2024 Touring boots

Cue incredible skiing with effortless ascents – Fall Line’s Editors’ Choice ski touring boots

Featuring the Fall Line Touring boots of the year – tested for the 2024 Gear Guide.

Just three boots are featured here out of the 10 men’s ski touring boots tested and reviewed in-depth inside our mega 2024 Gear Guide. Click to buy and browse the digital issue (£3.50), flicking to page 110 for the full range of 2024 ski touring boots:

Inside you’ll find these touring boot reviews:

• Atomic Backland XTD Carbon 120
• Nordica Unlimited LT 130 Dyn
• Scarpa Maestrale RS
• Dalbello Quantum Free Pro
• Dynafit Radical Pro
• K2 Dispatch Pro
• Lange XT3 Tour 2.0 MV 130
• Roxa RX Tour
• Scott Cosmos Pro
• Tecnica Zero G Pro

As a taste of what’s inside, here are our Editors’ Choice top three ski touring boots of 2024:

The new Backland XTD has a 100mm last, providing a little more wiggle room. The shell has a hybrid overlap shape, so it tours very well, but the extra material over the fore foot ensures a secure hold. They’ve used a z-cable assembly, tightened with a micro-adjustable ladder closure over the instep. Out of the box it works for a low to medium instep, but you can move the buckle to accommodate taller feet. The cuff has a top clip and claw power strap, and it sits nice and high up the shin.

The rear walk mode lever allows you to change the forward lean from 15° by 2° in either direction. A full ISO 9523 touring sole works in multi-norm and touring bindings.

The Backland XTD range includes some Grip Walk soled models, but the real stand-out is what they’ve done with the pivots – they are parallel vertically and laterally. Pivots are almost always offset, like our ankle bones, and are typically angled inwards. This parallel placement gives a mind-blowingly free motion when touring. Even though these are a little heavier than some, we know of people smashing ascent PBs, simply down to how well these tour.

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Nordica has had ski boots with touring modes for a while, but the Unlimited is completely new and a massive improvement on what’s come before.

The Unlimited LT 130 is the go-to model if you’re serious about going up, as well as down. They’re 200g lighter than the non-LT model, due to the PA shell and 3D Light Performance Fit Prima loft liner. The liner can easily be moulded, and it’s worth having this done. The liner’s flex zone gives an easy stride, illustrating how focussed this boot is on the ascent, not just skiing like an absolute demon.

The cuff buckles lock forward, hooked into a slider, so the cuff remains held but loose, so you can get a proper march on to beat your pals to that untouched line. The cuff uses three different densities of materials, to further enhance the fit and performance of the Unlimited boots. The shell is also beefed up in key areas so the power delivery to the ski is excellent.

We were fortunate enough to ski these in various locations in an assortment of conditions and they never failed to elicit a massive grin. Then, when it came time to head back up for another lap you were glad Nordica’s made them so much lighter.

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Same name but a totally new boot, including the shape, with a little more room in the forefoot. It has a Grilamid Bio shell and Pebax Renew cuff, both reinforced with carbon. The tongue is also Pebax.

The Intuition liner is firm and even without heating, it moulds well (for next-level fit do get it heat moulded). The ankle buckle location really pulls you into the back of this boot, the cuff and shell helping drive power down through the ski.

The new Maestrale is an incredible boot to ski in, especially surprising considering the range of motion it has when touring. It isn’t the highest volume, so if you do have a very high instep your boot fitter may need to do their magic. A z-cable and buckle tensions around your foot, with a neat little knurled micro-adjuster.

The cleverly designed tongue has excellent rearward movement when striding out, without compromising forward support when skiing hard. Even though it’s rated at 125, this is more powerful than some 130 flex touring boots we’ve tested.

The sole has a smooth ‘snow clearing’ ridge down the middle but the grip you get is surprising; we expected to be slipping around when hiking and never had an issue.

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