Must try this winter: new Apex Ski Boot System
The Apex ski boot system was available in both Victoria and NSW in the 2016 winter. At last, you can get snowboard boot comfort and convenience for skiers – yes ski boots you can drive home in!
When was the last time you put on a ski boot to go for a walk around inside? Never? Me neither, but when I tried on the Apex ski boot at Denver SIA, and chatted to company founder TJ Larson for a while, I was so comfortable I wandered off in them, forgetting I was leaving my Nike lightweight runners behind. Yep, they felt that snug and easy to wear.
Ski boots just don’t do that: they give you bone spurs and grief, you put up with the pain for the gain of skiing is the usual equation. And you don’t go walkabout, still less drive home in them. But now you can.
The Apex ski boot system just works. On the market for several years in America, and in Australia recently, they have received a great response.
People who had seen them in America were asking about them downunder, and when they try them they are impressed, as our Snow Action team have found in Japan and Australia.
In Canada heliski guides are using them, and more and more ski professionals who spend all day in their boots. Like us, they liked the comfort and convenience.
Basically you get the comfort and convenience of a snowboard style boot in a chassis ski binding shell that just works.
The all new XP Big Mountain model adds 3 buckle closure stability and a sole length that matches your regular boot sole length.
SA’s Travel Editor Dave Windsor took a rental 2 buckle pair up to Japan in February 2016, from Naeba to Myoko, scoring some great snow. His verdict?
“They are extremely comfortable, either buckled up or not. I skied steeps, pow, off piste, hard pack, bumps, etc and had no issues whatsover. And then at lunch time or getting on and off buses it was so nice not to be buckled into ski boots.”
The Swiss Dahu system boots are going off in Europe now, and since testing them initially at Copper Mountain in 2016 then downunder in July 2018 – see our full feature here and loving them, at serious speeds with no performance loss, we can report they offer plenty of no pain gain.
It’s the sort of thing as a long term skier you go hmmm, that looks great, but likely you won’t be convinced till you actually ski them. So do so, soon. Then you’ll likely want some.
The Dahu boots provide a tighter interface with built in toe box versus the extra toe buckle on the Apex ones, and their ingenious sole/frame interface is a further bonus.
More on Apex at www.apexskiboots.com