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Arc’teryx Vertex Speed: A Season of Use

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The High Route Editors

Arc’teryx’s Vertex Speed: a hybrid runner, approacher, climber.

The Arc’teryx Vertex Speed: a hybrid runner, approacher, climber. An excellent choice, too, for ski traverses.

Jason’s Notes This is one of those gear reviews where we’ll backtrack after the intro. Although this is a first look, and more, we’ve been running around in the hills with the Arc’teryx Vertex Speed for many months. The Vertex Speed (which offers a built-in ankle gaiter to keep debris from entering the shoe, and…

Responses

  1. Ben Coffman

    Would anyone be able to contrast the running capability of these shoes with something like the tx guide, which is described as having a running “profile”, but is still very much a clunker when running? My personal experience with the tx guide is that I run 1-2 minutes slower per mile on average. A shoe that maintained a reasonably high level of climbing ability but allowed more flow when running would be pretty cool.

    1. Jason Albert

      Hey Ben. Here is some feedback from some folks I’ve bantered with. Sam Hennessey (transparency—Arc’teryx athlete) who is a speedy person notes the Vertex Speed’s DNA is way more running shoe than the TX Guide. He has a hunch that you’ll likely be closer to normal splits in the Vertex Speed relative to the TX Guide. (Sam says he climbs into the 5.8 range in them.) That noted, for a go-to running shoe, he says they are likely too firm for daily trail running use. Aidan Whitelaw, also someone with lots of experience in the TX Guide, says the shoes are very different, amplifying much of what Sam noted: Great for those hybrid objectives—but he would need more cushion to use the shoe regularly for running. And that the TX Guide is more stiff climbing approach shoe than a runner, and he found the toe box on the TX Guide too narrow for daily or even intermittent running. Which reminds us——they gotta fit. Thanks for reading Ben.

      1. Ben Coffman

        Thank you!

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