Ski, binding and boot weight considerations

[Edd]

Pulled the trigger on these bad boys today!! Really weird experience my 1st time in a fully heat molded shell fitting!!! Crazy when after the initial shell heating, my boot fitter (a GOOD friend of mine) had me go into a full forward pressure flex lean - I was expecting the full stiffness of a race boot type flex like I've been skiing in since the early 80's (The orange Lange ZR race boots that the Mahre brothers won Olympic medals in in the Sarajevo Olympics for those AZ'ers old enough to remember that long ago!! ) but when these shells are heated, before they cool back down they're about a 60 flex, I almost went head over heels onto my friend who was fitting me!!

Can't wait to ski them next Saturday (the shells need to stay unmanipulated for 24hrs post heat molding and fitting before you can ski them, and I'm going to the Patriots game instead of skiing tomorrow to watch Tom Brady win his record setting 201st win!!)

An equipment report to follow next week - will he curious as already during the fitting, these Atomics felt better than my previous Langes (and I had 8 pairs of Lange race boots over 30+ yrs prior to these Atomics!!) even over a new bone spur that my now heading on late 40's right foot is developing!!

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Ah shit, now I'm intrigued. I wasn't going to buy equipment this year but my boots are 5 years old. I wouldn't want the 130 without test driving them, which doesn't seem possible. Probably the 110. Dr Jeff, do you mind telling me your height/weight?

[drjeff]

Ah shit, now I'm intrigued. I wasn't going to buy equipment this year but my boots are 5 years old. I wouldn't want the 130 without test driving them, which doesn't seem possible. Probably the 110. Dr Jeff, do you mind telling me your height/weight?

I run 6'3" and about 230 - with a race background and a current propensity to ski most anything, but really enjoy making big GS arcs in the snow

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[Edd]

I run 6'3" and about 230 - with a race background and a current propensity to ski most anything, but really enjoy making big GS arcs in the snow

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Yeah, you're a bigger guy than me by far. I can see why you'd need a pretty stiff boot with your background.

[drjeff]

Skied these for the first time today - I will preface it with the following. Prior to this pair of Atomic Hawx, I had been a devote Lange race boot fan, to the tune of 8 or 9 pairs of them over the last 30+ years! So when my local shop owner, fitter, and good friend, who has, and still does some work with Atomic on their boot design process, basically insisted that I needed these for my next pair of boots, I was a bit skeptical of what I would think of them, but as we all have heard is recommended, we should trust a good boot fitter to know what's the best boot for our foot shape, size and skiing ability, rather than us just wanting a specific boot, regardless of if it's the best shaped boot for our foot.

As I unloaded the Bluebird at Mount Snow on my first run in the Hawx's this morning, I wasn't sure what to expect after 30+ years of skiing nothing but Lange's.

The first thing I noticed, was how comfortable they were! I have developed a bone spur near my right pinky toe over the last year plus, and in my previous 4 days on snow this season in my old Lange RS130's there was fairly regular discomfort in that area, even with having had some fitting work done to punch out the shell of my Lange's in that area this fall. I didn't have any pain in that area in the Hawx's at all today! The fit is race boot snug with great heel hold and a snug feel from the cuff. The toe box was very comfortable and felt great from the first turn.

The performance was great. Very responsive to both subtle and aggressive movements. A consistent flex pattern that felt just as solid as the Lange feel that I have been so used to and happy with for decades. I was worried about this, as the plastic the shell is made out of is much lighter than my old Lange, and I was concerned that this could make them less precise in their transfer of movements from me down to my skis - this proved to be a non issue!

What really surprised me, was how warm they were! I will admit that as I'm progressing through my 40's that I've started to have some issues with cold toes and fingers, issues that I never had while I was younger. Today was an air temp of the high single digits at the summit and middle teens at the base with maybe a 10mph wind. I started off with my hottronics on level 3, as I usually would for my Lange's in similar temps. I actually had to turn the hottronics down first to level 2 and then level 1 as my feet were warm enough that they actually started sweating!!

I am thoroughly impressed with the performance of these boots! And apparently Atomic is going to be expanding the number of models using these custom thermo molded shells into more models and performance levels for next season. As my friend told me, from his perspective this is a great thing, but also an issue for his shop. The great part is the level of fit, for feet of all shapes, from the moment the boots are done being molded, and in the 100 plus pairs he's fit using this system, only 1 person has come back in to have a little more adjustment to the shell done, so that has cut down his post fitting adjustment time dramatically. The issue though he's found is that it takes a good 45 minutes now to go through the thermo molding process, which limits the number of pairs a day that he can fit that way - not a big deal in a slow time in his shop, but much more of an issue in busy times

I would encourage anyone who's fitter suggests a pair of thermo molded Hawx line of Atomic boots to give them a try as they managed to win over this 30+ year Lange fan!!

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