Rossignol Soft Light Boots

Author's product rating:   

Comfort	Very comfortable
Durability	Durable
Value for money	Good

Advantages:	You can wear them all day without crippling yourself
Disadvantages:	Not for 'high end technical' stuff .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Rossignol soft ski boots are possibly the best skiing product for recreational skiers' since someone first strapped bits of wood to their feet.

Soft boots are quite different from the 'normal' boots in that rather than a solid outer shell which holds your ankle and leg rigidly in place they are like tough padded lace up boots with some solid casing in strategic places.

This has good points and bad points depending on your skiing style but for most 'normal' skiers they are the dogs whatsits!

So - I have been skiing for 15 years but I'm too lazy to do anything too exciting and I've not pushed myself beyond a pretty good intermediate - therefore I don't need highly technical equipment. I ski for about 2 or 3 weeks a year if I'm lucky and I'm probably exactly the target market for these boots. (You can get different grades of 'soft' boot to suit different skiing abilities - mine are Soft Light 2's). This review is on that basis.

They are the most comfortable boots I have ever worn. I've used loads of boots over the years and have always found that they take a bit of breaking in - but these were comfortable from the first time I put them on and they've got better each time. The lace up style and lower rigidity makes the boot a good fit whatever shape legs you have (within reason obviously) and the additional flexibility is really wearer-friendly (imagine the difference between having your normal boot in 'walk' and 'ski' - this is like a permanant 'walk' position').

The boots have 'speed laces' which are a) easier to lace and adjust even with cold hands b) don't get clogged with snow and c) don't need you to endlessly fiddle with the every little adjustor wheel to get exactly the right fit on your toes, and also have a couple of clips and a velcro strap. As I have small heels I've always had a problem with heel movement in normal boots - soft boots often seem to be critisised for not providing firm support at the ankle but ironically they fit me much better.

The downside to this is that you do loose some of the fine control on your skis - which is why you have a 'walk' and 'ski' position in the first place. Because you aren't being 'forced' into a bent knee position your posture also tends to becomes more upright. I'm sure there are many other terrible things that happen to your skiing as a result of wearing soft boots and that 'proper' skiers will be extremely disparaging about them but for me this is more than made up for by the fact that I can ski all day, take my boots off and not be rubbing my calves for the next 15 minutes!

I wouldn't recommend learning in these because you probably do need that extra control to learn to turn and to hold it together when you're tired. You also can't do anything too demanding in them - that 'can't quite hold my edge' feeling is there a lot earlier on the demanding runs and corrections can be hard work.

But after all if you're honest with yourself do you actually 'ski to the limit' anyway? I spend my time on nice reds and some blacks (avoiding too many bumps) with lots of stops for beer - my off piste is limited to things I can see from the chairlift and my only really tight turns are executed when I'm avoiding marauding snowboarders and those irritatingly good 5 year old children. If that sounds like you then these are the perfect boots without a doubt.

I'm so enthusiastic about my lovely boots that last year I pursuaded all of the snowboarders in our party to try the snowboard version and they all loved them too. You couldn't hire the skiboots so the skiers had to suffer.

Conclusion;

Don't buy if you can't yet ski blues confidently (you need to learn to bend zee knees properly before you get lazy in these boots) and don't buy if the loss of pinpoint control will traumatise you - everyone else should get out there and buy some now!