Gear Review | La Sportiva Vanguard

First impression

The boot may not be unusual at first glance, but it definitely is at second glance. This is due to the "double tongue", a construction that I wouldn't recognise from any other ski touring boot. I have to admit that thoughts such as "this is going to be a fiddle to get all the parts to fit, especially with cold fingers" immediately popped into my head. However, when I tried on the shoes, I realised almost in disbelief that all the parts fit together very easily and you don't have to help. No comparison with other shoes, where you have to make sure that the various plastic parts overlap correctly.

The shoe has three buckles and a powerstrap above them, which sits together with the top buckle on a large plastic strap that secures the upper part. The upper and centre buckles are made of wire, the lower double buckle is identical to that of the La Sportiva Skorpius. In terms of weight, the boot falls into the "1.5 kg class", i.e. it is comparable in weight to various downhill-orientated ski touring boots.

The liner is rather thick and thermoformable, the Vibram sole rather solid. As with the Skorpius, La Sportiva also uses bio-based plastic from Pebax for the Vanguard. The stiffness is specified by La Sportiva with a flex rating of 130, there is also a women's version with a 115 flex rating.

gear reviews

presented by

Lorenzo Rieg

Brenner mountains

Vanguard

Test report

As already mentioned, the Vanguard is quick to put on and take off, in contrast to my Scarpa Maestrale RS, for example, where you have to sort different shell parts on top of each other when putting on the shoe and can hardly get out of the shoe again due to the tongue that is difficult to move.

On the ascent, the boot works as expected. The buckles can be locked in an open position, which prevents them from flapping around on the ascent. It moves well, the shaft rotation is sufficient and there is practically no resistance when walking. Overall, I have to admit that I can't see much difference to comparable shoes on the ascent. In any case, the Vanguard works very well here. Even without skis you can walk well with the Vanguard, the sole is grippy and solid, the flexible shaft also helps of course. Of course, it's not a boot from the ultralight class, so of course you notice that you have a ski touring boot on your feet.

Switching from ascent to descent mode is quick and easy, the external locking mechanism for the descent mode is solid and does not ice up. Admittedly, the Vanguard's wire buckles are a little tricky to close, as you have to thread them well. I tighten the buckles quite firmly for the descent, but they distribute the tension well to different parts of the shell and the boot then sits very firmly without pinching.

And so the Vanguard is really strong on the descent. It is noticeably not an insanely hard touring boot, but that doesn't mean it is soft either. Compared to other models in this weight class, however, it is a little softer. For my weight, the stiffness is easily sufficient even for wider skis in difficult conditions. The big advantage of the Vanguard, however, is its very progressive flex. This is really unusual for a touring boot and I've never experienced it like this before. The boot actually feels like a slightly softer alpine boot. The power transfer to the skis is easy to control and the boots are also very energy-saving. I put this down to the double tongue construction, even if I have to admit that I don't fully understand how the forces are actually transferred. But in principle I don't really care, the boot rides really well in all conditions.

Conclusion

Not the toughest ski touring boot in its weight class, but at least the one with the most natural flex of the many I have tested. In my opinion, the overall package of weight as well as ascent and descent performance puts it very far ahead. In any case, I was reluctant to send the Vanguard back to La Sportiva.

Advantages & disadvantages

+ Very natural, progressive flex

+ Very easy to put on and take off

+ High-quality inner shoe

- Buckles a little fiddly

Details

RRP € 735.90

Weight: 1450g (per shoe)

Pebax® Shell: Comfortable and high-performance shell made from the environmentally friendly Pebax® Bio Based Rnew 1100 material, which is obtained from castor oil. Extreme cold resistance and optimum flexibility. Geometry according to ISO standards.
V-SHAPE™Pebax® Cuff: Pebax® Bio Based Rnew 1100 shaft with excellent rotation of 63°: maximum freedom of movement to move quickly and safely in any situation. Asymmetric closure that makes putting on the boot extremely quick and intuitive thanks to the special "scissor" geometry and wide fit. The shoe can be put on quickly and easily by setting the walk mode and opening the front buckles: The shoe is now ready to be put on. Carbon reinforced upper for the men's version (FLEX 130) and glass fibre reinforced for the women's version (FLEX 115)
EZ Flex double tongue: The tongue is made of two different elements with different stiffness, which allows maximum mobility in walk mode and perfect power transmission in downhill mode.

Here is the link to the La Sportiva website with further information.

The boot was made available to PowderGuide by the manufacturer for the duration of the test. Find out how we tested them in our test statement.