The Salewa Wildfire is an all-round approach shoe with several versions. There is a (waterproof) Salewa Wildfire GTX, a version made from canvas, and even a Salewa Wildfire 2 with a slightly updated (and I think less good-looking) design. The variant I have is the Salewa Wildfire Leather, with no waterproof membrane.
The Bottom Line
(4 / 5)
The Salewa Wildfire is an excellent hiking / approach shoe really comfortable for hikes and longer approaches. The grippy POMOCA soles are excellent, but do pick up a lot of small rocks which can be annoying. The shoes aren’t waterproof but do dry very quickly, and they have a strikingly good look.
- Very comfortable
- Good-looking (I think!)
- Lightweight
- Quick-drying (not waterproof)
- String-based lace system is not optimal
Purchasing
As with most things nowadays, the Wildfires can be bought on Amazon (for around £100), but many outdoor retailers will also stock them – and by buying that way you’re supporting the outdoors businesses that keep our community going! The Salewa webshop itself unfortunately no longer delivers to the UK, but if you live in Europe they will deliver.
Comfort
The stand-out feature of these shoes is their comfort. They are covered by Salewa’s standard “Blisterfree Guarantee” – but this is more than just marketing jargon. Unlike many hiking shoes and boots I’ve owned, they hold the feet very well so you don’t need to tighten the laces too much. Often other shoes need the laces to be really tight, for example when going downhill. The soles are soft and compliant – as you’d need from approach shoes – but they are comfortable on even the roughest of terrain. They feature a solid toe and heel section to give them better grip on technical approaches and scrambling, and the heel section in particular is very useful when moving downhill facing forward.
Use
The Wildfires are built around a POMOCA sole unit, which is not a brand I’d come across before these shoes. Nonetheless, the soles are well-made and rugged, with excellent grip on almost all surfaces. I’ve found they perform particularly well on very steep, smooth ground such as sloping rocks – as you’d expect from approach shoes – but this doesn’t affect their performance on other terrain. As mentioned above, the diamond pattern does have a tendency to pick up small stones and twigs in the deep grooves of the sole, but they don’t seem to affect performance and are easy to remove.
The upper of the shoe is made mostly from robust leather, with some synthetic parts (see below), and seems well-bonded to the sole. The front of the shoes are relatively high and completely protected by a rubber strip, protecting the shoes from gravel and debris.
Issues with the Salewa Wildfire
I have found two issues with these shoes, but neither seem major (yet!). The first is with the lacing system. Salewa has used a thin cord to create the loops that the laces are threaded through. This looks great on the shoes, but unfortunately means that when you’re tightening the laces the cord pulls against the body of the shoe, effectively locking the laces. Because of this, getting the laces tight is challenging – but as discussed, the design of the shoe means that this is not too much of an issue.
The second issue I have found is about material choice. The leather upper is extremely robust, but the shoes feature some synthetic material around the mouth of the shoe which is very prone to abrasion. After minimal use, mine had already started to degrade slightly (presumably from where I accidentally scuff one foot with the other). This does not show signs of worsening, but may cause problems if it did.
General Comment
Overall, these are an excellent pair of shoes. They are light and cool, which makes them ideal for summer use, and have excellent grip on all terrain. Their £100+ price tag means they aren’t a cheap option, but they are definitely comparable to the alternatives. Being shoes, they offer no ankle support, which is sometimes a good thing – but for those situations when some support is needed, consider something like the Lomer Keswicks (review here), which are similarly light, leather boots but offering more ankle support – or you’re looking for a really robust, all-terrain tractor of a boot for multi-day adventures, check out something like the Pelmo.
If you don’t need those features, though, you should definitely consider the Salewa Wildfires – for their comfort, if nothing else.