Category: Boots

Salomon SPK Kreation boots has great heel hold…

After a late season start last year, and picking up some Head EZ-On boots, that fit decently at the store, and then turned out to have all kinds of pressure points/cut circulation after 15 minutes or so of riding, I went out last week and picked up some SPK Kreaton boots. The store I went to also had Dalbello Krypton boots, which I tried on, but due to fairly wide feet, they just weren’t comfortable at all. I had previously tried on some used Full Tilt’s at the Vancouver Snow Show, that actually fit well in width (they were slightly too large on the length though), but now I figure those must have been punched out/heat molded to a wider foot.

Anyways, back to the SPKs. Trying those on straight out of the box, with a “superfeet” insole that they carry at the shop I went to, these already felt amazing. After about 5 minutes of them on and just walking around, the boot-fitter suggested that if they still felt great, we could heat-mold the liner, and after that, I don’t think there’s a better fitting ski boot for myself out there.

The results on the mountain are much the same. No hot-spots, no pressure points, and great heel hold. Flex feels to be just right, and all around, they just feel solid. No more do I take my boots off at the end of the day, and have to sit around 10 minutes before I feel comfortable driving because I couldn’t feel my feet. My feet do feel a little on the cool side after a full day of riding, but I don’t get any pins-and-needles after. I couldn’t be happier.

And there have been a couple times in the park already, with two days on these boots that I’m extremely glad for the shock-absorbing gel under the heel. So for a park-rat, if your feet don’t fit the Full-Tilts and Dalbello boots, don’t think you’re out of luck. These are just great.

(Rider) Mitch – Intermediate Skiboarder

Rossignol Sprayers Boots are great for skiboarding…

These boots are touted as a beginner park/pipe boot. For skiboarding I found these boots to be great. They had the flex I was looking for, as I find I don’t need a super stiff boot or a ton of brute force to throw around my RVL8 Revolts. The boots is not a top end boot, but it fits wonderfully after I had the thermofit liners heated. They also look great and after four straight days in the mountains I had absolutely no sore spots or pain. The boots were also one of the easiest boots to slip on, and I would recommend these boots to anyone who is looking for a boot that “forgives like Jesus, and skis like Satan” (backcountry.com)

Oh, and I thought I would add that I used these boots with a pair of volcano ski boot inserts.

(Rider) Nathan Gorin – Expert Skiboarder

Rossignol Soft Scratch Boots give you lots of room to play…

I’ve been using these for the past 3 or 4 season.

These flex in more directions and places than a contortionist doing yoga. They give you a lot of room to play around in the park especially on jibs. these are pretty dang soft boots but not too soft, so you can still hit the rest of the mountain with confidence. tree huggers looking for soft boots for the glades would also really like these.

They have a rubber insert in the sole which dampens vibrations, 4 buckles all with micro adjust, and semi-thermo fit liners.

They fit pretty wide and high feet. so if you’re unsure, try before you buy! (i unfortunately did not and i really have to crank these tight)

People who spend most of their times carving on groomers or in the bumps should look for something slightly stiffer.
(Rider) Jason Roussel – Expert Skiboarder

Deeluxe/Raichle Alpine are easy to adjust…

The liner has two tongues that actually wrap around your ankle, and due to the rounded design of the bottom, they are actually very easy to walk in,

Its very easy to adjust to walk/ski mode and you can even adjust the angle at which you’re skiing (to a greater degree then typicial “canting” settings.) You can lock the boot in any position, including a nearly vertical position, more natural for skiboarding, or ski in walk mode.

Next the buckles have individual teeth on them so you can adjust them “just right” and not worry about one buckle being too loose and the next too tight.

Also they come with two different outer tongues, one is a soft and another is a hard one, for different flex also.

(Rider) Mark Carraro – RVL8 team rider

Full Tilt Konflict boots are very narrow…

Never seen a bad word against these boots… and for good reason. The Raichie Flexon design that Full Tilt have resurrected is a skiing legend – high performance, stylish, customisable (you can buy tongues and other parts from Full Tilt dealers to adjust flex etc.), light weight, well-built boots at a very competitive price.

The 09 Konflicts come with two tongues of different flex characteristics so you can choose with suits you best; and don’t be put off by the lean of the boot, I ride them on skiboards and skis with no problems at all. In fact, I would go so far as to say that they have actively improved my technique and rate of progression.

The Intuition liner is comfortable and heat moldable, and *claims* to not need a footbed. Listen to your boot fitter though, I found a custom molded footbed really made a massive difference because of the shape of my arches.

These are very narrow fitting. So if, like me, you’re cursed with a foot shape that makes buying boots and shoes a bit of a nightmare, give these things a whirl. If you’re lucky enough that they fit then you’ll certainly be rewarded.

