After an encouraging debut last year, Kastle returns this season with a broader offering of models, including an understated 100-flex medium and low-volume all-mountain model pointed at the women's market. Our testers got in the 100mm K100P at this year's test and were impressed by this newcomer who rolled into a very well-populated category and hung in with some heavy hitters there.
This one will appeal to four-buckle overlap purists who know what they want from a boot (straightforward fit, traditional fit mods, real downhill performance) and aren't so gentrified that a little entry and exit struggle or need for a shell punch here and there would dissuade them from pulling the trigger on a great boot. This hints at the few chinks in the K100P's armor--testers thought that this boot harked back to an era where skiers might have been a little tougher. Ease of entry and exit was the boot's biggest demerit, but it didn't cause any tester to give up or cry. A very roomy toebox (vertically) and some lack of shape in the ankle and heel pockets added up to minor demerit number two. None of these issues were enough to bump the K100P out of gold medal standing, but they led testers to drop it just below the level of the big name perennial favorites in the category.
The Kastle K100P is something of a sleeper, they said, solidly powerful beyond the 100-click stiffness rating Kastle gives it and confidence-inspiring in the way that it damps vibrations and controls the ski through irregular and firm surfaces alike. They (and the men who tested two models) universally liked the way the cuff wrapped the lower leg and cradled the shin in a close match to the skeleton without crushing soft tissue. The stance angles were on the mark (its highest score), testers said, and they liked the no-frills features set: dual pull loops on a lace-up liner, cam-buckle power strap and GripWalk soles. Testers liked the inclusion of Velcro liner fit pads for tightening up the ankle and heel area. They also said the white with teal cosmetic was classic and classy.
This boot says: time to quit fussing about and go skiing, they said.
Kudos
Caveats