If there was a competition to see whether the fit story or the performance story would be the front pager for the Shadow 115 MV W, they’d have to share the space as a tie, and testers reiterate these are non-fiction accounts. They say believe the Shadow hype because it’s for real.
One tester said for an ideally consistent, medium-width fit from toe-to-heel and top-to-bottom, the Shadow MV was the best-in-test. Testers found virtually no flaws in its proper distribution of curves to match the shape of the foot and they also said the cuff height was just-right for a solid base of fore-aft support without creeping up too high on the calf.
The stretchy, shape-adaptable Auxetic liner morphs and wraps the foot, giving way to wide or bony spots without feeling stretched tight against those areas. Hotspot-free was a comment made several times by testers. While some testers mentioned the length fit ran a touch short, it wasn’t enough for them to considering going up a size and risk losing the smooth grip on the heel and ankles that they universally loved. It was apparently a minor concern, given the perfect 10.0 testers gave it for fit.
The flex feel of the Shadow 115 MV is both a fit success and a byproduct of the shell’s performance-minded design elements. The RBT, or Reactive Boost Tongue, cushions the shin with a gas-bubble filled interior tongue material that testers loved for the padded push they could exert against the cuff without any bite. For testers this soft feel against the shin married-up with the firmer, shorter flex travel of the cuff for an ideal blend of shock absorption and ski tip response.
This is the essence of Shadow’s performance claim, that less flex input is required to produce big ski control results. The way the cuff is fixed to the lower shell at four points with two elastomer dampeners provides an immediate linkage of foot to ski without feeling rigid underfoot, and the cuff’s rear spine and lower shell interact along the gliding tongue-in-groove Suspension Blade. Testers report (again) that this cuff-to-shell configuration offers a very smooth-feeling but shortened flex range that communicates both fore-aft and lateral messages to the ski immediately.
The Shadow’s do-more-with-less-effort boast is legitimate, said testers, who gave it two more perfect scores for its balanced stance and quickness. Several testers also admitted that they skied better in the Shadow than in their own daily drivers--and most of them mentioned they’d be changing boots going forward.
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