LOVE at first sight

By Re Wikstrom January 16, 2009

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE these boots so far. The ONLY thing I have done to them is to put my own footbeds in them and wear them around my house for a couple hours before skiing on them, and the first day on snow was awesome.

I tried on the Scarpa Domina, Scarpa Diva, and Garmont Xena and NONE OF THEM fit. Mostly it was a problem with my amazon calves. All of those boots had the buckles moved to their biggest settings and it was still a HUGE struggle to close them only to lose all blood flow. I was starting to think I would never be able to have a dynafit set up if I wanted to. I tried on the Shiva and it fit pretty close, AND it had two more spots to move the buckles over (i ended up moving them one bigger).

They were hard to get into at first with the BOA lace over the tongue and all the heel padding, but I quickly discovered all you have to do is pull up on the tongue and your foot slides right in (there is a band of elastic over the base of the tongue). If you put it in walk mode first it's even easier.

I was skiing a Salomon Rush 9 previously (claimed to be a 90 flex) and had spent mucho dinero on getting them fitted. The Shivas ski just as well if not better out of the box (with my own footbeds) and I would say they have a similar flex (BD says these are 110).

I have about 20 days on them so far and the liners seem to have packed in a bit so I am glad i did not get them heat molded. If it becomes a problem i will surely update my review.

Our snowpack has been super sketch until just recently so I have not taken them out on any tours, just skiing in-bounds (which should give you a good idea of how awsome they are for the pure pleasure of skiing), but will also update after a few hikes.

Final thoughts... the buckles are super smooth, and my feet are super happy. I want to go skiing now just so I have an excuse to use my new boots!

View Details: Black Diamond Shiva Alpine Touring Boot - Women's

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