Scott Cosmos 3 Ski Touring Boot – Review #1

by Louis Dawson
written by Louis Dawson

Also see Cosmos 3 Review #2

Scott’s evolution of the Cosmos ski touring boot, beginning with their acquisition of the Garmont molds and designs around five years ago, has been interesting to watch. It’s also been gratifying to experience as a tester — as Cosmos has matured into a beautiful tongue style ski touring boot. They fit a variety of feet due to a moderately wide last, have as good a flex as can be expected from a three piece shell, reasonable weight, and plenty of beef.

Cosmos 3, I like the black-white design with red accents.

Cosmos 3, I like the black-white design with red accents. Scaffo is Grilamid, cuff is carbon infused Grilamid. Note the power strap, the pass-through buckle made of thin wire is actually a spring that provides some give and enhances progressive flex, ingenious.

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Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD 130 Ski Boot – Reviewed

by Louis Dawson
written by Louis Dawson
Might as well show that cuff articulation first.

Might as well show that cuff articulation first. After all, we are about skiing uphill. The cuff moves so far back it’ll actually pop up above the scaffo overlap at the front (you won’t do this in real life, but shows these things do indeed flex.) Catalog claims “54 degrees” of movement. In real life, Hawx Ultra 130 cuff articulation is limited by the liner and how you set the buckles. If you wanted to free things up a bit you could probably do a bit of judicious carving and cutting, but most skiers will not feel the need for that. (To answer inevitable questions about that thing holding the boot, it’s a fixture I use to hold boots for while doing fit modifications, and photos. It’s not an experimental binding.

Ok kids, this boot is an overlap that’s indeed svelte — but no 1-kilo wonder. It’s not a ski touring boot. It’s freeride ski touring boot. But at 1434 grams (size 27.5), with excellent cuff mobility, he does tour. Indeed, I’d call the Hawx Ultra XTD 130 a sort of “crossover.”

Enough wordplay. Firstly, I skied the Hawx Ultra XTD 130 via a couple of tours as well as cable laps. As you’ll see in the photos below, cuff articulation is excellent (though as with most overlap beef boots you’ll feel resistance from the liner as well as various parts of the shell.) In terms of downhill skiing flex, it’s as progressive as anything I’ve tried in an overlap, while quite stiff. Is it the legendary 130? Probably, but it’s not a 170 so those of you looking for plug boots perhaps need to visit the Atomic FIS shop and bribe one of the boot builders. More details in photo captions below.

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Cuff Cant (Angle) Scott Cosmos III Ski Touring Boot

by Louis Dawson
written by Louis Dawson

Classic WildSnow modshop crazy-ness. Take it as you will. First concept: Scott Cosmos III is VERY nice (available fall 2017). Second concept: Scott Cosmos III does not include cuff alignment. Third concept: Cuff alignment, as witnessed at Atomic FIS shop and as many of you readers know, is valid. Fourth concept: Atomic Backland and Hawx reversible cuff bushings will be available as a retail SKU. Fifth concept: We have the tooling. Sixth concept: We are bloggers. Enjoy.

Yes Virginia, this is a somewhat virgin (skied once) Cosmos 3.

Yes Virginia, this is a somewhat virgin (skied once) Cosmos 3. I like these boots. External lean lock, fit my feet (with a few tweaks), probably a 125 flex. Easy on and off due to tongue shell construction. But dang, the cuff alignment rivet present in version 2 is gone. Not so much of a disaster, actually, as those things are problematic (they move, come loose, etc.). What’s better is to simply drill the cuff pivot-rivet holes where you want them so the cuff aligns with your lower leg bone — otherwise known a the tibial shaft. Like they do for World Cup racers at Atomic in Austria. And we do here at WildSnow dot com in podunk Colorado.

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ISPO 2017 (Extended) — Atomic Austria Visit — Boots

by Louis Dawson
written by Louis Dawson

We’ve covered the expansion of Atomic’s ski touring boot line — in somewhat breathless “PR” style. Time to get a little deeper: part 3.

My test pair of Hawx Ultra XTD 130.

My test pair of Hawx Ultra XTD 130 comes in at 1434 grams per boot in size 27.5, BSL 312 mm. That’s pretty good for an overlap boot with WTR sole. That said, this clearly doesn’t meet my ultra biased and “controversial” criteria for a “ski touring” boot (I’d want to see a few hundred grams less), but these are legit “130 flex” boots that boast Atomic’s easily molded “Memory Fit” shell plastic and user renewable cuff pivot. So, they’re worth looking at if you’re into freeride touring or want a boot that might cross over to moderately aggressive resort days.

I’m in the middle of testing the Hawx and eventually passing to another evaluator, so this is more along the lines of a “second look.” We’ll do a “real” review at some point, but that could be more appropriate early next fall in anticipation of them being available in retail. Likewise, we have a pair of Backland Ultimate here as well (see below), which I’ll briefly cover here then hit in another post eventually.

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ISPO 2017 (Extended, P2) — Atomic Austria FIS Shop

by Louis Dawson
written by Louis Dawson
Boot 'blanks.'

In the “FIS” shop at Atomic, they work with racer’s skis, boots and bindings. The boots got most of my attention. Racer boots are built from cuff and scaffo ‘blanks’ that the techs drill with exactly located holes for the cuff pivots and buckle attachments. The blanks are molded from various types of plastic. Reminds me of one of those scifi clone movies where you pick your body off a rack and install your mind.

Aspen. We spectated wonderful ski racing at the alpine World Cup Finals this past weekend. Lots of countries represented. (We particularly enjoyed seeing three Italian gals podium for the same race). With Atomic athletes Marcel Hirscher and Michaela Shiffren getting handed their crystal trophies, I figured a blog post sharing my recent visit to the Atomic “FIS” shop would be better now than later. I was sworn to secrecy on some of the cool stuff those guys use to tune boots, but I still got a few fun shots of the Redster boot clinic in its red glowing glory.

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New Scott S1 130 Carbon Ski Touring Boot — Tested

by Louis Dawson
written by Louis Dawson
Scott S1 130 Carbon showing how the tongue opens.

Scott S1 130 Carbon showing how the tongue opens.

The boot crew at Scott must have opened their minds by reading French philosophy, I mean REALLY opened their minds, as they certainly went off the farm with this one. A “clamshell” boot that opens at the front and rear isn’t a new concept. (A modified “rear entry” cuff system, if you will.) But to the best of my knowledge this type of shell design in a dedicated ski touring boot has not been attempted for decades.

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