Ahnu Footwear is a small Bay Area company that operates with a philosophy behind the performance and design of their shoes. Even their name “Ahnu” originates from a Celtic goddess of balance and well being. With that being said I had the opportunity to take the Firetrail XTR with its NPS (Neutral Positioning System) Technology for some test runs.

The name of the game here is balance, comfort, and stability. The NPS technology is designed to keep the heel of your foot in a nuetral position as your making your stride. This in turn will help prevent you from rolling or twisting your ankle, which as we all know is a major hazard on any trail. To test the shoes technology and comfort I took them out for some trail running and walking. I subjected myself to some situations that I wouldn’t normal attempt while running on the trail such as purposely running on uneven surfaces and firmly planting my feet on rocks that looked like they could do some potential bruising to my foot. Don’t worry, I came away from the experience with out a scratch and was impressed by the shock aborbsion and stability the shoe has to offer. The heel of the shoe has a lot of padding and you can feel the shoe keep your heel level when you end up with less than ideal footing. The shoe also includes a shock dispersal plate to protect the forefoot from rocks. I must admit I didn’t think the plate was going make much of a difference in my test, but not a single rock managed to cause me any pain.

The few things I noticed right away when I first tried the Firetrail is the height of padding in the heel and how tight they were on the top and ball of my wide feet. The heel made me feel as if I was leaning forward a little bit more than I would personally like. That as well as with the tightness of the shoe went away as I wore them casually for a week or so. I would recommend if you have wide feet to try these on first and see if they are going to work for you.

The Ahnu Firetrail XTR retail for $120.00