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The North Face Altamesa 500 V2 Review

Name: Women's Other Altamesa 500 V2
Brand: Other
Rating: 4.3 (1 reviews)

Lucie Hanes

Posted Mar 27, 2026

The North Face Altamesa 500 is a stability shoe that doesn't run like a stability shoe. Much more nimble than its wide base would suggest, the Altamesa manages to target a rare combination of smooth and supportive to boost confidence underfoot.

Total

Form

Performance

Value

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Altamesa 500 V2

4.3/5

(1)

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Pros

Smooth
Energetic and springy
Supportive and stable
Comfortable

Cons

One trick pony

The North Face's latest update to the Altamesa 500 was the first shoe that I ran in after recovering from a tibial stress fracture this winter. That's giving this shoe a lot of credit, because everyone who's gone through a stress fracture knows that the hardest part of coming back from this type of injury is probably more mental than physical. The risk of reinjury is so high, and the sensations so strong even once the bone is healed, that it's incredibly difficult to convince your brain that it is actually safe to run. Despite spending two months itching to get back on my feet, once I finally got clearance to do so, I found myself too nervous to start. All of my old shoes either carried emotional baggage from the time that I was running through the injury, pretending like I wasn't in an exorbitant amount of pain, or weren't appropriately cushioned for a still fragile bone. So I picked up the TNF Altamesa 500 for a fresh start and a cushy ride that I could trust.

Form

You can tell with one look why I'd pick a shoe like this to guide my return to run process. The Altamesa 500 is a certifiable beefcake. I figured that the more cushion I could put between my leg and the ground to absorb the forces of impact, the better, even if it meant that I'd be sacrificing speed and energy underfoot by tromping around in a clown boot. In this case, though the package doesn't match the experience. This is certainly a cushy shoe, and I definitely felt supported with every step, but it doesn't wear like a cushy shoe. It's quite light given the sheer amount of stack, and TNF clearly took pains to minimize weight and bulk on the upper to counterbalance the lower. The mesh is durable but still flexible and breathable, which also adds an element of foot freedom that I didn't expect from such a high-stack shoe. The beef is all in the sole, while the upper is more minimalist and sleek. The combination worked well for me: bulk where I wanted it, none where I didn't.

Fit

The Altamesa 500 feels much more form-fitting on the inside than the outside would suggest. The midfoot cradled and secured my arch so that the shoe stayed reliably in place, but the toebox offered enough room for my forefoot to splay comfortably without feeling constrained. I won't subject you to the sight of my bunions, but if you saw them, you'd know that these toes need some serious room to breathe, and this shoe didn't disappoint. The flexible upper also made it easy to tighten the shoe down up top so that it fit snugly but still flexed with my foot's movements. Doing so makes the sole look and feel even wider in comparison to the slim upper but does a nice job of counterbalancing the bulk down below so that you feel in good control of the shoe despite that width underfoot. The heel collar is also soft and flexible with just enough padding to be comfortable but not so much that it adds bulk. Again, TNF was clearly intentional about designing a supportive, high-stack shoe that only runs like one but doesn't wear like one. It fits like a sleek, slim, speedy shoe.

Function

My hypothesis is that people don't generally like about beefcake shoes like the Altamesa 500 is the fit, not the function. When the shoe feels too heavy or bulky on your foot, it ruins the ride by making your stride feel clunky. But given the Altamesa 500's sleek upper that fits like a glove, these issues get largely mitigated. I felt like I retained good control of the shoe because of how well the upper fit, and got to enjoy the cushion and bounce that the high stack design provided. The cushion is surprisingly responsive, too. It doesn't feel like your foot is sinking into a soft pillow with each step, more so that the cushion operates like a gentle spring to encourage an energetic stride while still absorbing impact. You can see that the Altamesa 500 offers a decent amount of rocker underfoot as well, which makes the whole ride feel propulsive and smooth.

I entrusted this shoe with a mighty task: to make me feel safe running again, physically and mentally. It definitely accomplished that task, and even exceeded my expectations by also making running fun again with the smooth rocker and surprisingly energetic ride. As my return-to-run progress, though, I don't know that I would take these far beyond a California Carpet style of trail; no matter how well The North Face designed these shoes to balance support with security, they're still beefy and struggle when the trails turn into, well, actual trails. In fact, the discrepancy between the slim upper and the wide sole might make them struggle even more, because there's a big difference between how big your footprint feels and how bit it actually is, which could make it tough to dance around rocks, roots, and other obstacles. But for those runs when you just need to turn off your brain and find some flow on a rolling dirt road, these are money.