Inside Outdoor Winter 2015

It features a huge,

74-degree range of

motion in the cuff, a

rockered sole, a carbon

fiber spine, Quick Click

tongues, amemory

foam liner, and it tips

the scales at only 2.25

pounds per boot.

The ladies version

shaves another

ounce for

those count-

ing grams.

Salomon

has been slowly gaining

traction and experience in the backcoun-

try market, and next year they introduce

two new backcountry boots. The MTN

Explore 95 is a svelte 3 pounds per boot

with a cuff that moves fore and aft 47 de-

grees. The sole is lugged and rockered

for comfortable skinning or scrambling

over rock and has a heat moldable

liner with a shell built with CFX Su-

perfiber, Salomon’s proprietary name

for incorporating carbon fiber for

more stiffness with less mass. The

MTN LAB is slightly heavier at

3.5 pounds per boot and more

price conscious.

knocked a solid hit with

the Pinnacle when it returned

to the ski boot world. Next

year they will offer a timely

aftermarket, rockered Vibram

sole that can replace the

existing WTR sole blocks

with one that has more

backcountry versatility.

Scarpa’s

popular

Freedom boot line

will expand to three

models next season

with the addition

of the Freedom RS

($830)

with a

stiffer,

130 flex

rating

thanks to

a polyam-

ide cuff.

The new RS

model will

come with

Mountain Plus, tech-compatible

sole blocks that can be swapped

with Mountain

Piste soles for

use with alpine

DIN bindings. In

addition, the price

conscious Freedom,

Scarpa’s only boot

with a polyurethane

shell, trims weight

by eliminating two

cuff buckles with

a single, wider one and substituting

wire buckles elsewhere and replac-

ing the stock liner with a heat mold-

able Intuition liner.

Dynafit

continues to push the

bounds of how light a boot can be

and still deliver downhill perfor-

mance. The latest incarnation is

Khion, which incorporates BOA

lacing on the heal-moldable liner

for a snug-yet-comfortable fit. Key

to the downhill performance is a

patented Precision Lock System

that ties the cuff, Magne-

sium spoiler and lower shell

together to act as a single,

torsionally stiff unit to maxi-

mize power transfer. A special

Formula Pomoca sole resists

snow sticking to the lugs, and the

buckles can be opened or closed with

a single hand.

Scott

adds the SuperGuide Carbon,

a taller, stiffer boot than its predecessor,

the Cosmos. It features a heat-moldable

liner with Gore-Tex for superior warmth

and breathability and a buckled power

strap at the top of the cuff. Carbon

reinforces the lower shell along the sides

for more lateral control and so every

ounce of energy from your lower leg is

transferred to a ski.

La Sportiva

continues to focus on

“light is right” products, and its new

Spitfire, Sideral and Starlet boots

will appeal to skimo racers and

fitness skinners alike for how little

mass they add to feet. Now you can,

literally, run up mountains with skis

underneath, whether for the aerobic

fitness high or to maxi-

mize the number of

laps and vertical feet of

human-powered

skiing you can

achieve.

Each model

locks or loos-

ens the cuff

via the lone

cuff buckle.

Stiffness

comes from a

Grilamid

shell, but the real beauty of these boots

are their compatibility with all AT bind-

ings, plate-style, 2-pin tech bindings,

even Ski Trabs new TR2 binding with

special heel inserts.

Skis and Boards

As usual there are simply too many

skis to cover them all, but here are some

noteworthy highlights.

Black Diamond

trims its ski line for

next season from a mass of confusion to

three series in three sizes. The lightweight

Carbon Series remains unchanged. New

for next year are the Boundary and Link

series. Boundary skis are built for reliable

Saloman MTN LAB

K2 Pinnacle

Scarpa Freedom

Dynafit women’s Khion

La Sportiva Sideral 2.0

Inside

Outdoor

Winter

2015