As proof that our women's boot test team approach is not just skin deep in their appraisal of the industry's top ski boots they nearly unanimously agreed that the new Salomon Shift Pro 110 W got properly bashed by the ugly stick when the design team selected its fresh new colorway, and yet testers looked right past that demerit to give it four perfect scores out of five available fit and performance parameters, which garnered it the highest overall score in the entire Freeride category! It's been a couple seasons since we last tested the Shift boots and testers said this was a completely new experience for them due to its new and amazing liner. While the boot skied with shockingly good energy and stability, testers said its downhill performance was eclipsed by the liner fit's perfect combination of shape, cushion and control of the foot.
Testers couldn't say enough good things about the Shift Pro 110 W's initial, dreamy feel--from the first slide in (which was very easy they said) they were hooked by a silky, well-draped interior feel against the sock, with contours to match bony prominences, wide spots and even the negative spaces around the heel. They said the medium fit was pinch- and hot-spot-free, with a luxuriant level of cushioning that somehow didn't feel soft enough to pose a pack-out risk. The liner is elasticized in the toebox and forefoot, which testers said had a seamless and just-stretchy-enough feel, and it's articulated at the rear part of the cuff as is the current Freeride liner style to enhance touring range of motion.
Yes, this boot skis, they said. Specifically, they said that it skis as well as most all-mountain fixed cuff boots--or even somewhat better than many of those. The blend of descending skills was evenly distributed they said: quick, powerful, accurate, stable--there wasn't anything that the boot didn't do well on snow.
Well, to be honest testers weren't as impressed with the quality or range of cuff movement when released for hiking as they were with some others in the Freeride category, but they do still like the unique-to-Salomon sideways flip switch release and said the range of motion and quality of cuff rotation was more than adequate for any resort-launched mission into the backcountry. True, the test team's only real complaint was about the color, but we recognize that beauty remains in the eye of the beholder--one tester's urine was another's limoncello, so who are we to judge?
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