SectionHiker.com Backpacking Gear Reviews and FAQs 
The La Sportiva Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX is a high-top version of the Ultra Raptor II GTX trail running shoe. While some might classify it as a hiking boot, it’s basically the same shoe with a high ankle cuff for increased moisture and impact protection. While the ankle cuff does provide some added proprioceptive feedback to alert you to a potential ankle roll, it is nowhere as supportive as a much heavier leather hiking boot like the La Sportiva Nucleo High II GTX.
I like the Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX for use in mud season or late autumn where the waterproof membrane and the high ankle cuff help keep my socks dry in cold and wet weather. The wide sizing is also a big win if you prefer more space for your toes to splay out when you hike.
RELATED: 10 Best Hiking Shoes and Trail Runners
Specs at a Glance
- Gender: Men’s (women’s also available)
- Drop: 12mm
- Stack: Heel: 27mm / Toe: 15mm
- Lug depth: 4.5 mm
- Cushion: moderate
- Closure: lace-up
- Upper: mesh
- Wide and Regular Width sizes: yes
- Weight: 34 oz/pair in size EU 44 (US 10.5+)
- Durability: 300-500 miles
- Waterproofing: Gore-Tex Extended Comfort
Features and Construction
The Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX has the same core features as the low version of the Ultra Raptor II Wide GTX Trail Running shoe including a super sticky rubber sole, an arched sole, a beefy front toe kick, great heel and side protection and a waterproof/breathable membrane. Really, the biggest difference between the mids and the lows is the added padded ankle cuff.
Wide Width and Spacious Toe Box
The Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX is considerably wider than the regular Ultra Raptor II Mid GTX and comes with a spacious toe box that is wide enough to splay out your toes. I switched from regular-sized Ultra Raptors IIs this year to the wide-sized version mainly for the increased toe box space, since I experience tingling in my toes when I hike, a condition called Morton’s Neuroma, caused by wearing trail runners and hiking boots that were too narrow for many many years. A wide toe box completely alleviates the condition, however.
The heel portion of these Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTXs is still a little wide for me, however, but I’ve found that the fit works well if I just wear a somewhat heavier sock. That’s fine with me because I’ve gone through 20-some pairs of Ultra Raptors and Ultra Raptor IIs over the years and they’re still my all-time favorites even though I’ve tried just about every trail runner ever made….or at least it feels like it. Once fitted, these perform exactly the same in terms of traction and protection.
Sticky Ruber Soles
The La Sportiva Ultra Raptor II Mid GTX is designed for hiking on rugged mountain trails. It has a rubber sole that’s soft and very sticky on rock, including wet rock, which you’d expect from a company that cut its teeth on making climbing shoes. The sole has an arch that is designed to minimize impact to the mid-foot and encourages landing on your forefoot resulting in better traction by the front lugs. It also incorporates a feature called the impact brake system, which are simply reversed lugs that assist in breaking in steep and slippery terrain. While this lug pattern works best on hard surfaces, it provides less traction in muddy conditions due to the modest lug height.
Arched Sole
The articulated arch in the Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX also makes them compatible with more traditional hiking and mountaineering gaiters which is invaluable during mud season or in late autumn when you need less foot insulation but keeping your socks dry is still paramount. That’s when I like using these shoes, myself.
The arch permits the use of the heavy-duty gaiter straps found on high waterproof gaiters, something you just can’t do with flat-bottomed mids or hiking boots. Having an arch might sound like an obvious feature to include on a hiking mid for cold and wet weather, but shop around: arches are an increasingly rare feature on trail runners and mids.
Beefy Toe Kick
The Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX is well protected up front with a very beefy toe kick. It’s great for hiking across scree, gravel, and rocky trails. I don’t look at my feet when I hike across such terrain and this added level of protection lets me hike fast without worrying about bruising, painful impacts, or broken toenails.
Heel, Side, and Midsole Protection
These mids also have a TPU heel counter and TPU strips along the sides that anchor into the midsole for added protection and stability. In addition, an injection-molded EVA midsole with a TPU shank provides anti-torsional stability in the arch sole.
Ankle Cuff
The ankle cuff is covered with a simple soft shell fabric and lightly padded. with a soft comfort collar in back to eliminate painful rubbing along the back of the leg just above the ankle. There are 7 inches of clearance from the sole to the top of the ankle cuff, so you can easily walk through puddles or rock hop over partially submerged rocks and not get wet into the shoe. I’ve found the waterproofing to be 100% effective in the Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX which makes them a joy to use in wet weather.
Drop
With a drop of 12mm, the Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX is nowhere near a zero-drop shoe and they’re decidedly not fashionable in that respect. On the flip side, it means that they are very easy to transition to if you’ve been wearing hiking boots or mids and want to try them, especially because no break-in time is required. You can literally put them on and start hiking without having to learn or train your feet and calves in the biomechanics of hiking in zero-drop shoes. It also makes switching back to boots much easier when winter rolls around and you need to wear insulated footwear.
La Sportiva Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX
Foot Protection
Traction
Stability
Sensitivity
Comfort
Weight
Durabiility
Sizing
The Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX is available in EU sizes, both full and half sizes which I find is optimal for dialing in a precise fit. I think the shoes are true to size, but you might need to buy a few pairs in adjacent sizes to dial in a precise fit if you haven’t used the finer-grained EU sizing before.
