FiveTen Mountain Master Approach Shoe
By John Walter

A few years ago, I found myself planning a trip to Grand Teton to climb one of the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America, the Exum Ridge. The 7 mile approach, 7000 foot elevation gain, 13,770 summit, 1500 feet of climbing, and notoriously rapid weather changes makes a climb on the Exum Ridge a bit more daunting than the lowly 5.7 technical rating. My partners and I only had 2 days in August sandwiched between a full week of work and my anniversary to squeeze in our ascent, so there would be no room for any margin of error. So to realize our goal, we decided to streamline—travel as light as possible. We decided to leave behind the sticky-soled climbing shoes and make the entire ascent with our lightweight hikers. "It's only 5.7, right? I've lead 5.9 before in my sandals."

More than once during the climb I found that I was wishing that I hadn't left my climbing shoes in camp. About time we started up the infamous "Friction Pitch" it started to snow. On lead and with my feet slipping all over the rock I cursed my mountain bravado and hasty decision to climb only in my hiking shoes.

We eventually summitted and spent a glorious hour basking in our success and the sunlight that now shined down upon us. Other climbers that had ascended by the Owens-Spalding, the hiking route, topped out wearing climbing shoes. We laughed at the irony.

In recent years, climbing shoe manufacturers have caught the vision. Peak baggers need one shoe that'll do it all. We want a shoe that will provide enough support and impact absorption of a hiking boot, as well as the technical features of a climbing shoe. The Mountain Master one of Five Ten's latest offerings in this hybrid shoe market.

The Mountain Master is loaded with features for hiking. For starters, it sports an upper constructed fully of leather with standard double stitching and quadruple stitching in the high stress areas, ensuring that it'll stand up to the abuse you throw at it. The Mountain Master has a fully padded opening for comfort. It has injected polyurethane midsole for cushioning impact. It also has the unique Five Ten S-fit lacing system, which in theory moves the lacing to a more comfortable position.

The outstanding feature of the Mountain Master, however, is the Stealth Rubber sole. The small lugs of the Stealth Fat Tire Tread provide great traction on trails and the Stealth Rubber just can't be beat on the rock. The toe rand also sports a generous covering of what's advertised as the "Best Friction on Earth." However, the Stealth Rubber comes with a price. The Mountain Master left a nasty black streak anytime I drug my foot. My wife threatened to beat me within an inch of my life every time I wore them in the house.

The Mountain Master took a little getting used to. I felt that the toebox was a little narrow than what I was accustomed to for a hiking shoe. Also, all the padding at the mouth and in the tongue, combined with the full leather upper makes for a pretty hot shoe. My feet felt a little toasty in these shoes. While the S-fit lacing system seemed to do the job of moving the pressure away from the top of my foot, it allowed the leather over the ball of my foot to bunch up and I found that sand or fine dirt could work it's way into the shoe.

When it comes to actual climbing, the Mountain Master was good, but not great. The midsole, which provides the cushioning, also hampered the sensitivity of the shoe under the toes and forefoot. The narrow toebox helps to keep the foot from sliding around in the shoe once I cranked down on the laces.

However, the Mountain Masters perform as they were intended. I wore them while hiking in the southwestern desert, scrambling along ridges in the Wasatch Range, and on easy sport and trad climbs in the canyons. I also found myself reaching for them when preparing for trips on the urban trails.

Summary: All said and done, I really liked these shoes. The Stealth Rubber just can't be beat for traction. And the bomber leather upper, generous padding and midsole round out features that define a beefy shoe that can be used for those climbs that will take you from the trailhead to the mountain top and over some serious terrain along the way. The Mountain Master retails for $89.

Walt is the climbing editor at GearReview.com and likes to spend inordinate ammounts of late hours in front of the computer screen tweaking with the website.

For more information, contact:
FiveTen
P.O. Box 1185
Redlands, CA 92373
(909) 798-4222
CustServ@FiveTen.com