Atomic

Backland Pro CL Alpine Touring Boot - 2022

AMAZING walk mode, decent for skiing

Familiarity:

I've used it once or twice and have initial impressions

Overall, an incredibly lightweight and comfortable touring boot that feels as natural as a shoe in walk mode and skis decently well despite its lightweight construction and one buckle/BOA design - its downhill ski feel is very similar to taking a four buckle alpine boot and only buckling the top buckle or two. [POSITIVE] WALKING PERFORMANCE: this is where these boots really shine. When I have them in walk mode, I can barely even tell that I have ski boots on. The range of motion covers everything a human ankle would need when walking and is so effortless/frictionless that it's almost as easy to walk in these as it is in my hiking boots. The soles are grippy and had no issue going up fairly steep melt ice/slush without any additional traction aid. [NEUTRAL] SKIING PERFORMANCE: this is my first touring boot, so I was honestly a little worried about downhill performance not knowing what to expect. I come from a racing background with a recent focus on all-mountain skiing, typically aggressively skiing a very stiff/heavy ski (older Volkl Mantras). With these boots, I certainly can't charge nearly as hard as I can with my resort setup, but they weren't as compromising as I had expected them to be. The downhill feel of these is very similar to taking a four buckle alpine boot and only buckling the top buckle or two to ski. The calf hold the top buckle provides is fantastic, but everything below the top buckle is a little "loosey goosey". The BOA doesn't crank down as tightly as I would like it to, but the boots do come with an extra footbed riser to "add a half size" that I am going to try as a fix. While skiing these, I never felt unable to control or drive my touring skis (104mm underfoot Black Diamonds), but I definitely was not able to crank hard carving turns with these boots or transition edge to edge as quickly. However, given their intended use, I am completely fine with that compromise since I won't be carving groomer turns in the backcountry. My primary use for these is going to be east coast backcountry, but I'm not sure that I would feel comfortable using these for super steep/technical west coast lines - time will tell. [NEGATIVE] WARMTH: since these are incredibly lightweight and thin boots, I'm not surprised that warmth is compromised. I tried these on a 40F degree rainy spring day and was experiencing cold toes even at that temperature, however I tend to get cold feet in general and was skiing lift-serviced that day, so I didn't have the uphill workout to help warm up my feet. I'm hoping they will be better when actually touring. FIT/FOOT TYPE: Before getting these, I tried on touring boots from a number of manufacturers (Scarpa, La Sportiva, Dynafit, Dalbello, Scott) and these were the only ones that felt almost perfect straight out of the box. I have a very standard foot - normal width, normal arch - and these have fantastic heel hold and feel great across the entire length of the foot. At 200lbs, I probably could have benefited from the slightly stiffer "Carbon" model of these, but I much preferred the blue color and was happy to save some money.