Testers backed up last year's consensus on the Waymaker Carbon 130 as a solid, driving all-mountain crusher with extra room in the lower and a snug, firm feel in the cuff. With heel and ankle hold reminiscent of the Redster Pro, the Waymaker Carbon 130 also showed some family resemblance in how incredibly strong the boot's lateral set up was, testers said, meaning it has a bit of inside edge bias that made for strong carving angles.
This hike-mode boot did not ski like cuff release boots of old, putting narrow and wide skis on a rail and holding them there at mach speeds and through the hard and soft stuff alike. The combination of the injected carbon throughout the rear control center of the boot and Atomic's revised Free/Lock cuff release mechanism made the boot cuff stable in all directions and did so without any gappy turbo-lag in the connection between upper and lower boot.
But the Waymaker isn't all burliness and badass—it has a softer side, literally. The lateral forefoot has a stealth (you hardly notice it by looking) Live Fit panel that allows the widest part of the forefoot to bulge outward if necessary, an accommodation that lets the foot sit flat to the floor of the boot, finding a balanced feel edge to edge (and saves a trip to the bootfitter). The boot also pairs a fairly relaxed width feel with a tall fit across the top of the foot and through the instep, transitioning into a snug upper. This bodes well for the thick-footed skier with higher volume feet who have no chance of packing themselves into a narrow hiker.
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