Our favorite trail running shoe for the year is a no brainer – La Sportiva’s Crosslite.
On first appearance it appears to be a racing flat, minimalistic cushion and support, aggressive sole, not much to it – but no, it is so much more. How they pack so much comfort into such a lightweight shoe is a mystery.
Crosslite’s aggressive tread is structured as tall knobs – which, combined with just enough heel cushioning seems to allow for the knobs to flex along with the heel – providing for a soft heel strike, and perfectly so. The shoes are the most stable I have run in, my weak right ankle loves the low profile and form fitting design.
On top of the laces is an elastic band that keeps the shoe wrapped around the foot – not the foot inside a shoe, but a shoe around a foot. Yes, it makes a difference.
When we first got these shoes from La Sportiva we thought we would only use them for uphills, and shorter, fast trail runs. Truthfully, we were hesitant to use them on the longer, super rocky Dolomite trails as we feared there would not be enough cushion for a long day. But after running all summer in them we have decided that they are perfect for most everything, in fact I recently ran two hours into an alpine peak, climbed a 3000 foot fourth class ridge – and then charged down and out. It was the ideal shoe – and it seems to be due to the form fit, low profile and knobby tread.
La Sportiva’s major winner is the Crosslite.
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