It's officially the Outdoor Gear Show Season with the SIA (Snowsports Industries America) and OR (Outdoor Retailer) shows in the next few weeks. The Backcountry Skiing Canada crew will be attending the SIA show so expect many more first hand account on new innovations such as this one from La Sportiva:
La Sportiva will debut the Spectre and the women’s Sparkle, the lightest four buckle ski boots on the market at the 2013 OR Winter Market.
“As more skiers get into the backcountry, they are demanding lighter weight gear that doesn’t sacrifice performance,” states Jonathan Lantz, president of La Sportiva North America. “We built the Spectre and the Sparkle from the ground up to be ultra light with a huge range of motion for touring, but stiff and responsive for ripping turns on the down. The innovation that went into these boots carries through our entire line of new skis, boots and apparel.”
The Spectre weighs just 1,395 grams (3.075 pounds) per boot in a size 27. The boots feature a full 60-degree range of motion in touring mode, so strides are limited only by a skier’s ankle flexibility, not by the boots. The rear vertebra of the Spectre and Sparkle are carbon-reinforced Grilamid—a stiff and light plastic. The shell and tongue are also Grilamid, which has excellent progressive flex and the cuff of the new boots is made from Pebax. The boots have a 120-flex rating with three adjustable forward lean angles of 10, 14, and 18 degrees. The Spectre and the Sparkle are compatible with both tech and touring bindings and retails for $599.
The technology used to create the Spectre and the entire La Sportiva ski boot line trickles down from the brand’s new, top-of-the-line ski mountaineering race boot, the Stratos Cube. The Stratos Cube is made from 100 percent Carbon Kevlar, weighs just 550 grams and features an innovative CavoBike lever mechanism to change the boot between modes.
