The name's the same, but for many testers the Cochise 130 Pro may as well have been a brand new boot—and for all intents and purposes it is completely remodeled, from floor to ceiling. The shell shape is redesigned around a closer anatomical match with the human foot, with more contouring for the navicular bone (you can see the small bulge on the medial side), asymmetrical ankle pockets, a tighter heel but with a deeper groove for the Achilles tendon and a more squared-off toebox shape. Testers unanimously approved of the shape—both for a comfortable fit right out of the box but also for the control and performance it enabled. It's a shapely 98mm last, testers said, with curves in all the right places and hovering on the relaxed-fit side of the narrow group.
The Cochise has always been a stout-skiing beast and it's still one of the strongest of the cuff-releasing bunch, but the new design and use of new Triax 2.0 plastic has given the Cochise fresh legs—testers noticed the flex feel was more lively and energetic. It's still a stable boot, just not damp to the point of dull. The cuff has a tall feel along the leg and is on the upright side of neutral—not to mention this is a 130 flex that means it, so big, aggressive skiers will have plenty of throttle to work with. The boot's firm flex feel doesn't block good flexion, testers say, but it does reward a skier who knows how to drive the tongue when needed.
The metal-to-metal Cuff Mobility release mechanism found on all the Cochise boots is one of the best for simple actuation and a rock-solid performance linkage, but this year the Cochise Pro 130's hiking range of motion was shockingly good, testers said. Tecnica attributes the improved range and quality of movement to the new shape interface between cuff and lower boot that reduce friction and blockage between the two.
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