After an unseasonably warm winter in much of the mountain west, running season is almost in full swing in April! What does that mean? That SkyRun's 2026 season preview is past due. Cutting to the chase so you can chase your goals, here's our breakdown of gear trends for your summer running adventures:

Super Shoe Sidekicks - Could the Green Hornet, the Vigilante, or the Crimson Avenger have succeeded without Kato, Stuff, or Wing? For the sake of argument, we'll presume no, and your Super shoes might not fare well alone either. Race shoes in that category generally come with a high price tag and aren't always the best for everyday training; spreading out miles across several shoes will lengthen the calendar-life of all your footwear. The higher-cushioned Prodigio Max from La Sportiva is an excellent everyday trainer that lets you save your Pro model for speed work and racing. The gently rockered Rossignol Vercors have the back of the impressive Vezor. Then there's the Agravic TT, who's not just a sidekick, but nearly as race-worthy as its updated superhero counterpart, the Agravic Speed Ultra 2.

Tagged Products: La Sportiva men's / women's Prodigio Max, Rossignol women's / men's Vercors, Terrex men's / women's Agravic TT

To see, or be seen, that is the question - Anyone who's witnessed what seems like a semi-truck approaching an aid station in the dark knows what's coming: a pair of racers with waist light and headlamp combos. UltrAspire's Lumen 800 Solstice and 850 Duo Waist Lights cast better shadows than traditional headlamps because they are closer to the ground. The Lumen Light Bracket affixes to most packs straps or waist belts for an incredible makeshift Sun. Headlamps have gotten lighter and brighter and illuminate your surroundings with a quick turn of your head. At a scant 46 grams, Petzl's Swift LT will likely go unnoticed in your kit, and the 60-hour battery will get you through the longest of winter nights. Alternatively, the updated Petzl Swift RL boasts 1300 lumens for seeing everything that goes bump in the dark. Pairing both systems keeps you wide awake while putting the fear of God into rookie overnight volunteers.

Tagged Products: UltrAspire Lumen 850 Duo Waist Light / 800 Solstice Waist Light, UltraSpire's Lumen Light Bracket, Petzl Swift RL / Swift LT.

Soft Flask Trigger Safeties - Seasoned mountain athletes often embellish stories of the dangerous flasks of yore. The slightest amount of pressure on the bite valve sent out a stream of liquid, likely in the direction of one's face. Thankfully, Raide, Hydrapak, and UltrAspire now offer locking-cap soft flasks that make such hazards a thing of the past. Grizzled adventurers also tell tales of separate, unwieldy water filters that took up precious space in one's running kit. Thankfully, there are now filtering options the let you simply dip and run. Katadyn's BeFree Filtration Bottle Filter and Hydrapak's Filter Cap, which screw directly onto 42mm-wide-mouth soft flasks, negate the need to carry bulkier contraptions. Become impervious to both water-in-the-eyes and complaints-in-the-ears.

Tagged Products: Hydrapak PocketFlask 500ml​, Raide's Locking-Cap Flasks, UltrAspire Locking Cap Softflask, Katadyn BeFree Filter / Filtration Bottle, HydraPak Filter Cap

Rocket Fuel - High-carb fueling has gripped the attention of endurance athletes who fear the bonk more than type-2 diabetes. Tailwind's High Carb Fuel may not have been first on the scene, but they surely set the bar with 90g of carbohydrates, 680mg of sodium, plus electrolytes to help maintain all your levels. The aptly named CARBS Fuel has a trio of inexpensive gels, each containing 50g of pure carnivore-repellent. Open Fuel recently burst on the scene with Ultra Fuel sports drink mixes, possibly the tastiest on the market thanks to their use of real fruit derivatives. Excuses for not properly fueling now fall on deaf ears.

Tagged Products: Carbs Fuel Original Energy Gels, Open Fuel Sports Drink Mix, Tailwind Nutrition High Carb Fuel

High-Tech Functional Fashion - Nobody looks as good crushing vert as the Italians. That's because it's the home of Valeria Colturi, who established the "crazy idea" of fast-fashion over 20 years ago to mean highly technical, the opposite of disposable. Well-known on the skimo scene, she integrates body mapping, laser perforations, and custom fabrics to produce the most eye-catching performancewear on the planet, never missing a detail. Colturi's Voltage Shorts and Crazy's Lumberjack Light top are no exception. Trail-shoe designers, on the other hand, prefer you first notice a runner's kicks. Satisfy made its foray into the running scene with its first proprietary shoe, TheRocker, which looks as good on trail as it does at dinner. HOKA may not be the first name in fashion, but the Rocket X Trails are a plated super-shoe that's as visually appealing as it is fast. I have the need, the need, for steeze.

Tagged Products: Satisfy The Rocker, Hoka Rocket X Trail, Colturi Voltage Short, Crazy Idea Lumberjack Light Shirt, Crazy Idea Pacman Run Cap

Single-Skinwalker Ranch - New single-skin Hike-to-Fly wings are taking off and have been spotted in the sky competing head-to-head. Stay tuned...

Thank you for reading our 2026 season preview; we appreciate you. If you haven't already, plan a trip to our SLC showroom and check out this amazing gear in person. In the meantime, we look forward to crossing paths in the mountains or the sky!