Mountain shoes
Product 2017
Man
This shoe is the result of collaboration between Columbia and Montrail. It could’ve been called simply Montrail, or Columbia, as the group has bought the brand. Who brought the technology and the know-how? Who cares! The Colorado II is the new trail running release, which is happy on technical, mountain terrain, during long runs as well as shorter ones. It is being proposed as the shoe for the UTMB®. Columbia is commercializing a limited edition model with UTMB® logo on the tongue.
Columbia Montrail haven’t revolutionized the trail running shoe but have used proven techniques that work. So we have a classic looking shoe that is well designed, reliable, unsurprising but with great performance, and that’s what counts.
The mesh upper has added foam around the ankle zone: really comfortable designed for long, long runs…
Passing through puddles or streams the foam of course sucks up the water and creates extra weight around the tongue: classic problem for this type of design.
This shoe is very comfortable; where you lose in precision you gain in cozy comfort. The Caldorado II has good foothold with a nice wide toe box so your toes can survive without rubbing and avoiding those ultra race nightmares. The feet also have room to swell a little without being in contact with a shell that could leave lasting damage. There were no pressure points anywhere. To be perfectly honest – running for a very long time you quickly forget you’re wearing these shoes, especially as even the weight, at 300g, is competitive. Be careful choosing your size, the Caldorado II sizes big (in length).
It is very comfortable around the ankles and the lacing system is comfortable too thanks to the padded tongue. The flat lacing holds fast but needs careful adjusting to begin with and then you can just leave it in peace. There is nowhere to store the extra lace.
Good heel hold even crossing sloping ground. The torsional rigidity is well dosed for a shoe designed for technical terrain. What is surprising is its ability to be so stable on the ground, no doubt helped by its substantial sole, especially mid-foot and under the forefoot.
At first striding out you don’t really notice the cushioning but after a while, after several kilometers the materials soften up and you have very pleasant sensations. And at the same time you don’t lose contact with the terrain and its energetic bounce remains constantly there. There is little cushioning at the forefoot so you don’t feel the rocks or stones underfoot. You can run comfortably mid-foot or heel-strike.
The stride is fluid with a neutral chassis that doesn’t kill the stride. We liked the 8mm drop; it seems a well-balanced solution.
The grip works extremely well. Sometimes you get small stones stuck between the lugs, nothing unusual there, but the lugs don’t clog up with mud.
The stone guard is well designed; protects well and remains flexible.
The mesh is breathable without allowing grit to enter. There is a very good preformed interlayer made from double density foam.
So, we really liked this carefully designed, classic yet high performance shoe. You can confidently and comfortably run far and wide. Very good finishing. Without doubt this is the Columbia Montrail comeback into technical trail running.
11 mm8 mm 
We used this equipment over a long period of time
These are our thoughts after intensive use:
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