If your idea of a vacation involves scrambling up scree fields at sunrise rather than lounging poolside, The North Face has a new shoe worth packing. The brand has just launched the Offtrail Ultra, a mountain running shoe designed for travelers and athletes who like their trails technical, their descents steep, and their terrain unpredictable.
A New Approach to Mountain Running
At the heart of the Offtrail Ultra is a dual-density DREAMBOUND™ nitrogen superfoam midsole, molded as a single piece rather than glued together from separate layers. The North Face says this construction method delivers better rebound and a more responsive ride over long, technical distances — the kind of terrain you’d find crossing alpine passes or navigating loose mountain trails abroad.
Brett Rivers, Senior Global Merchandiser of Performance Footwear at The North Face, said the team built the shoe in close collaboration with its athletes, aiming for “a responsive and protective underfoot experience that is lighter and more agile in technical terrain.”
Details That Matter for Off-the-Grid Travel
For anyone using trail runners as multi-purpose travel footwear, a few features stand out:
- Built-in SCREEGUARD gaiter — a stretch cuff integrated directly into the shoe that keeps dirt, grit, and trail debris out without extra zippers or dials to fuss with mid-hike.
- SURFACE CTRL G2 outsole — high-traction lugs paired with a dedicated scrambling zone at the toe, aimed at giving runners better grip when routes turn from trail to rock.
- Reinforced mesh upper — lightweight and breathable, built to hold up on rugged, multi-day terrain.
- Featherweight build — about 9.3 oz per shoe for men’s and 8.0 oz for women’s, with a 29mm heel stack and 6mm heel-to-toe drop.
The North Face athlete and mountain ultrarunner Zach Miller, who tested prototypes ahead of launch, praised the shoe’s restraint compared to more heavily engineered options on the market, noting it skips plates and towering stack heights in favor of a cleaner, more functional design.
Tested Where It Counts
Rather than lab-only development, The North Face put Offtrail prototypes through real expedition conditions across five continents. Athletes including Kaytlyn Gerbin, Tara Fraga, and Stephanie Case ran, climbed, and trained in the shoes across New Zealand’s Southern Alps, Ecuador’s Mt. Cotopaxi, and an Arctic training camp in Norway — the kind of far-flung testing grounds that double as serious travel bucket-list destinations.
A Nod to Exploration History
The Offtrail Ultra is part of The North Face’s new Summit Trail Run collection, which draws design inspiration from the 1990 Trans-Antarctica Expedition — a seven-month, 3,741-mile crossing undertaken by a six-person international team. The collection’s high-visibility color palette echoes that original expedition gear, and the shoe incorporates the International Flag of Planet Earth as a nod to global exploration.
