I have Atomic Hawx 80 boots that are about 4 years old. I'm 5'10" and 170lbs, an advanced intermediate to advanced skier (somewhere around level 6-8, depending on the day and the mountain). Mostly skiing in Colorado and Utah.
I'm generally pretty happy with the boots; I have custom insoles, heel lifts, and Hotronics, and they're comfortable. In past seasons with these boots, I've struggled a lot with shin bang, but a combination of Booster straps and half a can koozie in each sock has solved that problem completely this season.
I confess that when I got the boots, I was pretty clueless about flex (I just wanted out of rental boots). In reading these forums, it's become clear that my boots are on the softer side, which leads to my question: How do you know if your boots are too soft? Is it possible that part of the reason I was getting shin bang/tossed around was because my boot flex isn't suited to the more advanced terrain I'm trying to cover?
I'm trying to get more confident/aggressive with my skiing, so that I can handle steeper terrain and go from "fine on any blue, okay on most blacks" to "confident on most blacks."
Thanks!
I'm generally pretty happy with the boots; I have custom insoles, heel lifts, and Hotronics, and they're comfortable. In past seasons with these boots, I've struggled a lot with shin bang, but a combination of Booster straps and half a can koozie in each sock has solved that problem completely this season.
I confess that when I got the boots, I was pretty clueless about flex (I just wanted out of rental boots). In reading these forums, it's become clear that my boots are on the softer side, which leads to my question: How do you know if your boots are too soft? Is it possible that part of the reason I was getting shin bang/tossed around was because my boot flex isn't suited to the more advanced terrain I'm trying to cover?
I'm trying to get more confident/aggressive with my skiing, so that I can handle steeper terrain and go from "fine on any blue, okay on most blacks" to "confident on most blacks."
Thanks!