Vibram FiveFingers News

Thursday 02 September, 2010

Hiked The Chilkoot Trail in Five Fingers KSO

Phillip, a huge fan of Vibram Five Fingers, and his girlfriend recently hiked the Chilkoot Trail in Alaska and British Columbia. t is a 33 mile trail that can takes 3 to 5 days to hike and Phillip did it all in his Five Fingers KSO. After the jump, Phillip shares his experience and amazing photos from the hike:

I've been wearing my Vibram fivefingers kso for a little over a year now for just about everything, from 5k races to jet skiing, so I didn't think twice about using them for this trip. I'm stoked to say that I had no problems wearing my Barefoot running shoes for the entirety of the hike, 40 pound pack and all. Our first day on the trail also happened to be our only dry day. After that, it was rain or mist for the rest of the trip.

On the morning of our summit, we were up early, waiting for the day to start so we could move around and warm up. Traction on snow is not a strong suit of the Vibram five fingers kso razor-siped sole, but by using my toes I was able to grab onto the wind made ridges and get around. After that, we were faced by a series of stream crossings. A fellow hiker thanked me, apparently because she had entertained herself with tracking "bigfoot" during the hours and hours of hiking. My girlfriend had to laugh when people asked her with surprise, "Wow, you're wearing Vibram fivefingers running shoes for this hike?" at which she would point at me and say, "yeah, but look at what he's wearing."

The trip was a blast, and definitely doable in Five finger shoes, as long as you've conditioned your feet to barefoot conditions. If I was to do it again, I think I would use a pair of treks, as I think the extra traction would make a huge difference on the snow. Also, I'm pretty rough on my Vibram kso shoes. Awesome pics and use of Vibram shoes! Nice to share some people about our story.