KSOs & Hiking
So this was my first real hike wearing a pair of Vibram FiveFingers. For the trip I wore my KSOs and they worked out awesome.
Normally when I hike in the mountains I wear hiking boots, usually Columbia brand. For traction, ankle support and all that. FiveFingers (FFs) don't offer support because the idea is to build up your natural support muscles themselves and go from there. Once you do, the trade off is the protection provided by the soles and uppers of boots that is lacking in the FFs but if you are careful as to foot placement then this can be a moot point.
For those of you who haven't heard me rave about FFs before, here's some links to my previous reviews:
My review blog on my first pair of FFs, my Surges
My review blog post on my FF Surges in winter
LJ review of my FF Sprints
A little history & info
I got my first pair of FFs, the since discontinued Surge model, last fall. I wore them as much as I could, which wasn't often enough in winter. This spring I got a pair of Sprints (the red ones) and have been wearing them for roughly two months solid. A few weeks ago I got a pair of KSOs (pictured above) and have worn them the most since I got them (they are my favorites).
The idea behind FFs is to give the wearer the benefits of going barefoot but with enough of a sole to provide protection from sharp objects.
The ideas behind going barefoot are many. There's the aspect of being more connected to your environment through tactile sensation but the primary reason is that we are not built to wear shoes and that wearing shoes actually harms our feet, legs, and backs. The Vibram website has some links to some interesting articles about this.
Because we are a shoe-wearing culture, our foot muscles - even if we go barefoot around the home - are really weak. So when I got my FFs I had to take it slow, maybe wearing them around for an hour at a time outdoors for a week and slowly building from there. It took two months of wearing them every day and training my feet before I felt comfortable even thinking about attempting a hike.
The Hike
All in all, like I have said in previous posts, these shoes put out as promised. Vibram says these shoes give the wearer overall increased agility and balance and decrease in joint problems. I have found these statements to be true. I have practiced balancing by walking on the railroad rails in town and have seen vast improvement in a short period of time - balance I cannot replicate in traditional footwear.
On the hike it was much easier to balance and find purchase on boulders and rocks. I had to be careful not to place my feet where I might twist an ankle but my ankle muscle strength has improved greatly so I was fine. The increased balance was VERY noticable. When I hike I always have a backpack of stuff with me and that can throw a person off. Its even worse in shoes or boots, now that I have something to compare it to (the FFs). Scientists say that when barefoot our bodies can better judge how hard to step, what the angle of the ground is, whether or not we are balanced or need to adjust - all within a split second. The soles of our feet act like cat whiskers in helping us judge the environment around us. Wearing shoes is to balance what putting earplugs in is to hearing.
I have noticed the better balance and agility the day I got my first pair of FFs. What impressed me MOST on this hike was my lack of knee pain.
I played a lot of sports and stuff growing up and had terrible knee problems. When I go hiking, my knees and everything end up so fatigued. Walking in shoes forces us to heel-strike when we walk. When we walk barefoot (or in FFs) we walk on the balls of our feet, kinda leading with the toes. Our calves do most of the spring-action cushioning for our bodies this way. But if we heel-strike or walk flat-footed, our calves don't do as much work and the strain goes to our knees.
Even today my quads and calves are tired but my knees? As if I didn't hike at all. I am SO amazed. I don't want to have to have knee replacements when I am older and so far this seems the way to go!
We also had to cross a lot of snow. My feet got cold on those parts and my shoes got damp but because I was using my foot muscles so much, my feet warmed up very quickly and my shoes dried out pretty fast as well. I wasn't too worried about my feet getting cold; I wore FFs in the winter to work and found that even at temperatures below freezing that as long as I kept moving, my foot muscles would keep warm.
On the way down I purposely walked in water to get them soaking to see how they fared; the fit of the shoe became more loose and my feet would slip inside them a bit, which wasn't great for traction and balance, and the shoes didn't dry out completely but my feet stayed toasty as long as I was active.
KSO's in general
I haven't reviewed my KSOs at all yet but they did awesome and defenitely lived up to their name (Keep Stuff Out). I got some leaf debris in one shoe once on the way down, via my heel, but other than that they were great. The strap system on the KSOs is also far superior to any of the other models I have tried (Surges, Sprints) and kept the heel snug without rubbing.
Conclusion
I pretty much already concluded - I am impressed and from now on will only be hiking in my FFs, probably sticking to my KSOs for keeping stuff out; the Sprints wouldn't of been as good and my Surges would of overheated my feet (they are neoprene).
Also to mention: I am so used to wearing FFs all the time now (even to work and the store) that I hate the feel of shoes. I am used to being able to feel textures and stuff so it wasn't as amazing of an experience as it was the time I experimented with my first pair, but I felt an overall improved hiking experience, meshing better with the environment and coming away far less sore than if I had been wearing boots. :)