Altra Olympus vs Lone Peak

Note: In this post we'll compare the Altra Olympus to the Altra Lone Peak. However, we also have posts laying out the differences between recent Olympus models as well as the differences between recent Lone Peak models.

Overview

The most important difference between the Olympus and the Lone Peak is in their cushioning (as is the case with almost all Altra trail running shoes).

With everything else being equal, if you're mostly going to be backpacking, trail running, walking and/or standing uninterruptedly for long periods of time, then you're highly likely to benefit from the extra cushioning the Olympus has over the Lone Peak.

In Altra's trail running line, the Lone Peaks (men's / women's) are the closest you get to a typical trail running shoe and hence a safer choice than the Olympus (men's / women's). For this reason, the Lone Peaks are probably a better option for novice trail runners.

Additionally, the Lone Peak 8 looks pretty great (this Black/Green colorway is really liked by many - including me).

If you think you're somewhere between these two points, then checking out my Timp review as well as my comparison of Timps to Lone Peaks might be a good idea.

At a glance ... Altra Lone Peak vs Olympus

Cushioning

While it's true that more cushion generally results in more comfort as either the distance to cover gets longer or the individual gets heavier, or the trail gets rockier etc...

It's a myth that more cushion generally results in less damaging to our joints.

I wanted to make this clear before we get to compare these two products because cushioning would be my single most important criteria when deciding between them - although joint health shouldn't be counted as a criteria.

So, with everything else being equal, if you're mostly going to be backpacking, trail running, walking and/or standing uninterruptedly for long periods of time, then you're highly likely to benefit from the extra cushioning the Olympus possesses over the Lone Peaks.

If you're going to be running ultramarathons with these shoes, then generally speaking, I'd probably draw the maximum event distance line for Lone Peaks at 50 miles (80 kms). Anything longer and you're going to wish you had more cushioned kicks such as the Timp or Olympus.

This is NOT to say that Lone Peak's are an objectively better choice when you're below that limit. Because, if you're a relatively heavy person (more than, say, 200 lbs), or the trails you'll cover will be more technical/rockier than average, or you're fond of having more underfoot protection for any reason ... 

... then a more cushioned alternative such as the Timp or Olympus can still be a reasonable choice.

BUT...

One strong downside of ample cushion is weaker toe-off when running, which is kind of important when running longer distances and definitely important when running shorter distances.

If you're unaware, here's what toe-off means: Pushing the ground farther from yourself not only using your entire forefoot but also your toe strength. Yes, this results in minuscule differences, but it adds up when you're competing with milliseconds (hint: shorter distances).

This is the biggest downside of extra cushion.

After reading the entire thing until here, if you think you're somewhere between these two pairs, then I'd probably recommend you to check out the Timp 2.0's. It's probably what you're looking for.

This is it for the cushion part.

Now...

I'd even go that far and recommend you to downright ignore everything else such as traction, fit, breathability, durability, etc. - not because they aren't important (they are), but because they don't differ much in our case, especially when compared to how the cushioning differs.

That said, I'll try to hit the most important points here.

Traction

Olympus 6 offers the latest version of Vibram's Megagrip rubber outsole technology. The Megagrip is a major upgrade over the old DuraTrac outsole of older models of the Olympus.

The Lone Peak's have Altra's MaxTrac rubber outsoles. 

But ... that's the case when things are kept technically.

In practice, with everything else being equal, higher stack height usually also means lesser traction in many cases. The extra cushion the Olympus has over the Lone Peak evens out its advantage, resulting in more or less equal traction capabilities in practice.

Conclusion

I'd highly recommend you base your decision primarily off the cushion differences.

If you're going to be participating to an ultramarathon, absolutely check out the event distance and the chart in this post's introduction and choose accordingly.

With everything else being equal and average, if the event distance is more than, say, 75 miles (120 km); then the Olympus is likely to be a better choice over the Lone Peak because of its extra cushion.

If you won't be participating to ultramarathons ...

With everything else being average; if you're mostly going to be backpacking, trail running, walking and/or standing uninterruptedly, for long periods of time; then you're highly likely to benefit a lot from the extra cushion Olympus has over the Lone Peak's.

In Altra's trail running line, Lone Peak's are the closest you get to a typical trail running shoe and hence a safer choice than the Olympus and is probably a better option for beginner folks.