using those - I am not always a Philistine, but on this one...
Larry and I saw a teen backpacking in them - he had just descended Webster Cliff. I would imagine they allow you to strengthen all the muscles and ligaments in your feet and ankles and that is a plus over boots. Glad it worked for you

 

[dr_wu002]

Wu -
I cannot imagine using those - I am not always a Philistine, but on this one...
Larry and I saw a teen backpacking in them - he had just descended Webster Cliff. I would imagine they allow you to strengthen all the muscles and ligaments in your feet and ankles and that is a plus over boots. Glad it worked for you

Actually, your calves: you're on your toes (not a bad thing) almost all the time. The first few weeks running (back in March) with the Nike Free's and the VFF's my calves hurt like hell but eventually you get used to it. But doing all the hikes/runs this weekend was a new level, my calves definitely got a great workout which is what I want because it helps so much for your calves to be strong for winter hiking. In general too, I find the VFF's to be so great for stability -- you always know exactly what you're walking/running on and they have enough flexability to adjust instantly to the terrain you're on. Surprisingly, I had ZERO toe smashes -- either my foot would glance over the object (something that usually doesn't happen even with trail runners) or you react so quickly when running that you simply move your foot before the smash really gets you. They're surprisingly easy to hike with -- you sacrifice some comfort, obviously, but you gain it back in other ways (cool feet, no blisters) and make up even more with increased stability, no falls etc.

-Dr. Wu

 

[FARMER]

nice! glade to hear those work well. congrats to Jess on her finish. will the VFF's accept a tall gaiter and snowshoe?

 

[leaf]

cool stuff, wu!

 

[dr_wu002]

nice! glade to hear those work well. congrats to Jess on her finish. will the VFF's accept a tall gaiter and snowshoe?

Jess still has a few more peaks but looks like we'll get it done soon enough... big finish on Tecumser sometime in September. The cooler part though is getting Jess running on some fairly difficult trails. We had a blast running (only flats and downs) the trails this past weekend. She is definitely NOT convinced though that she needs a pair of VFF's at all. I have to say, they can be somewhat limiting -- I just can't see how I could run on trails - ever - that look like dried stream beds (while I can with trail runners) but I guess it's all part of the fun and they do have some benefits vs even minimal trail runners such as (in my opinion) better stability and maneuverability and even in some ways, better grip. I think the new VFF Bikilas are probably even better as they solve some additional grip problems and may be better on the really nasty rocky trails that I mentioned.

-Dr. Wu

 

[Darl58]

Sounds great Wu!

Jess is kicking some serious Mountains lately!! Let us know when teh big finish will be!!!

 

[1HappyHiker]

Thanks for including details about the Vibram Five Fingers KSOs in your report.
Just recently I became aware of this rather funky footwear. It's great to read a first-hand report from someone who has field-tested them in the Whites!

Have you actually tried out the new Bikila's yet? If so, what's your impression of how they grip on severely slanted rock slabs (versus the grip of a conventional hiking boot with Vibram soles)??

 

[dr_wu002]

Have you actually tried out the new Bikila's yet? If so, what's your impression of how they grip on severely slanted rock slabs (versus the grip of a conventional hiking boot with Vibram soles)??

No -- I have not tried the Bikila's yet at all... next shoe, probably.

The grip issue for the KSO is funky: the shoes have almost zero grip really... the rubber on the bottom is akin to a severely worn out trail shoe. They're not really designed for stuff like the Flume Slide in my opinion. However, they worked great on the Flume Slide in unexpected ways. What you lose in friction you gain back with flexibility and being able to move your feet/toes around and lock in on any little nook, bump or crevice how ever small. I learned pretty quick any limitations and what advantages they give so going up the Slide was no problem at all... didn't slow me down one bit. Even friction climbing is fairly easy despite the smooth shoe surface because you are able to "microposition" your feet/toes to get the grip you need, even on wet surface. The thing is, because you're so low to the ground and can feel everything beneath you, you know right away if you can make a step or not. There's a small learning curve but I got the hang of it right away... the Flume Slide Trail was the first "hiking" trail I had ever taken the VFF's on so I had to learn somewhat quick. It would have been interesting going down the trail although it's somewhat interesting in any shoes.

-Dr. Wu

 

[skiguy]

Do you get cruddy toes with the fivefingers or is the toe cheese held to a minimum ?

 

[dr_wu002]

Do you get cruddy toes with the fivefingers or is the toe cheese held to a minimum ?

Not sure if you're being facetious or just Al Soccardy but no, I'm surprised just how good the toes look. No blisters, bruising or even hot spots. The balls of my feet feel somewhat tenderized but it's amazing how much abuse the soft parts (toes & ball) of your feet can take and not feel too bad afterwards. I imagine it would just take one smash to the heal to really do some damage but after 1000's of steps both running and walking as well as jumping on rock, roots and dirt everything, except for a tiny bit of tenderness, is in great condition.

-Dr. Wu

 

[skiguy]

Not sure if you're being facetious or just Al Soccardy but no, I'm surprised just how good the toes look. No blisters, bruising or even hot spots. The balls of my feet feel somewhat tenderized but it's amazing how much abuse the soft parts (toes & ball) of your feet can take and not feel too bad afterwards. I imagine it would just take one smash to the heal to really do some damage but after 1000's of steps both running and walking as well as jumping on rock, roots and dirt everything, except for a tiny bit of tenderness, is in great condition.

-Dr. Wu

Not trying to be Al or facetious just interested. I guess it seems like with your toes all wrapped individually that it could get a little more cruddy but it sounds like the five fingers breath well. Do you wear socks?...and if so do they make special ones that work with this apparel? By the way I think you might be the last one on this board that should be accusing someone of being facetious...LOL!

 

[dr_wu002]

Not trying to be Al or facetious just interested. I guess it seems like with your toes all wrapped individually that it could get a little more cruddy but it sounds like the five fingers breath well. Do you wear socks?...and if so do they make special ones that work with this apparel? By the way I think you might be the last one on this board that should be accusing someone of being facetious...LOL!

Yeah, of course I realize that... I'm actually being serious in a thread and not talking about Gary Moody!? Who hijacked my account.

Anyway, I use the Injinji toe sox because I got blisters in my arch the first time I wore the shoes. Like I said though, my feet stayed way cool throughout the hike & run... there's no protection from mud or water at all as the fabric extends all the way to the bottom of the toe where it meets the rubber part. But they seem to dry out quick and my feet did not get sweaty just occasionally wet from stepping in a puddle or mud.

-Dr. Wu

 

[skiguy]

Thanks for the Beta...I think I'm give these a try!

 

[Dave Bear]

Enough about you and your foot fetish Wu! Most people with that fetish are interested in someone else's! Big Congrats to Jess on four more summits on an excellent weekend!

 

[Nif]

So we need to change your nick name from Dr Poo to Dr Shoe eh?????

Cool report.

 

[Gillian]

Sounds like a fun weekend of peak bagging! I dunno though, you may need to do some more training to finish on the mighty Tecumser

 

[grouseking]

Sounds like some great hikes! And in those shoes...wow.

Everytime I see those things, they remind me of "God's Shoes."

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Hmmm, I wonder if these Vibram Five Fingers KSO "shoes" will do for trail running what sticky rubber smooth-soled shoes did for rock climbing in the late 1970s? And, perhaps Alex MacPhail was ahead of his time by running most of his 12 h 11 min H2H in Addidas (sp?) track shoes in 1963?

 

[FARMER]

perhaps