I was one of the many midwives who attended at the birth of the Salomon boot in 1979. I translated Salomon’s encyclopedic Boot Bible into English and later condensed parts of it into one of the first boot fitting manuals. I trained the North American field force,...
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...
Full Tilt has a habit of re-purposing existing components to create new models. It applied this method to cock up the Drop Kick out of a Classic shell and spiral liner, and went to the same playbook two years ago year with the B&E Pro, mixing a Descendant 6 shell...
No other boot brand has done more with the 3-piece, external-tongue shell design than Dalbello. Dalbello didn’t just copy the Raichle design they adopted; they improved on it. They optimized its performance properties by playing up its strengths: a stout spine and...
With the new Laser AR, Stöckli has bridged the gap between its Laser and Stormrider collections, moving its widest carver within 5mm (waist width) of its narrowest all-mountain model. At 83mm underfoot, the Laser AR is one of a cluster of new models that blur the...
Fischer had a long and illustrious history as a ski maker before they decided to jump into the boot pool, despite said pool already being awash with brands. The focus of their debut models was an abducted (toes-out) stance, a clever idea it slightly overcooked,...
