Gear Review: Salomon Fellcross 1 Shoe Review

The Salomon Fellcross is inspired by fell running, which is popular in the UK. Essentially, fell running is where you are tasked to run from point A to point B and figure out your own best route there, rather than following a marked trail to the finish. As a fell runner, you will likely run through mud, bogs, and other soggy conditions on your way up and over hills.

Fellcross in their element

The Salomon Fellcross outsole has long, aggressive, multi-directional lugs -- aimed toward your heel in the forefoot and toward your toes in the heel -- that are spaced far apart in order to bite into soft ground and shuck the mucky hanging-on debris. This design is great for runners in wet, squishy, muddy conditions, as well as snow running. The Fellcross are terrific fall, winter, and spring trail shoes when the conditions get messy on the trails. The lugs will grip well in deep, powdery snow and wet, heavy snow better than yak trax or microspikes, which will move around and sometimes come up around the outsole of a shoe while running. If I'm in these conditions, I'll never choose yaktrax or microspikes over Fellcross. However, in frozen conditions, the Fellcross performs terribly. The outsole is made of material that will slip and slide over icy, hard packed snow as well as wet, slick rock. But in 3-4+ inches of snow, they will eat up the conditions marvellously. Also, The outsole wears slowly, so the high cost ($180ish) won't bite you by season's end.

Multi-direction Lugs

Big Lugs

Fellcross are less flexible than the Speedcross and the Hornets, especially in the midfoot. At 4mm drop, they will tax the calves up steep slopes, and without rocker technology, I've found my feet to slap the ground in the forefoot, even when concentrating on my stride. They do not feel light weight, but in the wet, cold, muddy, snowy conditions they are built for -- where you're covered from eyes to toes in heavy cold gear -- weight isn't that much of an issue. 

Lots of traction in the snow

Because of the shape of the inside of the shoe, the medial of my big toes have been chafed and calloused by running in these for longer than 2 hours, and I have a narrow forefoot, so this came as a surprise. 

As for the upper, I like the quicklaces (with garage area for tucking in the excess lace), but the quicklace requires some adjusting to get used to. Often my instep is bruised from over-tightening the laces in order to keep the shoe in place through mud. One huge plus is that the upper is solidly made. I've run in Peregrines in the mud, and the torque between the outsole and upper tears the fabric on the upper of the Peregrine, especially in the inner forefoot, but even after 200+ miles in the Fellcross, that area remains unharmed.

For 14er hiking/running, I often choose these shoes when there is going to be snow or mud, and they never disappoint. They are very warm, which is great when paired with some Smartwool socks, but in the late spring my feet cook in the Fellcross as they don't breathe well. I love the lugs right up front in the toes, especially when ascending 20%+ grade mountains. I feel like I can dig the toes in like crampons.  

Perfect Fellcross conditions

You can't see it- but even Cody and the photographer are wearing Salomon's ;)

In sum, the Fellcross are best in muddy or deep snowy conditions, and worst in icy or hard packed trail or road conditions. They fit true to size (I'm a 10 in most shoes, including Salomon, and true to Fellcross). I'm looking forward to trying the Fellcross 2 which use the Salomon Sense and Ultra endofit technology for better fit, but overall I'm happy with the Fellcross 1 for what they excel at.

Trip Report: Grays and Torreys

The addiction continues- summit fever has set in. Trip Date: June 7th, 2013

After such an awesome time climbing Bierstadt, the next weekend we couldn’t wait to climb another 14er. After looking into our options, we discovered that we could do 2 at one time! Even better! This time we started a lot earlier, getting on the trail at 7am. The drive up was exciting- Jon navigated the potholes and rocks like a champ, in his Pacifica ;) We had to park down the road a bit, due to a recent avalanche/rock slide.

            The trail was runnable for about a mile, then was covered in pretty deep snow and we got our first real experience with ‘post-holing’, where you are walking along on top of the snow just fine, until one step sends your leg down into the snow, sometimes up to your hip. It’s a little unnerving, and makes it harder to run. Cody is lucky- she rarely post-holes! I just try to follow her little footsteps as best I can- she always picks a great line.

Are you guys coming?!

            The weather was a bit more overcast, and we wore a few more layers compared to Bierstadt. Cody continued her antics in the snow, playing, rolling and sliding down the hills. I swear, if she had a say in where we lived, we’d be in Alaska!

Wishin' she was a husky

Could she be any happier?!

            On the climb up to the summit, we followed the snowprints of the people who hiked before us. They went straight up! Now that I’ve done a few more 14ers without snow, I realize that this probably wasn’t the original trail- it was most likely supposed to be a switch back, but instead, we climbed what basically looks like a snow ladder!

Snow ladder

Seriously Steep

Aren't Ryan's glasses amazing?!

