Salewa Wildfire NXT Review | GearJunkie Tested

I reached a foot out over the ethereal hole under me to the rock face just a few toes away, dangling from an iron rung. My shoe caught to the alternative wall as I utilized stress. I swung my physique throughout the abyss to the opposite aspect, my different foot becoming a member of on the slabby rock as my fingers transitioned throughout the through ferrata’s iron rungs with 100 toes of air under me. 

Certain, I normally had the choice to climb North America’s highest through ferrata like a ladder, however I attempted to maintain my sneakers planted to the route’s chilly granite as an experiment. I used to be attempting Salewa’s new Wildfire NXT, a shoe completely matched to the route at hand.

As I jammed my toes into cracks, smeared on clean granite, hiked up steep grime, and finally jogged to the summit, they caught out as one thing way more versatile than most devoted method sneakers.

I put the brand new Wildfire NXTs to the take a look at on A-Basin’s through ferrata, path operating on my native routes, and on a neighborhood class 4 scramble that’s infamous for consuming lesser sneakers. They caught out to me as way over an method shoe, however relatively some sort of climb, method, run, hike hybrid. It’s a shortly rising footwear class, however there are just a few parts that put these new kicks from Salewa just a few steps forward.

In brief: The Salewa Wildfire NXT is a purpose-built method/hiker crossover that holds its personal on fast-paced hikes, technical ridgelines, and through ferratas alike. The only is fabricated from grippy rubber, has minimalist lugs, and a soft heel. A tenacious higher with added ankle help and climbing shoe lacing gave my toes precision. And whereas the Wildfire NXTs wouldn’t be my first alternative as a trailrunner, they’re sufficient for cardio approaches to rocky goals. 

Salewa Wildfire NXT Evaluation

As we reclined within the solar on the craggy perch on the prime of the route, a fast summit push thought surfaced. I stuffed the remainder of my Clif Bar in my mouth, sprang to my toes, and began jogging to catch as much as the others. The Wildfire NXT responded naturally with a precision adequate for navigating the combination of scree and boulders on the height’s summit ridge.

Inside a minute, I used to be lightheaded and doubled over. It was the Clif Bar caught in my throat and lack of respiration at 13,000 toes, relatively than the sneakers, that slowed me down. It felt pure to leap between the boulders, touchdown on the Wildfire NXT’s sticky rubber soles. The shoe adhered akin to climbing sneakers. 

Sole & Grip

Outsole

Wildfire NXT’s story is advised within the sole bundle. The outsole, like all good method shoe, is a strategically designed and comparatively sticky rubber. Vibram All-Terrain Megagrip on this case, which balances keep on with sturdiness. Any softer and so they’d put on out shortly. Any firmer and so they’d slide off steep granite like a operating shoe. 

The rubber’s tread design is split into three distinct zones. A climbing toe appears to be like just like the underside of a climbing shoe. The flat, clean rubber is raised to the peak of the opposite lugs for max floor space on rock. I discovered myself utilizing this zone in smaller cracks and steep slabs the place I couldn’t land my entire foot flat on the rock. 

Transferring backward, the tread transitions to diagonally oriented mini-lugs with flat tops for the rest of the forefoot. The uniform lugs supply a steadiness of grip on rock and grime. They kind an sufficient floor space for smearing, however the channels between them give the sneakers a lightweight chew into softer surfaces. It’s a very good steadiness. Any additional lean into the climbing realm would compromise some mountaineering traction and vice versa.

The tread below the heel is a reverse chevron sample designed for braking on dusty downhills. Whereas nonetheless flat-topped for traction on rock, they lean into grip on grime above all else.

I seen the strong grip whereas descending the By way of Ferrata’s down route, characterised by lots of unfastened grime, slabby rock, and unfastened grime on slabby rock. I felt assured strolling down the rock with out my toes slipping out from below me.

Midsole

The entrance half of the midsole is customary fare for an method shoe. It’s considerably stiff with sufficient cushioning for mild jogging, however an total sturdy bundle laterally for retaining some stress once they’re jammed into cracks. It’s nothing I haven’t felt earlier than in a few of the Wildfire NXT’s opponents. 

The midsole below the heel is the place the sneakers diverge from others within the class. There’s a large, soft, rockered pillow that appears much more just like the heel of a path runner than something within the climbing realm. It was robust to disregard after a protracted day mountaineering and scrambling on rocks.

Except for being very comfy to face in, the cushion softened the load on my toes and knees on prolonged downhill trails. The heels are noticeably extra forgiving than a typical method shoe. 

