Trail Magazine - Best In Test

TRAIL MAGAZINE - BEST IN TEST

LA SPORTIVA CROSSLITE - BEST IN TEST TRAIL RUNNING SHOE

A sportily designed, light shoe that makes you look like a professional. The agressive sole unit, with its deep, widelu spaced lugs, provides good traction and mud shedding on steep, mud or rock-choked paths, while the breathable mesh upper means going fast doesn't result in sweaty toes. The sleek styling and deep sole lugs makes this shoe look like it eats steep mountain paths for breakfast, then comes back for more at elevenses. You can see why it scored 5 stars in the last trail test because it has all the features you would want in a trail running shoe - enough cushioning to feel responsive but protect your sole on intricate rock tracks, a protective rubber rand, and blunt, arrow shaped lugs that dig into steep mud and grass slopes for efficient braking but are wide enough that mud doesn't hang on underneath. The only downside of this shoe for me was the mesh over the lower two thirds of the laces. While this works well as a grit guard, I would cut this section down as I couldn't pull in the lower laces to bring the shoe in tight around my typically narrow female feet. I felt faster immediately wearing these. I couldn't work out if it was the elite styling, easy comfort or aggressive sole unit of the shoes, but something about them propelled me forward and made me feel like I could sprint to the summits at the horizon. The Crosslight provides a good level of cushioning for all types of terrain, from hard packed tracks to stomach churningly steep hillsides caked in mud, scree and grit.

You could also walk in this shoe, but watch out - it makes you feel like running, so much that you might find yourself upping the pace.

Verdict - Beautifully engineered for moving fast and light over steep, uneven ground of all types, with great traction on squelchier stuff and a mud-shedding sole.