The mids include a hybrid foam insole which is thicker than that found in the low version of the Ultra Raptor but has no added heel support. I find that removing it increases the interior volume of the shoe and makes it easy to replace with a more durable insole that provides more heel support to prevent plantar fasciitis.
Recommendation
The La Sportiva’s Ultra Raptor II Mid Wide GTX excels in mountain terrain because its soles have sticky rubber which adheres well to rock, including wet rock, with a level of stability and protection that has no equal. Their wide toe box and sizing make them comfortable to wear by people with larger feet or people who want a larger toe box and are willing to shim out the extra mid-foot space with thicker socks. I also think they’re an excellent option for spring mud-season and late autumn hiking because they have arches that are compatible with waterproof gaiter straps. If you’re ready to ditch your winter boots for spring hiking season, but still want waterproof protection, I’d recommend trying these La Sportiva’s Ultra Raptor II Wide GTX Mids.
Disclosure: The author owns this product
Compare 3 Prices
-
Backcountry.com$199.00$99.50View -
REI$199.00$139.93View -
Amazon US$198.95$157.50ViewAmazon.com Price: $157.50 (as of 04/24/2024 15:26 GMT-0400) Details
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Thank’s for the review.
Here’s a little feedback which might read nitpicky. It is very common to see wide lasted shoes, especially those with triangular lasts with wide toeboxes to be written as comfort choices.
“The wide sizing is also a big win if you prefer more space for your toes to splay out when you hike.”
“– a spacious toe box that is wide enough to splay out your toes.”
I think there are two segments of hikers who like wider lasts: those seeking comfortable fit and wanting to splay their toes, and then those who simply have wider feet. This latter group is often forgotten, and wide toebox, and wide last in general are mentioned as comfortable features of a shoe, something one might want to opt in or opt out. But there are also people with wider than average feet, and for them wide shoes fit like average shoes fit for average people.
I hope this didn’t come out too hostile, this is sort of a peeve for me.
I think I address both those use cases in this review. Although I chafe at the use of the word “comfort”. If you had mortons neuroma, you’d know that a wide toebox is actually a medical necessity. But I’d be glad if people could find better comfort with these shoes as well since many find non-wide Raptors to be narrow.
One thing to consider, too, is that La Sportiva like other European brands tend to have narrower and lower volume lasts than typical shoes for the US market. I have both wide and regular versions of Ultra Raptor II and I feel the regular width feels like a sock, but there are some pressure points in width, while the wide version is roomy and feels more boxy. La Sportiva offers the TX Hike GTX which has a last intended more for the US market that is both higher volume and wider last, although it more of a hiking shoe even though it’s a hybrid hiking and trail running shoe. Because of the lug design and sole, the TX Hike GTX (mid or low) is better suited for muddier, softer, wet environments, than the Ultra Raptor II. If you like the UR II wide, then I would opt to swap out for the TX Hike GGTX in the muddier, softer ground type environments. The Ultra Raptor II really does excel in rocky, scrambly environments because of the sticky rubber, but the lug design is terrible in mud. The one issue with the UR II is that although the toe guard does an excellent job at protecting your toe from stubbing, the beefiness does sometimes work against it in rocky environments, since I find myself catching rock edges on the toe guard since it sticks out. Nothing worse than catching your toe on a rock edge on dicey terrain, especially when going down.
Thanks for this review. I was wondering how the highs and lows differed. I’ve been waiting for the wide version of these shoes to become available because people have raved about their raptors for years. Glad you can make them work too for your toes with a sock hack!
they are basically the same, except the mid (not high) has the mid height ankle padding. Basically LS just added around the ankle padding to the low. The tongue gusset on the mid is at the low level, so you don’t gain any waterproof protection getting the mid. Not an issue if you are wearing wp gaiters, but it’s a negative if you are expecting a little higher waterproof protection when trodding through puddles, mud, and streams.
Glad to see the Raptor being offered in a Wide now. I’ll have to check these out at my next shoe change. I don’t have particularly wide feet and found the “normal” raptors far too narrow – but loved the overall design of the shoe. I’ll be looking at the non-GTX, Low cut though. :)
Are there any stores in NH that have La Sportiva shoes in stock to try on versus ordering online?
I ordered mine from REI. Call them and ask.
Looking at these to replace my old dead Salomon Ultra 3s I’ve retired to lawn mowing. Re sizing, does the wide version pretty much take care of it without having to go significantly longer too for the fit? Thanks.
Length is the same on both widths. So yes.
Try them on first or get from store that ships and will let you return if they don’t fit. La Sportivas do not fit the same as Salomons. LS fit perfectly on my feet but I cannot stand Salomons, because they don’t fit my feet well. The wide version does not adjust anything in length.
Really appreciate this review. I also ended up with Morton’s Neuroma and today at REI found my way to these boots in wide form. I went back and forth between getting these and going zero-drop, which I enjoy for around town use as the wide toe box in Altras really helps with my nueroma. Very glad to hear that the 12mm drop doesn’t seem to trigger yours. I guess I’ll commit to these and get em dirty!