Scott S1 Carbon Pro knocks it out of the park in terms of innovation. Can you spot the radical features flip-flop?
Loving it here at WildSnow Utah HQ when ski boot companies actually innovate rather than building stuff based on thirty year old designs. Witness, the new Scott S1 candidates.
Backstory: In my opinion _the_ grail of tongue type ski boot shell design is solving the problem of providing a stiff tongue for the downhill, while getting it out of the way when you’re striding uphill. Basic method is to simply unbuckle and hope for the best. Another method is the removable tongue. Still others have tried funky plastic zippers, mechanical latches and probably other non-solutions best forgotten.
Did you figure it out? Lean lock is located on the tongue!
Well, here in the new Scott S1 we have a clearly innovative solution that defines thinking outside the box.
The new design doubtless took a world of detail work in getting to the manufacturing stage, but the concept is simple (as good solutions often are). Idea, simply move the lean lock to a hinged tongue and leave the rear cuff-scaffo interface to do what it wants. It’s all externally visible, so the pictures tell the story.
Everything loose so you can see the radicallness.
Another view. You can configure the buckles in various ways for ski touring mode, including passing the instep buckle under the lean locker.
S1 opens up huge, super easy entry and exit. Cuff mobility forward and back is excellent, especially forward compared to boots that have trouble getting stiffer tongues to allow forward leg movement.
S1 line comprises three models: Carbon Pro has a leather covered liner that’ll stand up to heavy use, Carbon is same but with your normal thermo liner. Carbon Longfiber model will be slightly less money and is perhaps not quite as stiff. They’re around 1,300 grams per boot, sample weight. That’s in there with what we like to see in mass for this type of boot.
Closed up and unbuckled. And… another feature visible. Another guess? Yeah, the sole is fully replaceable by backing out those tiny screws. Wear a sole out, pop another one in. No more sole angst caused by wearing out your toe rubber after a mile of scree scrambling.
Someone asked in the comments about stronger power straps. Other brands have used this sort of hybrid buckle-hookloop configuration, we like. These could be modded in various ways.
Bonus shot, all the Scott touring boots now have external lean lock. We are so over the problems industry-wide with hidden lean locks. Get over it. Scott did get over it. Kudos.
Detail, nice external lean lock. Lacking adjustable forward lean, otherwise quite nice.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
