The North Face has added a purpose-built mountain racer to its Summit Series line with the Offtrail Ultra, which goes on sale on 5 July and is being positioned as the brand's most rugged performance running shoe to date. Where much of the recent trail conversation has centred on plated super-shoes chasing marginal gains on runnable terrain, the Offtrail Ultra deliberately points in the other direction, towards technical ground where protection, grip and all-day durability matter more than a single fast lap.
The specification reflects that intent. The shoe uses a dual-density, super-critical TPU and EVA blend midsole with no carbon or nylon plate, and sits noticeably lower than the brand's flagship racer, with a stack listed at roughly 29mm at the heel dropping to 23mm at the forefoot, against 37mm under the heel for the Summit Series VECTIV Pro 3. The lugs are around 1.5mm deeper for surer footing on loose and rocky ground, and despite the extra outsole material the Offtrail Ultra is said to weigh a little over an ounce less than the Pro 3, at about 9.3oz, for a retail price of $190.
The design brief is explicitly hybrid. A small climbing zone with a stiff edge on the medial side is built in for scrambling and rock hopping, marking the Offtrail Ultra out as a shoe meant for moving fast on ground where pure running gives way to hands-on-knees terrain. Early testing suggests that for genuine running it is more capable than the plated VECTIV Pro 3, a notable claim given how much of the trail market has come to assume that a plate is a prerequisite for speed.
Tellingly, The North Face says the shoe was tested extensively on the Hardrock 100 course, the brutally technical Colorado loop that this year runs on 10 July, where athletes need both true mountain protection and the ability to keep running for the better part of a day and night. That development story lands at an opportune moment for the brand, arriving days before one of the sport's most demanding hundred-milers and squarely aimed at the kind of high-alpine racing the Summit Series is built around.
For runners weighing up the launch, the Offtrail Ultra reads as a considered counterpoint to the plated arms race, betting that lower, deeper and plateless is the right recipe for rough mountains rather than smooth singletrack. Whether it converts athletes who have grown used to the pop of a rigid plate will be the test, but as a statement of where The North Face believes serious mountain footwear is heading, the Offtrail Ultra makes its case clearly.