Higher

The shoe’s higher is a woven Matryx (high-tenacity nylon) cloth bolstered with Kevlar — a modern and, up to now, fairly sturdy cloth. I’ve shredded the uppers of many alternative path trainers in rocky scree. Whereas I can’t communicate to the long-term sturdiness of the material but, up to now, it has confirmed steadfast in rocky terrain. I like that it doesn’t stretch.

The forefoot holds its form, main to higher grip, edging, and jamming than one thing with extra give. A protecting rand across the large toes and outsides of the sneakers provides to the sturdiness and grip equation. 

Match

Climbing sneakers are tight as a result of much less lifeless house and slop means higher management and grip. That development usually trickles to method sneakers as properly. I wouldn’t name my La Sportiva TX Guides accommodating, for example. They’re climbing sneakers which you could stroll in. 

The Wildfire NXTs diverge out of your typical method sneakers when it comes to match. The forefoot is refreshingly vast. Not cavernous, however accommodating for quite a lot of toes, together with my mangled ski boot hooves. Climbing shoe lacing — lacing that ladders right down to the toes — allowed me to dial in a snug however sufficiently technical match. 

I’m usually a males’s 10.5 road and operating shoe, and that’s the scale I picked up within the Wildfire NXT. It matches about proper for my wants — there’s sufficient room within the toes for operating, lengthy approaches to rocky goals, and limitless trudges downhill. But when my norm was mountain climbing or easy accessibility scrambling routes, I wouldn’t hesitate to dimension right down to a ten and even 9.5. The sizing felt versatile in that method.

The insole bundle provides versatility, too. The Wildfire NXTs include a typical insole — serviceable however nothing particular. There may be additionally a foam shim that nests beneath the insole to soak up some quantity. Commonplace fare in ski boots, however actually much less frequent within the operating/method classes.

I stored the shims put in for A-Basin’s through ferrata and techy scrambles prefer it, however I appreciated the flexibility to take away them when my toes began to swell after a protracted day of mountaineering. 

Path Operating within the Wildfire NXT

I wouldn’t select to run in method sneakers over something in my pile of soft path runners. That sentiment didn’t change once I began jogging within the Wildfire NXTs.

Don’t get me fallacious — they run higher than any method sneakers I’ve slipped my toes into. However they gained’t change my path runners anytime quickly. The forefoot simply doesn’t have sufficient cushion, and it’s comparatively dense.

That mentioned, I can’t stand operating in path runners with method sneakers stashed within the again pocket of my operating vest. The Wildfire NXTs bridge that hole higher than most.

In these cases, leaving my path runners at house felt releasing. They’ve simply sufficient of the weather from every shoe model to make them work with out compromising the vital qualities that enable every model to carry out within the mountains. Nonetheless, I didn’t take pleasure in jogging within the Wildfire NXTs any longer than about 4 miles every method. I’m bringing path runners for any runs longer than that.

Mountain climbing

The very best half about path operating? You’ll be able to all the time simply decelerate and begin mountaineering. That’s a realm the place the Wildfire NXTs slotted in naturally, given their traction and supportive sole.

Salewa’s signature 3F system provides a supportive cage across the heel that the laces cross by means of on the ankle. It primarily pulls your heel again right into a cradle for a extra supportive match than your typical path runner. It’s a delicate however worthwhile function.

Whereas they don’t have the lateral help of a devoted mountaineering shoe, the Wildfire NXT is a sturdy shoe in most different dimensions. The comparatively agency sole up entrance protected my toes from many hours of rock and root, even when it isn’t the springiest or most soft. The heel’s rocker gave it a pleasant stride that made many miles really feel pure — so pure that they’ve been my latest go-to for each day put on.

Salewa Wildfire NXT: Conclusion

Calling the Wildfire NXT’s “method sneakers” would undersell their versatility. In actuality, they’ve carried out properly as mountain journey sneakers for quite a lot of totally different outings.

They’re completely matched to through ferratas. They’re assured rock scramblers for sophistication 3, 4, and even low class 5 climbs. And so they’ve bought the lugs and simply sufficient cushion to deal with nearly any mountaineering tour you possibly can throw at them.

Whereas they bleed into path operating territory, they’re higher light-weight hikers than they’re path runners. However that didn’t cease me from selecting up the tempo on the way in which to and from my favourite rocky ridgelines. It simply required good kind and a extra average tempo.

It’s uncommon {that a} pair of technical sneakers matches with my ultra-high arches, reasonably vast forefoot, and hammer toes. That I might tolerate them for a number of lengthy days and lots of miles of rocky trails was a win in itself. These sneakers have turn into the primary ones I attain for when the route is rocky, technical, and considerably distant.