(Rider) Rink – Beginning Skiboarder

Dalbello Voodoo boots are pain free…

I had SPK Kreation. I bought it because it was affordable + I liked the design and color. But that boot killed my foot. I play soccer, so I have a quite large anklebone. (just on my right foot though) left boot was totally fine, right boot was killing me. I was in so much pain while riding. I brought it to a shop and had them try many things, nothing worked.

So I decided to get a new pair of boots.

Dalbello Voodoo.

This is a freestyle boot. I used these boots today for the first time. So comfy. No pain at all. I could’ve enjoyed my day without worrying about my anklebone pain. It’s very warm as well. I ride aggressively (carving) and also did some rails and jumps in the park. These boots are just so comfortable. it worked great in everything. Glad i found this boots.

(Rider) Jeahopark – Intermediate Skiboarder

Dalbello Krypton Rampage Freeride boots are awesome…

OH

MAH

LAWD

Awesome boots

The heel hold is spot-on, no hot spots whatsover. I had a bit of an incident where I went off a spine with WAY too much speed, branden kept making some weird motion with his hands but i didnt know what he meant so i hit it.

next thing i know im ten to fifteen feet in the air (really) looking a completely FLAT landing area. oh $h_t.

I landed, compressed and I didnt feel a thing. I was expected that pins and needles feeling in my heel but it never came, i had forgotten about the shock absorber under the insole, these boots are serious boots for the serious rider.

Micro Adjust buckles
Reversed Toe buckle
Power Strap
They have a tongue design similiar to the raichle alpine boots.
And some totally pimp fur lined liners.
A+

(Rider) Mark Carroro – Expert Skiboarder

Dalbello Krypton Rampage boots are a dream…

First of all, these boots are a dream to get on and off, and are really easy to walk around inside and on stairs and whatnot. On the mountain, they gave me the support for some sick carves with the condors and revolts, and padded my landings off of a foot or two of straight air off little kickers in the progression park, just to get the motions back. Also the vibrations were cut back a lot. These boots are great, and seriously improved my confidence, ability, and stability on the mountain.

(Rider) Rob Kraebel – Intermediate Skiboarder

Dalbello Lotus Freeride Boots are SWEET…

Dabello boots are sweet! These are from the women’s line up of freestyle Dalbello skiboots. Comfy comfy! On my fourth time out is when I KNEW without a shadow of a doubt these were the bomb! I did not want to or need to ever take them off for a break nor make any other adjustments! And I did not get the liners heat fitted. I am using currently the #4 heel flex and #8 insert flex. You have LOTS of options, you can have total 100% flex 80 or 70%, whatever you want. Walking is a cinch. Jump landings are sweet. The canting is set by ring tabs rather than using allen wrench. great boots great color. Any Dalbello boot is gonna be goooood!

(Rider) Shelley Bright – Intermediate Skiboarder

Booster Strap is highly recommended…

I was not happy with the cheap Velcro top calf strap on my Salomom Performa 6.0. Some days I would get shin burn if I did a lot of skating and it seemed like I was always trying to tighten the stock top cuff strap while in the lift line. So I decided to upgrade to The Booster Strap from Skimetrix.

Skimetrix.com

First off they are pricey at $24 to $42 online and double that at local ski shops. For this reason, I have resisted buying them until now. Then I needed to decide which version since there are four from junior, standard, race and world cup. The difference between them is the number of layers of thick elastic at the front of the strap. The more elastic layers; the stiffer the strap. The chart on the order page helped, and I ended up with the Race version for my weight and intermediate ability.

Given the great service I have been receiving from Tognar over the years, they got my order. I highly recommend that you check out their web site if you have not done so already for the most extensive offering of tools, boot fitting aids and instructional information I have found on the web.

tognar.com

Installation was a piece of cake. The most difficulty was to mark where to put the hole in the strap to make sure it would be positioned properly. Do this with your foot in the boot and get someone else to mark the hole location for you unless you are more flexible than I am. Then using an awl (a center punch with a handle) I pierced the narrow nylon portion of the strap that wraps around the back of the boot trying to limit the amount of fibres I cut, and mounted it with the existing hardware. After mounting my straps, I realized that the strap is fairly forgiving as to hole location because of good overlap with the front of the cuff. But remember to keep the adjust cam on the outside of your legs, not between your legs.

On slope review with 120 Spruce longboards:

The flex felt just right and my boot felt very comfortable even when I tensioned them as much as I could. The strap stayed tight requiring no adjustments through the day, and I had absolutely no shin burn. Then when it was time to take the boots off, it only took a light push on a small lever to release the strap.

On the slope, I felt that I had better edge control and a rock solid interface between my foot/legs and my boots. It felt like my boots and skiboards were now part of my body and that I was in total control of my skiboard’s edges.

I would recommend the use of the BoosterStrap to anyone experiencing shin burn or looking for a rock solid interface between boot and their body.

(Rider) Slow – Intermediate Skiboarder