Salomon Solaris Low

I bought these at REI on my way to a four-hour moderate hike in the woods. I bought these shoes to hike and camp in Africa and I had my regular hiking shoes going to the hike. In the parking lot I decided to put on my new Salomon Solaris with a new pair of socks and to hit the trail.

What a pleasure!!! I normally hike fast and the Salomons were so light on my feet that I often started running ... uphill ... as it felt effortless. When I ran downhill I never felt the rocks more than necessary to balance myself.

The soles grip well and I tested them going down boulders without slipping. The wide toe box was sooooooo good to my feet and thanks to the breathable fabric my feet felt dry. As I jumped over a log lying over the path I landed toes first on a vertical rock. Images of bruised toes flashed through my head. Thankfully the Solaris have a thick rubber bumber over the toes and I felt nothing. What a relief!

This is one pair of shoes that is going to come along with me a lot more than the others. I highly recommend it.

JL

My old boots fell apart after leaving them in the So. Cal. sun. I was scrambling to get a pair boots for a big hike in two weeks. I tried many boots that do not fit well mainly because my feet bottoms are kind of flat. I don't like much of arch support. I finally settled with the Salomon Solaris Low. It's lightweight, vents well, good traction and durable.

I started breaking it in running and hiking in the local hills. It was good for this purpose. Then I hiked the Ontario Peak in So. Cal. 13 mile 3000 ft up. My feet feel cool and comfortable after the hike.

Now completely broken in after 18 miles of use. I was ready to hike the Mt. Whitney main trail. It was a great hike and I reached the summit thanks partly to these shoes. The hike was a very long 22 mile. I carried a 20lb pack ascending. My feet felt light and were not hot. I had one blister after five miles descending.

Only complaint is not waterproof well. I had to cross streams very carefully.

These shoes are great.

I would give this shoe 5 stars for fit, but 2 stars for traction. I find the sole is not aggressive enough, and the front part of the sole is directional, meaning it provides good traction if you want to go forward/uphill, but poor traction if you are going downhill. The shoe is comfortable around town, but I wouldn't trust it much for anything more than that. It does however, look fantastic. I've gotten many compliments on how this show looks. If that's important to you, well then this is your shoe.

If I could only wear one pair of shoes for the rest of my life, these would be the shoes I'd pick. I wore them just about every day for two years before the soles finally fell off and I had to throw them out.

They are stylish so I could wear them around the city, and I took them on some pretty serious hikes too. I just wish they still came in the colors that I originally had, something like grey and tan with orange highlights.

COME BACK!!

I wish they still made these! I have had mine for 6 years and I still love them. They are still so awesome that I can feel the air cushion support in the bottom and all the padding along the heal/ankle. Come back!!