Skischuh

No matter whether it's a ski boot, snowboard boot, hiking boot or whatever boot, if the boot is wet on the day of use, it will be unpleasant. For this reason, even the Neanderthals are said to have made sure that only the best and driest material was used for hunting boots soled with sequoia bark. I don't know whether this is actually the case, but my own experience shows that a dry boot in the morning is much more comfortable and sometimes also warmer.

The Procline Carbon Lite from Arc'teryx is a boot for ski mountaineers who are looking for a combination of a mountaineering boot for rock and ice, but also a ski touring boot for fast ascents with good downhill performance. Arc'teryx achieves this with the revolutionary 360° Rotating Cuff, which offers unrivaled functionality for climbing and skiing. The unrivaled vertical and lateral mobility of the ankle supports fast and safe ascents in all types of terrain, not only with skis and skins, but also when walking on foot and climbing.

Anyone who frequently undertakes steep descents, goes on typical ski mountaineering tours or is simply out and about in the firn in spring will also regularly need crampons when skiing. This makes it all the more surprising that there are hardly any crampons that are really well adapted to ski boots. From a bridge that is too short to straps that are also too short and cumbersome to put on, everything happens. With many ski boots, normal automatic crampons also block the walking mode, which is of course particularly suboptimal.

Tecnica presents an interesting new boot for the freetouring segment for the 2016/17 season. The Zero G Guide Pro is a solid four-buckle boot that scores points with its surprisingly low weight and wide range of use. We tested the boot extensively in the southern hemisphere winter.

The Marc Achmüller shoe laboratory is a traditional business in its fourth generation. Master shoemaker Achmüller took over the business in Steinach am Brenner from his uncle and master Herbert Auer in 2011. Before that, grandfather Hermann and great-grandfather Josef Auer ran the business. Achmüller makes all kinds of custom-made shoes, but his main business is ski boots all year round, which he specialized in fitting during his apprenticeship. We talked to Marc Achmüller about his trade and learned a thing or two about ski boots.

The Full Tilt brand, part of Line Skis and K2 Skis, started reissuing the old Raichle Flexon 3-piece design several years ago, serving the park and freestyle-oriented backcountry skier market quite well. The design with a separate and replaceable tongue, which offers progressive flex behavior, has proven to be forgiving and yet precise. While the last width of the original Flexon mold was limited to 98mm, Full Tilt now has its first self-developed boot model in its range: the Descendant series with a 102mm last width appeals to customers with wider feet, uses proven technologies and tries to improve known weak points.

The traditionally ascent-oriented brand Dynafit has also committed itself to the freetouring trend and has been offering freeride outfits and skis as well as the Khion touring ski boot trimmed for downhill performance since the 15/16 season. We tested the carbon version of the boot over the course of a season in all types of freeriding and ski touring. Find out in our test report whether the time of compromises between uphill and downhill performance is finally a thing of the past with the Khion.

While there has been one innovation after another in the ski touring boot segment (and freeride boots with ascent function) in recent years, things have been relatively quiet in the alpine boot segment. Those who need or want the ultimate performance still reach for a racing boot, which is fitted by a boot fitter and where comfort is usually sacrificed in favor of power transmission and ski feel. All other skiers, whether on the piste or off-piste, use a more or less sporty "normal" ski boot.

There were also no major revolutions in the area of ski boots and bindings at ISPO 2016. When it comes to boots, however, many manufacturers have at least followed suit in the freetouring boot segment with a focus on downhill performance and a weight of between 1500 g and 2000 g. For many manufacturers, however, only product maintenance was on the agenda. Tech inserts were often integrated directly into the shells instead of in removable soles. The biggest news in the ski boot sector is probably the withdrawal of Black Diamond. Following the end of telemark boot production this season, there will also be no more touring and freeride boots from Black Diamond from next season. There will be virtually no innovations in bindings. If anything, the manufacturers have limited themselves to product maintenance.

Like many manufacturers, Salomon now has a number of freeride boots in its range. We tested the Salomon Quest Pro 110 for you.

Thanks to the successful Quest series, Salomon has long been an established name in the field of strongly downhill-oriented boots with a walking function. For the current season, the MNT Lab and the MNT Explore are the first two "real" ski touring boots. These already visually striking boots promise excellent downhill performance in addition to low weight and good ascent properties. We took a closer look at the "smaller" model, the MNT Explore.

The conditions are not exactly Christmassy at the moment. No snow means that it's also time for contemplative activities such as baking cookies and fitting ski boots. In both cases, the essential utensil is the oven and that's why it's our Gear of the Week!