Brad Walsh

Lange has really hit a home run with this line of boots, and is leading the industry in providing a gimmick free solution toward accommodating a wide variety of skiers' feet/legs while also bucking history's determination that ski boots must have an extreme amount of forward lean. In the past couple years, us within the ski teaching profession have heard more and more about the benefits of neutralizing some of the forward lean in the boot and also neutralizing the ramp in the boot and binding that angles your foot forward.

What does this mean to you when buying a boot? Only a qualified bootfitter can give you specifics for you, but in general, a taller stance in the cuff allows you to stand more centered over your feet. By buying this boot, you save the fitting cost of reducing forward lean in the boot cuff.

Who is a qualified bootfitter? One who not only understands boots, but also understands a great deal about the mechanics of skiing, and how stance and balance relate to good skiing. A bootfitter can also shim the heel to better align the profile of the back of your leg to the boot, take care of canting adjustments (to ensure that your bowlegged or knock-kneed stance doesn't make you favor an inside or outside edge), and generally make modifications to the boot to further adapt it to your stance. A bootfitter will also likely reccommend custom footbeds, which run about $200 and can be moved from boot to boot. This will ensure that you have adequate support across the entire foot which will allow you to move directly to edge when you need to. Without this support, a foot can tend to deform in the boot as the ankle is articulated and cause a delay from the time the skier moves to edge the ski and when pressure is fully developed along the edge of the foot.

For carving: This cuff design not only allows the skier to more effectively bend the ski from the middle, but it will also reduce leg fatigue, and reduce the chances that the skier will feel the need to break at the waist to counterbalance how far forward the knees feel. The more vertical cuff also provides more range for pressuring the ski via the front of the boot. By having the cuff more vertical the forward part of the skin comes into contact sooner in the ankle's range of motion and allows pressuring of the cuff without the skier feeling like he/she needs to travel so far forward with the shin to get it.

For off piste skiing: A boot with a lot of forward lean will cause the skier to pressure the ski forward. This works great on hardpack, but in deep snow a centered stance will help the shovel not dive, and allow the skier to work the ski from the middle, which is great in off piste skiing because of the amount of lower leg steering that is inherent in skiing deep snow. A lot of people rely on powder boards to float in powder, but I'd say that a good stance in a skier will allow them to ski anything that most skiers would ski in a powder ski - in a slalom ski.

There are two other things about this boot that are very accommodating to a wide range of skiers. Different last widths and cuff heights are available, which allows people with a wider foot, or a lower calf to ski this boot. As is the case with many boots, flex is also widely adjustable. Flex can be adjusted down ~6% to 20% at each level. For example my girlfriend skis the RS110 (110 flex) with both bolts out of the back which makes it a 90 flex (we couldn't find the RS90).

So for the general skier I would say that this line of boots provides a good stance baseline that will benefit you as you get better. By centering your stance, it will help you stay in balance, which is REQUIRED to efectively edge, pressure, or rotate the ski. For the advanced skier this could make all the difference for you - by selecting the right last and size (I fit at a 28 and am in a 26.5) and getting a good stance and foot support analysis - this boot will unlock your ability to ski with the precision required for truly great skiing.

