Salomon

X Pro 120 Ski Boot

The line between lift-served and backcountry skiing gets more blurry every year, partly because improving gear makes it easy to ride lifts, ski down out of bounds, and hike back into the resort. While there's no such things as sidecountry—you're either in bounds or you're out—boots like the Salomon X Pro 120 make it easy to make short trips back and forth, with a rippable 120 flex and heat-moldable 360° Custom Shell that hugs your foot with unbeatable comfort and precision.

The shell is made of bi-material polyurethane, and features fully customizable panels around the ankle, shin, instep, and upper foot, so you can dial in a fit that conforms to your weird ankle bones and fat feet without punching or grinding. It's also easy to mold the My Custom Fit 3D Race liner, so you can rip a fully personalized fit that improves your downhill performance while helping to keep your feet locked down and comfortable on short hikes back across resort boundalries. Even when the X Pro is molded to your feet, Salomon's Articulated Sensifit design employs flexible panels around the instep and shin, so you can slide the boot on and off without gritting your teeth and hoping you don't accidentally peel all the skin off your ankle joint.

Crushing the comfort aspect of a boot is undoubtedly a good thing, but prioritizing it over performance isn't really the right call. There are no such worries with the X Pro, which uses Salomon's Oversized Pivot—the pivot is the spot where the shell and cuff are joined—to keep the boot laterally stiff, which is key when you're trying to roll wide skis edge to edge. The wide power strap and adjustable Flex Boost screw lets you tighten up the flex when the gnar is getting more serious, and the micro-adjustable buckles cinch your foot down into the bootboard for killer control with zero slop.