After 6 months away, this view made me weep with joyAfter 6 months in Anchorage, battling rain and mud on the trails this summer, I’m taking my first vacation from my new job. I’m in Jackson for 10 days of sun and mountains, mostly peak bagging and catching up with friends. It’s also a chance to put my Hoka Stinson EVOs through their paces on more technical terrain.
A few moves here and there on ridge traverses in the Chugach this summer led me to believe that these thick-soled, clunky shoes might surprise me on rock. And, in fact, they have. I know a bunch of you are wondering how they would do when the scrambling got steep and moves started creeping into the 5th class realm. Well, I’m giving them a good shake out this week and here is what I know at this point.
First of all, the rubber, or maybe, the rubber and tread design are sticky. Over the years, I have hiked, scrambled and climbed in all sorts of shoes with rubber and soles of various qualities. The stuff on the Stinson EVO is as good as any.
Rubber testing on the slabs below TeewinotAs I pointed out previously, the absurdly thick EVA midsole actually helps with traction, allowing the rock features to dig into the material, increasing surface area contact and holding securely. The cool thing is that features that used to make me wince in pain as they dug into my foot are nearly unnoticeable with the Hokas. Full suspension for the feed, indeed.
4th class fun on the East Ridge of Buck MountainThey work best on slabby terrain where you can point your toes in and smear appropriately. There’s no small edging as the EVA is far too thick for this kind of technique. Rather, I simply smear the whole mid foot and toe area onto whatever hold is present. Of course, this becomes less effective as the pitch steepens. As the route rears up, holds have to be bigger. I think I could be comfortable on featured rock up to 5.6.
The Hokas are still not great for side hills without some flattish features to stand on. They seem to be pretty good in ankle rolling scree as long as you pay attention. I think they may be a little tippy here but that effect seems to be outweighed by the foot protection for me.
The past two days were spent on the East Face of Teewinot and the East Ridge of Buck Mountain. Both have plenty of heads up scrambling and no-fall zone climbing. The shoes performed better than expected. I would certainly climb something like the Owen Spaulding route on the Grand Teton in them. Most of the Upper Exum Ridge would be fine but I think the crux move on the Friction Pitch might be a little exciting solo in the Hokas. Other than that, they'd be perfectly adequate.
First course for the week - Teewinot - 5,400 feet straight up from the car.
Kim getting chilled on the summit with weather threatening.
Kim below the East Face of Buck Mountain
Exposure when you want it on the East Ridge of Buck.
Now, I say this with a disclaimer. As a former Exum guide I’ve climbed thousands of pitches in sticky rubber running shoes and approach shoes. Many of us guides made a game out of finding just how hard we could climb in this sloppy foot wear. It was sort of fun and, more than anything, simply practical as our feet were much happier day after day guiding all summer. What this did was make me pretty comfortable in sketchy footwear. Take my comments with this in mind. It may not be your cup of tea.
Some may ask why bother with Hokas on something like the Grand. Well, doing a speed run on the Grand and most other peaks in the range requires many miles of rocky trail cruising. Hokas excel here. Simple as that. I’ll spend 40 minutes going up and down the easy 5th class on the Owen Spaulding from the upper saddle but another 4 hours going and coming on a rocky trail. It's a no-brainer. - Brian