vibram 5 finger shoes for decent

I definitely don't like the 5 fingers for descent on anything harder than a gentle trail walk-off.

Yeah, I own a five fingers. Hopping across rock edges, roots, scree, etc is really really unfriendly to the underside of FiveFingered feet and the toes. Climbing descents are not "trail running". Even worse on the feet since you are usually carrying the rope or a full rack.

Merrell makes some great zero rise light weight shoes.

I have come to the conclusion that any shoe with a standard heel rise is extra abusive to the knees and joints on the down hill. A shoe with heal rise encourages long down hill strides forcing a heel strike. Relying entirely on the shoes cushion for shock absorption.

No rise shoes or VFFs serve me and my knees well on the downhill. I find my stride shorter since heel striking would hurt. With a shorter stride / quicker turnover I am using my calf / leg muscles for shock absorption. Not the shoe's cushion since there is very little.

I think a light weight minimalist zero rise shoe would serve well for tue descent shoe.

I occasionally use some Merrell "Barefoot" shoes that weigh nothing for descents. I wouldn't use them in talus/scree but everything else they have worked well.

decent= good person or satisfactory
descent= going down