The Gist
The VFF Pro was a Triple Crown star in our women's boot test. It excelled in fit, performance and its custom fitting process. It would have won a quadruple crown had testers loved the jiggery buckle system; oh well.
Fit
Fully custom-built in every way possible to each owner’s personal foot and leg dimensions. Local dealers send foot measurements and tracings to DaleBoot’s Salt Lake City factory where shell components are tailored in tricky fit areas. The upper cuff is chosen based on height and length of leg and can be pre-stretched at the factory for larger calves if needed. The factory delivers a fully bespoke boot back to the dealer.
The boot is fine-tuned back at the shop where an Intuition liner is thermo-molded (spiral wrap or traditional tongue, various thicknesses and densities available). All our custom testers underwent the entire process and were stoked with the end result.
Performance
Fit equals performance so it’s not surprising that all the custom fitting generated high quickness scores and comments about “accurate steering” and “confident heel hold” in tricky situations. Testers said the boot was surprisingly powerful on edge considering how light and thin the plastic feels. Very little separates the bottom of the foot from the ski.
The variable flex feel is the boot’s signature element (hence the VFF name: Variable Forward Flex). Testers liked the long-travel flex with the ability to tune the stiffness with the adjustable, spring-loaded flex cable. The spring adds to a snappy, resilient feel that had our testers hammering zipper lines and looking for piles of corn to harvest.
Cool Features
The ease of canting a DaleBoot is unparalleled. Just snap on the canted sole modules and you're done. What’s also cool is that it's not just the initial build that's custom. If you need additional customization that's part of the deal (and the price).
Post: "Anybody who has trouble finding an off-the-shelf fit that works for them should consider DaleBoot. It’s perfect.”
Kudos
Caveats