Скачать или смотреть There’s no perfect hiking shoe, only the best compromise.

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It’s fun to picture the triumph of a long hike, atop a mountain, in perfect weather (as if that ever happens), but this image ignores the grueling 60,000 steps it took to get there, and that each step came with the risk of a twisted ankle, a fall, and if a fall from height, even death. And on each of those steps you were wearing shoes. If you fall, no one is going to come rescue you, you will have to make your own way out. No wonder shoes are a bit of an obsession for hikers, they are truly where the rubber meets the road. Anyone who is serious about hiking is serious about shoes.

There are many shoes available to hikers, traditional boots, hybrid shoes, and minimal, moderate and maximal cushioned trail runners. Merrell shoes once dominated the trail, but that position has now been ceded to Altra, whose Lone Peak shoes are now the most popular on the trail. This video takes a look at the stregnths and weaknesses of each type of shoes, and the narrator talks about his transition through all types, finally settling on a maximal cushioned trail runner, although reserving a hybrid hiker for snowy hikes. The choice of shoe is often depenant on the age of the hiker, with younger hikers preferring a lighter shoe that has more road feel, while older hikers tend to prefer a more luxurious, cushioned shoe.

In the end, all hiking shoes are a compromise. And manufacturers keep changing their shoe lines, not to help customers, but in most cases to make more profit. This makes finding a reliable shoe even more difficult. In the end, there is no perfect shoe, only the best compromise available at the time.