Altra Lone Peak 8 Review

The Altra Lone Peak 8 trail runners are the latest iteration of the hiking shoe that popularized zero drop, but equally as famous for its wide toe box fit. Shop now.

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• Price: $140
• M’ Weight: 10.7 oz | W’s Weight: 9.2 oz
• Heel-Forefoot-Drop: 25-25-0 mm
• Lugs: ~4 mm | Rockplate: Yes
• Width: Standard with wide toe box | Overall Fit: True to size
• Wide Sizes Available: yes
• On Trail/Off trail? Either
• Pros: Wide toe box is very comfy on long hiking days. Good value. Zero drop (if that’s what you’re into).
• Cons: Wide toe box is sloppy for traversing slopes. Outsole is inferior to Vibram. Wider heel cup may not provide secure fit for narrower heels. Moderate cushion.

You make Adventure Alan & Co possible. When purchasing through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Here’s why you can trust us.  Now Back to the Altra Lone Peak 8 Review.

Construction & Features

The Altra Lone Peaks are famous for two primary characteristics, zero drop and wide toe box. We will address each.

Firstly, the wide toe box. This is generally a great feature for hiking long days on trail. It allows your toes to splay out, improving balance. But perhaps more importantly, it offers excess space to accommodate swollen feet after so many miles. It also reduces contact with the shoe sidewalls and reduces the likelihood of your toes rubbing against each other, all of which helps to prevent blisters.

But there is downside. When traversing perpendicularly across steep slopes, the angle will cause your forefoot to drift about inside the wide toe box, creating a sloppy, sloshing effect. This decreases comfort and safety, and increases the likelihood of rolling an ankle. As such, we dislike this shoe for off-trail travel, despite the capable tread.

Zero drop is another big part of the Lone Peaks. As a reminder, this means that the heel and the forefoot are on a flat plane with no downward slope as you would find in traditional running shoes. This activities more of your calf muscles. Some people love it, other hate it, and there’s not right or wrong answer. Whatever works best for you!

A few other notable elements to this shoe are its moderate midsole cushioning of 25mm. While we have come to prefer a slightly cushier shoe, this is still a totally valid and acceptable amount and they are comfy to wear. It also features a rock plate. The proprietary MaxTrac outsoles with ~4mm lugs (estimate) are fine, but people seem to find that they’re a bit less grippy on wet surfaces and a bit lower durability than true Vibram rubber. Nonetheless, they’re quite grippy in most situations.

Regarding the latest updates, V8 appears to be a minor upgrade over the 7 series. This season, the engineered mesh upper has been swapped back to a more traditional woven ripstop grid fabric for enhanced durability and old-school Altra chic. Perhaps the biggest and best surprise is that Altra cranked the price downward by $10, inflation be damned.

Altra Lone Peak 8 Review Verdict

The Altra Lone Peak 8s are still a great hiking shoe, the wide toe box is still super comfy, and they’re still zero drop if that’s what you’re into. And for $140, they’re actually a pretty good value!