The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 Review

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The word workhorse has become cliche in the running shoe world, particularly for things that are not horses, so I won’t use it to describe The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 ($170). Instead, I’ll characterize it as I did in my notes after one run: a mileage monster, a shoe that’s not especially fancy but simply gets the job done. And sometimes that’s all you need in a trail running shoe.

The Altamesa 500 V2 was my third trail shoe from The North Face, following The North Face Vectiv Enduris 4 (review), the brand’s do-it-all trail shoe, and The North Face Summit Vectiv Pro 3, its ultra-distance racing shoe. I loved the Vectiv Enduris 4 until the TPU plate made my right foot sore to the point I couldn’t wear them anymore, and the Vectiv Pro 3 was surprisingly durable for a super shoe, but it didn’t offer as much energy return as you would expect given its price. The Altamesa 500 V2 is less specialized than either of those shoes, but it might be my favorite of the three.

The Altamesa 500 V2 is for someone who wants to run trails and forget what shoes they are wearing. It’s a comfortable, relatively lightweight shoe with a roomy toebox and ample cushioning. With 4-millimeter lugs, it’s versatile enough to take on crushed gravel, moderately technical singletrack, and most other unpaved surfaces. Though The North Face markets this shoe as a road-to-trail option, I found it slightly clunky on pavement and only used it for short paved sections between trails.

With 36 millimeters of stack at the heel and 30 at the forefoot, the Altamesa 500 V2 has a drop of 6 millimeters, making it approachable for most runners and footstrikes. It has an actual weight of 9.7 ounces (276 grams) for a U.S. men’s 9. In my experience, it ran true to size, though with a slightly wider toebox than most shoes I’m used to wearing.

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The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 Upper

The upper of The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 is made from a thin engineered mesh that proved to be both breathable and durable. I wore these shoes throughout the entire spring and the early days of summer in western North Carolina and never felt hot in them. In fact, as I’ll dive into below, even when I had to wear thicker socks to help with the lockdown on these shoes, my feet never felt uncomfortably hot.

The fit is typical throughout the heel and midfoot, but the toebox is more voluminous than I’m used to. Initially, it was difficult to adjust to this volume, but once I got used to it and started wearing thicker socks, I came to really enjoy the roomier fit, especially on longer efforts. For someone who’s used to wider toeboxes, this shoe might feel normal. For me, even with its ample room, the shoe never felt insecure. My only knock now is that, for whatever reason, the serrated laces frequently come untied during runs.

Once you nail the lockdown, the upper, which also has a thin tongue for additional weight savings and a toe cap for protection, is one of the standout features of this shoe. It is lightweight and simply comfortable to run in.

The last thing I’ll note with the upper is that these shoes come in multiple appealing colorways for the fashion conscious, which is not something that can be said for all trail shoes. I had the gray-yellow colorway, and they looked sharp.

The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 Midsole

The midsole of The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 is a layer of the brand’s Dream foam, a lightweight, nitrogen-infused TPU foam that provides solid energy return for long days on the trail. I mostly used this shoe for easy runs, and I found that’s where it excels. Though it has a slightly rockered geometry designed to help with faster running, the shoe felt a bit clunky when I pushed the pace. If you’re seeking a shoe for trail workouts or looking to run a fast time in a race, there are better, bouncier options.

But for basically everything else, this shoe is a machine. As I wrote in my notes after a run, it’s a shoe in which you “just can crush miles without a lot of thought.” I wore them on every easy trail run while training for a 50k race, from choppy singletrack to smooth gravel roads, and they were worthy companions for it all. I have over 200 miles on them now, and they’ve maintained their feel and cushion. The only time I noticed a lack of pop was in the middle of a high-volume week when my legs were heavy. I think then I would have appreciated a shoe with a bit more energy return, but that was a function of training rather than the shoe.

The longest run I completed in these shoes was 20 miles, but that was mostly because I was testing other shoes for racing a 50k, not because I didn’t think they could handle longer runs. In fact, I think the Altamesa 500 V2 could crush runs up into the 50k range. After that, I might opt for something with a bit more bounce for tired legs.

The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 Outsole

The outsole of The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 is made from the brand’s Surface CTRL SC2 rubber compound. The 4-millimeter lugs face forward at the front and backward at the heel for traction when climbing and descending, respectively, and though there is a decently sized exposed midsole section in the middle of the outsole, I never found it to be problematic.

In fact, like the rest of this shoe, I found the outsole to be really solid. I wore these shoes on everything from root- and rock-filled singletrack to smooth gravel and never experienced an issue with grip or confidence. The outsole also performed well on wet trails, though, because I started running in these shoes in the spring, I never got to try them in snow. The only surface it didn’t feel smooth on was pavement, where, as I mentioned earlier, the ride feels clunky and hard underfoot.

For the trails I run most frequently here in western North Carolina — a combination of rolling gravel roads and moderately technical singletrack with short paved sections between trails — the outsole of these shoes struck a perfect balance. It wasn’t too luggy on smoother surfaces to be overbearing, but it still offered ample traction for more technical sections of trail.

The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 Overall Impressions

The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 has been a shoe I’ve really enjoyed running in, so much so that I’ve continued using them long after the initial testing period. I have over 220 miles on them and plan to add to that for the rest of the summer. Based on their current feel, I’m confident they’ll last a couple of hundred more miles.

The Altamesa 500 V2 is not a particularly fancy shoe, and that’s perhaps why it excels. It does basically everything right, from a clean and breathable upper to a Goldilocks outsole. In between, the midsole contributes to an ample 36 millimeters of stack in the heel that is in line with the current max-cushioning movement but doesn’t feel like it’s too much. The wider platform helps with stability on trails.

Outside of long stretches on roads and races or fast efforts, I’d wear this shoe for any type of run. It’s a versatile, well-constructed shoe that has proven to be a trusty companion on trails. Just don’t call it a workhorse.

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Call for Comments

• Have you run in either version of The North Face Altamesa 500? What are your impressions?
• What other workhorse shoes do you like?

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The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 Review by Robbie Harms.