I’ll be honest – for a long time, I never really got on all that well with Columbia hiking shoes. The Facet 75 Alphas were too sweaty and the Facet 60s didn’t have the grip I need for slick trails in the Scottish Highlands. But this spring, all that changed when I stepped out for the first time in the Konos TRS Outdry shoes.
Suddenly, I was skipping up Munros and across the Alps in Columbia shoes. I took a lot of hiking trips this summer and fall, and for every one, these were the shoes I chose out of my mountain of many. I liked them so much that I gifted my cousin a pair and she’s as delighted by them as I am.
If you haven’t got your feet in a pair yet, these shoes definitely don’t look super technical or even that eye-catching. They just look like a pair of trainers. But they feel rather like walking on pillowy clouds and, in my experience, stick to trails both crumbly and slick like glue.
This fall, I went on a trip to the Swiss Alps with the brand, where among other things I got to test out the mid-cut version of the Konos. It turned out I loved it just as much as the trainer on steep alpine trails. The secret? Columbia’s new Omni-Max technology.
What is Columbia’s Omni-Max technology?
Most of us probably think of a shoe as having two components – an upper, made of either leather or synthetic fabric, and a sole. That sole, however, actually consists of three main components:
- The outsole, which is the part that comes into contact with the ground and provides traction.
- The midsole, which delivers much-needed cushion.
- The insole, which improves fit, adds comfort and may help with thermoregulation.
These days, each of these components might be produced in a different factory (or even country) by different brands, and then sandwiched together when your shoe is being manufactured.
With Omni-Max, however, Columbia has built an integrated bottom unit that combines the midsole and outsole components to improve both cushioning – meaning you can avoid foot fatigue on long treks – and traction for slippery trails.
“This is the most stable and most comfortable footwear system that Columbia has ever produced for the intended outdoor environment,” says Haskell Beckham Columbia’s vice president of innovation.
The result is a sole that’s really ideal for fast and light hiking, even over distance.
What’s so special about Columbia’s Omni-Max technology?
There are three things that make Columbia’s Omni-Max technology unique, and effective.
First, a bit like its distant Columbia cousin Omni-Heat Arctic insulation, Omni-Max is inspired by nature – only this time it takes its biomimicry cues from a pinecone instead of a polar bear. A pine cone may not sound like the most comfortable item from nature to walk on but don’t be fooled.
If you’ve ever picked a pine cone up off the forest floor, you’ve probably noticed that you can bend it easily without it breaking, and it’s that aspect that has inspired this sole.
“When you’re walking, your foot bends, right?” Beckham explains.
“But when you put your foot into a shoe, now you’re placing it on top of a platform that may or may not bend as easily.”
Instead of the stiff sole that many of us associate with more protection against a rough, rocky trail, Omni-Max is fitted with what the brand calls flex grooves, so it bends more naturally with your foot when you’re walking, like a pine cone only more comfortable.
“The deep flex grooves in the forefoot reduce stiffness, then offer enhanced motion allowing for a more efficient stride,” says Michaela Hirschle, a footwear merchandiser at Columbia.
Now, Columbia certainly isn’t the first brand to make a sole that bends when you walk. All you need to do is go hiking in a pair of barefoot shoes to know that. But in my experience of hiking in a pair of the Konos versus something more minimalist like the Vivobarefoot Trackers, it’s the shoes with Omni-Max that feel like they’re massaging my feet, and that very welcome sensation apparently comes down to a technology called Deflection Domes.
As Beckham explains, when you walk it’s the three points of your heel and the balls under your big and pinkie toe that meet the ground first. With an Omni-Max sole, there are little rubber cushions under each of those points.
“They are biomechanically consistent with the primary pressure points under the foot for more stability. This allows the cushioning to adapt to the pressure applied, enhancing what the foam alone delivers,” says Beckham.
As Hirschle explains, these domes “deflect and reduce load impact in the heel as well as in the forefoot where the wearer experiences the highest impact when hiking,” which reduces stress on your foot and explains why my feet are so happy even after putting in 20 km wearing these.
Finally, Omni-Max is a modular system, which means it can be combined with different (Columbia) technologies. That means that the brand can switch out different outsoles to improve grip and engineer shoes to be better suited to specific terrains and activities.
Does Columbia’s Omni Max technology work?
I think it’s clear that I’ve been impressed by Omni-Max this year, having tested it out on Alpine treks, Scottish peaks and on long, muddy country rambles. If I’m going anywhere that I don’t need a technical hiking boot, I can’t see any reason not wear my Konos which are lightweight and waterproof. Extra cushion often seems to come at the expense of stability but I haven’t found that to be the case at all with Omni-Max, having not one instance of a turned ankle to speak of.
Similarly, flexible soles often come at the expense of protection, but there’s plenty of loft between your foot and the ground in these shoes. And finally, traction doesn’t usually come at the expense of anything, but it’s not always guaranteed in hiking shoes and I’ve found it lacking in previous trainer-style models from Columbia. In Omni-Max, however, I’ve been able to move with a lot of confidence without skidding.
If you want to try it for yourself, I can speak the Konos models which are the first to employ the technology, but it’s starting to make its way into other models such as the Newton Wander boot, Novo Trail shoe, the women’s Bethany and men’s Benson. You can view the full line of Omni-Max shoes here.
