La Sportiva - Jackal II BOA

I've done the Sangre de Cristo Range Traverse twice in Mutants and all the 105 mountains in the Highest Hundred challenge in Mutants (which includes all the 14ers), including a few multi-day fastpacks. They were my daily driver for years. I also guided in Gates of the Arctic, Sequoia/Kings Canyon, and RMNP in them. I've also done a few Nolan's attempts in them too. If your foot is a size D width or less, try em out. For a more runnable version of the Mutant, the Jackal II BOA has the same grippy rubber, an incredible upper, wider room in the toebox, more stack height, less drop. I feel less confident on technical downhills in them and climbing, but I've tried the CT Unsupported FKT in them and also for training for attempts. I think I did the first 7 segments of the Colorado Trail in < 48 hours in them.

Great feedback. La Sportiva runner here too. The Jackal can also be used for hiking though personally I find the tongue in version II pretty thin for going long distances, regardless of whether it's hiking or running. I am getting the Prodigio Max next week, can't wait to test it If it performs well, I'll use for a 200 miler in the Alps in September. By the way, the Jackal II is not built on the same last as the Prodigio Max. It is build on the same last as Prodigio and Prodigio Pro. The lasts used for La Sportiva long and ultra distance shoes, should be the following: Tempo Max last: Prodigio Max Tempo Ultra last: Jackal I & II + Prodigio + Prodigio Pro Tempo 2 last: Ultra Raptor II & probably Akasha II (though the official web info still reads Tempo last) Tempo last: Ultra Raptor, Akasha, Akyra (though LS catalogs read Tempo 2 for the Akyra)

A durable trail running shoe for all hiking, unless you’re trudging through snow. LaSportiva Jackals have served me well.

Thank you! I’ve been the same size in the Jackal 2 and the Prodigio and I’m looking at getting the pros 

Ah okay that makes sense! It could be the shoes then. Or, more likely, you just need practice. I remember years ago when my city-boy of a husband moved to the mountains near my family, he fell down a lot just walking around. He was early 20s, an avid hiker and rock climber, but had never lived somewhere persistently hilly. It took him a while. My family and I laughed at him a lot, but eventually he got his footing, so to speak. I think you just need to slow way down. Also look at trail runners with sticky rubber on the bottom. I run in La Sportiva Karacals or Jackals and they're very grippy. I still have to have common sense and not step on a slanted wet root at top speed, but sticky rubber makes a big difference.

I did so much research on this subject last year before landing on the la sportiva jackal. IMO the bushido are too soft for serious scrambling. I also used scarpa ribelle run xt’s, which I liked, but did not fit my foot correctly. Scarpa also makes an approach/ runner, but from what I’ve been told, they aren’t great to run in.  I listened to a podcast recently where the guy was talking about how great norda is for scrambling due to the dynema upper. If I could try them on and they weren’t so expensive, I would probably go that route. The biggest downside to scrambling in running shoes is the mesh when you are jamming. I’ve climbed up to low fifth class in my jackals for what it’s worth.

The jackal is higher volume than other la sportiva shoes. The scarps felt much more narrow to me. I like a high volume shoe and I love the jackal. That said, I have an average width foot- not wide, not narrow. 

For me in wet terrain with rocks, the best is Asicsgrip (6). After that, probably Vibram (tried in Hoka and Nike shoes), Contagrip in Salomon Speedcross 4 and Continental in various Adidas models. Here, some variation between them (for example, Continental in Adidas Terrex Two Flow is better than in Adidas Terrex Agravic Flow 2.0 (so a 4 for them). After those, probably the outsole by La Sportiva (in Jackal model) and various Nike outsoles (Kiger 8, Wildhorse 6, Pegasus 4 TR) in wet terrain (btw, in mid Spring to mid Autumn, Nike are pretty nice shoes here)

La Sportivas are my “go to” shoes for rocky stuff, Jackals or Mutants. My Topo MTN Racers would work well on this too.

Great feedback guys. The Jackal 2 from La Sportiva i have opted for. Managed to get them for £79 which seems a good price from readinf around.

I have 3-4 shoes in rotation at any time. Mutants for days with 5.5+ scrambling or a ton of talus fields, Jackal 2’s for everyday trail, Essentially retired prodigios for gravel or roads, and Prodigio Pros for racing or 100k+ days. Unless you are doing technical mountain terrain often you really only need a road pair and a trail pair in my opinion. I highly recommend the Jackal 2’s as a trail shoe, especially if you have pro deals, and I also loved the regular Prodigio for less techy trails. Find a shoe or two that work for you and run with them.