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What's Up with BOA?
- Posted on
- By Jake Torch
- Posted in BOA ski boots, BOA system, downhill ski boots, downhill skiing
- 0
This year we saw a new innovation in the ski industry, the tried and true Boa fit system has made its way to alpine boots.
This year we saw a new innovation in the ski industry, the tried and true Boa fit system has made its way to alpine boots. Here at the Ski Hut we’ve been working with BOA for a long time, we sell bike shoes, snowboard boots, and snowshoes that all utilize BOA as their go-to tightening system. The BOA system replaces the bottom two buckles typically found on ski boots with a stainless steel cable system and a BOA dial. The advantage is a uniform wrap delivering superior heel hold and edge-to-edge control. Instead of the traditional clamp down system where the buckles clamp down on your foot, the BOA system wraps around your foot hugging it evenly.
The first question that came to our mind was how durable really is it? What happens if you wack it against a tree while skiing in the woods, will it hold up? So far, the answer is yes. The BOA dial’s bayonet and cartridge system ensures continued operation, even after heavy impacts, and the cables' 19 strands of stainless steel makes sure you won't have to deal with any issues. The dial is designed to break off, when testing it we’ve wacked it against the edge of a table a few times and eventually it does pop off, excessive force is definitely needed however. If it ever does come off it takes a lot less effort to get it back on. As a boot fitter sometimes we run into limitations with adjustability, and it can be kind of a pain to adjust the buckle by twisting it, with the dial system you can micro adjust as much as you want. When I get to the lift line I like to unbuckle my boots, it gives the feet a little more room to breathe as I ride up the lift, this is still very possible with the BOA system you can simply pop the dial up, and the whole system loosens up. When you’re at the top of the hill you simply push the dial back and tighten it up.
Just like every other innovation in the ski industry BOA has to stand the test of time before we can fully be confident in it, but is it worth getting and trying out? 100%, the uniform wrap is excellent and it truly does enhance the skiing ability. One thing we are hoping to see further down the line is for the brands selling boots with BOA to come out with some boots with narrower last, currently you can only get BOA boots with a mid to high volume boot and for those of us who have narrower feet, BOA isn’t accessible yet. Regardless, we are confident that this is something we will see in the upcoming years and are excited to try out. Here at Skihut we sell three brands that have jumped on the BOA train, Salomon, Atomic and K2. We’ve brought a select few models in for the first year of BOA but as the hype for BOA grows so will our stock of the BOA fit boots. We’re excited to show you what these brands have to offer, so next time you’re in the neighborhood stop by and ask to check out a BOA boot!
If you want to learn more about BOA check out BOAs website with the link below!
https://www.boafit.com/en-us/ski
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