            Our first summit was Torreys. When we arrived at the top, a group was putting on their ski equipment and getting ready to ski down. I had no idea people did this, and I was fascinated. Ryan and I have always enjoyed skiing in the backcountry- but this was REALLY back country!! They hiked up almost 3 miles with ski’s strapped to their backs, for one long, steep, crazy descent. I can’t wait to try it!!

Cody's Second 14er

Skiiers in the background

They're going to ski down that?!

            After some food and pictures on Torreys, we went back down the ridge and started the summit to Grays. It was a lot harder to get to that second summit- my brain and legs were not thrilled with the prospect of that burning climb, once again! Luckily it was only a few hundred feet of climb, and another glorious view at the summit. 

What a friendly little cloud!

Headed to Grays

14er #3!! Summit dog!

To make the day even better, Ryan and Jon did a little performance at the top!

Running back down the snow was a lot easier than climbing up. Jon demonstrates how to glissade…or not…



One of my favorite pictures of all time:

Summary: 

With the Garmin continuously running, our total Mountain time was 5:04 (30 min/mile), with a moving time of 3:23 (20min/mile). We spend a lot of time taking pictures, eating, and singing silly songs!
Starting altitude: 10,848 feet

Peak Altitude: 14,273 feet

Total climbing: 4,069 feet

Distance: 10.15 miles
Elevation Profile:

Trail Overview:

Grays and Torreys are probably great trail for running, if the snow is gone (I haven't gone back during the summer to try though)

Gear:

Salomon SpeedCross/Fellcross. Running packs- Nathan, Salomon and Ultimate Direction, Brooks LSD jacket.

Trip Report: Mt Bierstadt

I don’t even know how it started. Probably while sitting around the kitchen table with our roommate Jon, perusing the internet. Or maybe it was a library book my husband brought home, called ‘The Colorado 14ers’. Somehow, though, we found ourselves driving I-70 west, early (for us) on a Sunday in early June, wearing just our running gear, and having no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

We arrived at the nearly full parking lot at 10:30am, got our running gear together and headed off on the trail. Almost immediately, our running pace turned into a hiking pace due to the lack of oxygen. The trailhead starts at almost 11,500 feet, which means that there is only 66% of the oxygen available at sea level. *gasp* And we aren’t even acclimated to Golden (altitude 5,620 feet).

View from the trailhead

The trail was muddy! Good thing were all wearing the Salomon Fellcross!

The day was perfect in every way. I was wearing shorts and a running tank top, the sun was out and the sky was the bluest I’d ever seen. Within the first mile we already found snow and Cody was ecstatic- rolling around all over the place. Nothing says pure joy like a dog playing in snow in June.

Pure joy

Cody keeping lookout for Ryan and Jon, who were ahead of me

            As we were getting higher up the mountain, our ridiculous running outfits felt even more out of place- all of the other hikers were wearing crampons, winter coats and snow pants. I was working so hard to breath that I was sweaty in my tiny running shorts! The snow was a ton of fun to hike in, even if it did make forward progress a little slow.

Shorts and T-shirt in the snow? Of course!

Snowy trail in June

            When we reached the summit, the wind kicked up a bit and we added layers. We were lucky enough to have the summit nearly to ourselves. We ate a bit, relaxed, took pictures and just enjoyed the incredibly views at 14,111 feet. 

First 14er!!

Pretending to run at 14,000 feet

Cody being careful on the edge!

Trail runners, or mountain climbers?

Heading back, we learned how to glissade down on our heals, and even slid in the snow for a bit. It was a lot easier to go down then up!

Soooo much easier

Wheee!!

            Cody had an absolute blast on the mountain. She loved the snow, the views, and running back and forth between Jon, Ryan and I, completely oblivious to the fact that there was so little Oxygen. Despite the ‘crowds’ on the trail, she ignored everyone else, except her pack. Nearly every other hiker commented on what a good dog she was, or how pretty she is, and wanted to pet her. She was focused on her job of keeping track of her people but tolerated a few pets. Cody could sense her calling as a mountain dog, and looked completely at home the entire hike. She also had an innate sense of the cliffs, and was cautiously brave about approaching any edge, so much so that I trusted her to make smart decisions at the summit.

Cody the amazing mountain dog

            Our first 14er was an overwhelming success. We got lucky that our late start didn’t mean getting caught in a lightning storm at the top, and despite our lack of experience in hiking/climbing mountains, we were perfectly comfortable in our running clothes and hydration packs.

Gear:

Shoes:We all wore our Salomon Fellcross (mine were technically the SpeedCross), which gave us plenty of traction in the snow and mud. 

Socks:

Wool socks were a necessity since the first mile of the trail was soaking wet and muddy. Ryan and I love our SmartWools!

Packs:

Ryan: Ultimate Direction Wasp

Alaina: Nathan Hydration pack

Jon: Salomon pack

Cody: Julius K9 IDC harness with her water being the snow

Overview:

Bierstadt is great trail for running, even in the snow. It gets quite crowded, so arrive early. Prepare to hike in a lot of water at the beginning of the trail.