The Normal Kjerag Brut has a fantastic outsole for muddy and wet slopes but you should expect premature wear if you run on more abrasive surfaces. The La Sportiva Mutant are a good compromise but not as light as the Kjerag
As always it’s very personal depending on how well the shoe fits my feet and the terrain I’m running in (technical mountains, mud, rocky). I like sky running races around 20-30k and VK’s. Sometimes short road races from 5k to Half Marathon.
Current rotation:
- Merrell Long Sky 2 Matryx. Great allrounder.
- VJ Ultra 3. Cushion. Great for easy and long runs.
- NNormal Kjerag Brut (mud)
- Salomon Aero Glide 3 (road and treadmill)
Recently retired shoes:
- Nnormal Kjerag 1. Fast but too small lugs to have good grip in mud/loose debris. Too little cushion for me. Kjerag 2 has more cushion but same outsole.
- Nnormal Tomir 2. Great allrounder but didn’t fit my feet (too little big toe space). A bit heavy when wet because the insole keeps a lot of water.
- Salomon S/lab Genesis. Great allrounder but worse grip on wet rocks than Vibram Megagrip and VJ.
- VJ Maxx 2. Really good allrounder. But didn’t fit my feet (too little big toe space).
Shoes I’m considering next:
- La Sportiva Prodigio Pro
- Merrell MTL Adapt Matryx
- Merrell Skyfire 2 Matryx
Kjerag Brut has 6mm lugs and midsole is supercritical EVA.
Very nice on muddy downhill, the toebox is not narrow but not as wide as Altra/Topo. You need to get 1/2 size down from your normal size.
Also Norda just released 001A with TPEE foam and 5mm lugs.
My recommendation would be the VJ Maxx2
I also really love Arcteryx Norvan SL3 for steep technical uphill stuff, but these are maybe a bit too minimal for a lot of people’s taste and I think they’re discontinued. Bought a pair of Vertex Speed Low to try as replacements? But they’re not really the same.
You could also try Nnormal Kjerag. This kind of splits the difference between the two shoes I listed above. I found the upper to be a bit too sloppy (foot will move/roll relative to the sole on off camber stuff) compared to the other two though, so I don’t trust them at speed in serious technical terrain. That’s pretty specific to my foot though, otherwise I think I’d be a big fan.
My go to for this is the Arcteryx Norvan SL3.
They might be discontinued though.
I recently picked up a clearance pair of Merrel Skyfire 2 Matryx that see very very promising. Never owned a merrel shoe before, but excited for these this year. Wouldn’t be my first choice for pure rocky trails given the lack of surface area in the lugs.
Another similar shoe is the Nnormal Kjerag. I don’t love the fit. Seem a little too sloppy in the upper midfoot for my taste on really technical terrain, but everyone’s feet are different.
Common theme among those - lightweight, matryx upper, megagrip sole. I find that to be a good recipe.
You could also check out VJ Spark. I put a few hundred miles on a pair, but honestly I wish they had more rock protection and a less bulky upper. VJ Maxx2 is a great all around shoe. It’s not heavy, but not super light either.
I‘m unfortunately also very prone to ankle rolls. That’s we many shoes are out of question for me already when I do a slight roll test while standing in them. The NNormal shoes work fine for me except the Kjerag 2. I sent them back after standing in them. What works for me is:
- Kjerag
- Tomir 1
- Tomir 2 (best)
- Tomir 2 NN (feels harder)
- Cadí (my new favorite)
I‘m personally very impressed by the durability. I had to retire most shoes at the 400km mark. With Salomon Sense Ultra, already the last 100k from 300k upwards were bad. On the Tomirs, I could do 1000k. However, the last 200k were merely fillers because I wanted to reach the 1000k mark. I‘ve never before ran in shoes >500km and I have >80 pairs of shoes tracked in my strava.
Yes, consistent sizing throughout the line.
I‘d say durability as a whole. With Salomon (my other go to) I kill the outsole after 300k and also the midsole starts to give. The NNormals were consistent good in all respects. Even pairs used in races didn’t look terrible on the upper. Of course, after 700k it wasn’t a fresh shoe of course but still fully functional. With Salomon, the upper started to give too, especially with shoes I raced in (>100k trail ultras). My theory is that the salt from sweating during race efforts weakens the upper.
Disclaimer: i got my Cadi only recently and only ran about 250k in them, so I can’t comment on the durability yet.
Well, they are a lot softer. More gentle cushioning and midsole and also less sturdy upper. They come with a vibram outsole and the grip is the same as with Tomir /Kjerag. I think the shoe is positioned as a more gentle training trail shoe with the less "professional" athlete in mind. After my first run in the Cadí I was wondering whether NNormal deliberately made Tomit 2.0 NN harder to have a clearer product differentiation to the Cadí (my guess). The Cadí come at a slightly lower price point too.
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Mount to Coast
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Versatile road-to-trail, but struggles on wet, technical downhills.
alohkyn
