04/05 Boot Review

After skiing various skis, it was 4 oclock and time to chat with reps on boots. Checked out Dalbello, Lange, Rossi, Salomon, and some Atomics.

Dalbello'sboot that plake has been working on is pretty sweet, their mold is stikingly similar to Raichles just with some improvements. There will be three different toungues, and the setup for interchanging them has been improved. The hinge point is reall loy on the boot, I think this will be a great feature, more control out of the foot.
Last is supposed to be near identical to the old Raichles.
Rest of the line was pretty much unchanged.

Lange has a cool new liner, which has been copied of sorts by rossignol. Watch for a funky robot looking thing with an egg shaped head coming to a shop near you. The liner gets heated to 240 degrees and then you get the person in it. The liner has a material which allows it to form fit to the foot, it will adapt as much as 1/8 to allow for different foot contours. They didn't have my size but the guy in our shop said it was pretty amazing the difference before and after.
Their freeride should be a great boot, 120 flex, softere and lower front than the WC, added padding in the boot board and a big power strap.
Most of the line doesn't change, just cometically and the liners. Ladies has a new liner with down that is supposed to be 50% warmer, even thought compressed down doesn't insulate all that well, from what I understand.
Got to scopew the WC plug boot on one of the techs, old mold, and reinforced spine, sweet looking boot, lots of plastic and little liner, what more could you want?

Didn't spend a lot of time with Rossi, the liner is virtually the same as Lange, new boots will replace their top-end series, they changed the color schemes and almost went to an older Lange last, kind of weird, like if you crossed their current upper series with a lange from a few years back.

Salomon has some cool technology coming out. Their upper end from the 1080's to the Course's will all have new molds. They have a new reinforced kevlar or fiberglass (couldn't get the French guy to convert to English what it was, and my 7th grade French class was little help) cuff, the idea being more support from the inside edge. The foot part of the boot, is changed significantlyu also. They have a 5 inch or so section that is hexagons that are actual hollowed out areas of the plastic. It's on the about middle of the boot lengthwise, and allows for a softer flex point ont eh outside, the inside of the the boot is once again re-inforced to create more edge pressure. Cool look to the boot, definitely a new concept.
Liners are basically the same, minor changes in materials.

Atomic is basically the same, same last just ski-school loving colors, their top of the line boot is primarily white with a cherry red accent. It's awful. I wouldn't wear them if I was paid. But that's me.

Sorry for the generality but I was a bit hungover and drinking free beer at the time, mmmmm free beer.

Very cool. Thanks for the info. I'm digging my Lange Comp 120 FR's. Had to get them punched b/c of the "Low Fit" but they've felt great on my feet since then.

The solomon idea of the hollowed out hexagons is going to be a very bad idea. They are just going to get packed with snow causing the boots to get much colder, plus that is generally speaking one of the first areas that boots get to soft in, and will only help to shorten the boots life span

Nordica?

Didja check out tecnica's Diablo, I didn't get a chance to ski it but it looks cool to me. 0 ramp angle, a 19 degree forward lean, and they fixed the barn door on the cuff, TG.
I got to rapin with some of the reps and someone stirred about a boot with a negative foot ramp next year, but I can't remember who. Do you know which one it was?

Quel some Q's here,
Mt.bakerskier,
I really don't see the problem with the cut-outs getting filled with snow, that's like saying the buckles retain snow lower the warmth of the boot. I really can't say I've had someone replace a boot due to the fact that they have weakened the side of the boot, I dunno.
As for longevity, maybe so, but who knows till you try.

Summit,
I didn't spend a lot of time with Nordica mostly due to the fact that their line remains mostly unchanged, they transfered a lot of the wave series into the Beast, mainly in the ladies. Liners all the same, Dobie soft is supposedly the same boot as Bode's with a more generous last in the toe box and heel. Added more booster straps in the line, about all I remember.

HBR,
The Diablo's looked really sweet, never been able to fit in one, but I know the ski well given their popularity. The barn door change was a necessity, it's modified but still there. The amount of foward lean is a little suprising, upper end skiers will love it, guys who buy on "the best" will have some problems, eg. tired calves, etc.
Didn't catch the negative ramp angle though, cool idea though, wonder who it is??