Bought these at the beginning of the '11 season and logged about 10 days on my powder boards. Made contact with something hard under the pow (a stump I am guessing from the red bard on my edges), and after double-ejecting found the heel piece, and no ski (without brakes it ran down the hill until someone was able to catch up to it). The heel piece had broken off of the track that joins the heel to the toepiece. I question the safety of the binding since the heel piece shattered before the binding even released - then again maybe a shattering heelpiece is part of their safety setup...
After returning the bindings, Marker gave their estimated return time (granted this is relayed through the retailer because there is no real good way to call Marker - they don't "do" returns) as 2 weeks to 6 months - LAME. So here I am at the end of the season where we are finally getting dumped on in the Northwest, and no pow boards for the rest of the in bounds season, and no touring setup for the spring. The whole reason I bought these was because I wanted something I could dabble in touring, but still use for the resort powder days, but at 200lbs, these weren't up to the job on a hard hit.
I would rate these higher if they could return stuff quickly or at least have spare parts in the US rather than having to wait for the Chinese to stamp out a whole new batch. Prior to this whole episode I would have given them a solid 4, and that only because the changeover mechanism is a little awkward and wants to nibble on your fingers when switching over. Also the track gums up with some serious snow so pow days touring is a little tedious as I spent more time than I would have expected having to clean everything out of the bottom of the track, and all the other little nooks and crannies. Fair advisory: these are my first pair and I don't have another pair yet to compare.
**Update 3/17/2011: Got the return back to the shop that handled the return. There is a screw missing from the heelpiece and the heelpiece is "refurbished" instead of new. Seeing as the new one blew up before I feel a bit leery about accepting a rehabbed one, but I guess this is better than waiting 6 months - so I wanted to update to let people know it didn't take six months, more like 1 month, but the BS continues with the screw and the used part... Marker should be happy they don't have much competition out there because I can't imagine my experience is the only one...***
**Update 03/22/2011: Got the part and the screws were stripped at the break. My return was returned with another broken part. Thanks Marker. I think I'll keep this thread going to see ho long this goes on...***

Just got back from 3 days at Mt. Bachelor (Bend, OR) and skied these on two days. The rocker made turn initiation absolutely effortless in deep snow. They naturally want to turn when tipped and with the added width up front you can stand centered on them allowing you to steer from the lower body. No banking, no sitting back, just riding. Skied in open terrain and in tight trees. I could see how if someone was riding mach schnell down 50 degree pitches without turning the longer and stiffer Super S7 could be useful, but for me, I savor my pow turns and trees so the 188cm was perfect for me (6' 205lbs). On hardpack they carve like an all-mountain carver which is great (note that quickness to edge of a ski is always better narrower if you've never skied a ski over, say, 80mm at the waist) - ski the pow and actually ski like normal back to the lift! If someone is looking to buy a single pair of skis and they have to be fatties, these are the jack of all trades and a master of all off piste, especially in tight places (as sized by Rossi). Soft landings, turnability, stability, and just plain fun. Best I've ever put on my feet. I completely changed the way I looked at chop - rather than looking for terrain features of where I had to turn, I'd mash over the top of everything. I do agree with Brando/Jooky - your true quiver of 1 is the S5 or S3 (for the same dimensions but rockered) but they won't provide the same level of unabashed freedom off-piste. There's a reason why this is Ski Magazine's #1.

Just spent a solid three days out on the Palmer glacier (well, snowfield) at Mt. Hood and brought these along as a lightweight and comfortable pant to wear through the chilly mornings and into the warm afternoons. The pants performed well with the mesh zip vents gently cooling the leg insides. THESE FIT BAGGY - as other reviews have said - not ridiculous-knuckle-dragger-just-got-out-of-prison-and-still-don't-have-a-belt-baggy, but be aware of that all the same. More durable and waterproof is your desire? Check out the Primo for ultra light and Powder Bowl for more normal ski-pant weight.

The S5 was a surprisingly great ski. I picked these up in last years model in the plastic from a buddy of mine and had them mounted up with a cheaper binding thinking they'd be my goof off skis. Turns out they are one of my favorite skis that I put about 35 days on this season, and this is why:- I am used to skiing at the widest an 80mm waist, specifically the CX80. Both in pow or in spring cheese these were the perfect ski with awesome responsiveness, light touch, and a softer finish than your square tail skis. A centered stance on these off piste will have great and bountiful rewards.- These grip and carve on hardpack - again, a centered stance is key. Break at the waist and get the center of mass too far forward and you'll find a softer tip than that carver you've been railing on.- They are light. I mean like "hey look what I found in my happy meal night to my fries" light. They have two types of wood at the core which provides pop while conserving weight.- My years version were drop dead sexy. I am talking big time wearable art. This year's ski is semi cool, but the 08'-09' version makes my wife jealous.I have had some people talk about a delay to edge that occurs with the wider skis, and this is true, but an accurate expert skier who has command over their movements has no reasons to complain.