The North Face Summit Cayesh Futurelight

As soon as the new North Face shoes were announced, I was looking forward to testing them. I’m a fan of shoes with attached gaiters, especially for hiking in the colder months with snow or lots of mud.

This week I did get the Summit Cayesh Futurelight by The North Face. Exciting. The shoe promise a trail runner like base with attached gaiters of Futurelight material (supposed to be very breathable). The shoes come with an internal BOA lacing system - also very promising for easy tightening and fine-tuning of the fit.

Unfortunately, the shoes were disappointing at best or in other words, they simply do not fit my feet at all. The fit in the heel area is very clumsy and there is no real heel hold - even when tightened very closely. But even before that, getting into the boots is really difficult. This is often a problem with shoes with attached gaiters, but it is even more so with the Cayesh Futurelight. The gaiters can’t really be moved out or down. Based on the very bad fit for me personally, I did not have the chance to test the shoes outside. What I did notice though was the Vibram Litebase sole. It is a low profile sole, I’m a bit skeptical for wintry or especially muddy conditions.

All in all, not a shoe for me and I had to return it, unfortunately.