By Dan Sanchez
When you want the stickiest hiking shoes around, there’s no looking past Five Ten’s Dome Mid. For hiking, the Dome Mid offers the most traction you’ll get out of any shoe on the market. The Stealth rubber soles are excellent when scrambling up granite rocks, sandstone or the paved portion of any trail-head. The mid-ankle design provides a little more support for some overnight or quick-paced backpacking but isn’t recommended for long treks or high-country adventures.
Nevertheless, the Five Ten Dome Mid offers lightweight comfort from a performance hiking boot, that’s built more like a trail running shoe. The Dome Mid was originally designed in Yosemite as an approach shoe. It features a breathable, all-leather upper and a compression molded EVA mid-sole. The heel and ankle provide excellent articulation, but we found it a little restrictive while we were scrambling over rocks. Loosening the shoe strings easily gave us the ankle movement we needed.
The Dome Mid was one of the few shoes we’ve tried that was comfortable to wear from the start. These shoes didn’t need to be broken in and we took them up on the Angles Landing trail in Zion National Park. As expected they provide excellent support walking up the steep trail. While scrambling to the top of the buttress, the Stealth rubber gave us plenty of secure, slip-free footing that enabled us to quickly make it to the summit with plenty of confidence.
We especially liked the charcoal black and gray colors that’s a little different than traditional brown and tan; it is available in brown/black. The front toe protector was thin, but because it was made from Stealth rubber, it allows you to wedge the shoe into tight cracks and gain a foothold for some light bouldering.
What impressed us the most is that this shoe is lightweight, yet seems durable enough to handle a wide variety of situations, while also giving you enough support for a heavy day-pack or lightweight overnight backpack. The Five Ten Dome Mid retails around $155. For more information, visit www.fiveten.com