With the arrival last season of the Alltrack Elite LT and Pro LT – for Lightweight Touring – Rossi completed its Speed (standard 2-piece shells) and Track (similar shells, but with a hike mode) collections by adding a new shell design made for the touring market.
The LT series isn’t built like the rest of the Rossi line. Rossi has been paring away excess material since the advent of its Alltrack series and it waffle-grid shell. The Alltrack LT shell advances the art of shell wall minimization, plus it’s made from Grilamid to keep the weight down to a svelte 1660g for both the 98mm Alltrack Elite LT and the 100mm Alltrack Pro 120 LT. By dropping the pivot point 6mm and opening up the spine, the upper cuff achieves 50 degrees of ROM in hike mode.
The Alltrack LT’s represent a new branch of hybrids based on backcountry requirements but outfitted with Grip Walk soles so they can be used with (most) Alpine bindings. Last year, Rossi added the Alltrack Pro 130 GW to its collection of crossover BC/Alpine boots. It comes ready for anything, as its GripWalk soles are outfitted with Dynafit-certified tech inserts.
Rossi’s Alpine line-up touches all the bases – narrow, medium, wide and extra-wide models for men and women, spanning all recreational flexes from 70 to 130, either with or without a hike mode (HM) – without leaving its home base of classic, 4-buckle, 2-piece, overlap shells. Virtually the entire Rossignol boot collection returns intact in 2021.
One noteworthy characteristic of all Rossi boots but the Alltrack LT’s is a sizing shift that creates more toe room – roughly a half-size-worth – than you’ll find in most other models of the same size. If, say, a 26.5 feels a tad too short in Brand X, you might find a comparable Rossi in the same size to be a perfect fit.