Montrail Excelerace XCR

I loved the lack of weight, complete waterproofness, and comfort. However, I have done Mts. Washington, Princeton, and a hike in the Alpine Lakes in WA with this boot and limitations have come to light. In these very rocky areas, the boot lets your feet get beat up. Also, the boot is just a bit too low volume, so it pinches across the forefoot. However, the XCR is good--not a miracle, but good--and it is very comfortable around town. For short, not extreme hikes, these are better than leather heavy boots. For rainy days in town (or on a WA ferry with 40-mph winds), these are the best to have. For talus scrambles--get leather to protect your feet on all sides.

I'm a satisfied user of Montrail shoes beginning with the Montrail GTX hiking shoe and later purchasing Vitesse and two pairs of Hurricane Ridge XCR's. My experience with the Excelerace, touted as a lightweight versatile all purpose shoe, was disappointing.

Unfortunately, when something is designed for multi purpose, i.e., trail running, light backpacking, and hiking it doesn't do any of them very well. From the ugly powder blue color to the cheap rubbery looking uppers, many fellow hikers were surprised to find that these were supposedly high quality Montrails.

Additionally, these were the only Montrails I've ever owned that caused blisters after about 7 miles of hiking. After about 130 miles of wear I sold them for about $40.

They leaked. I am hikerchap, aka Kritios Boy too. I was standing in a river and they leaked and my socks got soaked and it was 18 degrees and my toes went all dead. So they royally suck. They are just too light to protect the membrane and your feet. So save your money.

Loved the lightness of these shoes and used them on a couple of trips to Glacier National Park. The trails that in that park were definitely not rough, however I developed a tear along one of the seams. Not exactly the most durable shoe I have ever owned.