BOOT TEST HEADQUARTERS 2022-2023 Mt. Bachelor Resort
This year we tested only brand new, substantially updated and previous Gold Medal models to keep our testing footprint a little more contained—though this was still a lot of boots for men and women, in five categories: Frontside, All-Mountain Traditional, All-Mountain Walk, All-Mountain Freeride and Backcountry.
Our typical test day was not unlike the typical spring freeski day at Mt. Bachelor--sun dialing. We'd migrate east to the lower elevation, east-facing slopes accessed from Mt. Bachelor's newest lift, Cloudchaser, to harvest the earliest ripening corn, unless there was a temperature inversion and then we'd head higher up, to east-facing Cow's Face off the Summit chair. Often, the backside's long and wind-sculpted backside made for perfect corn skiing and boot testing earlier than expected, as the quarter-pipe-like right sides of the south facing shots catch a lot of early morning sunshine. When the backside began to get cooked, it was time to swap out to a fresh test boot and focus some forgotten north-facing runs of virgin corduroy near the Outback chairlift, low on the hill, and for late day testing we'd migrate off the top to the north facing Serengetti for the last patches just flashing off in perfect corn fashion.
Due to the variety of aspects and run length, each boot test session put a boot model through many different terrain tests before it was re-racked for another tester. Our goal with our smaller testing footprint this year was ten tests per model and over the course of ten full days of testing we accomplished that. This year check out our reviews two different ways: by using our sophisticated filter search tool or by clicking through our magazine style Boot Buyers Guide.
