At last winter’s Outdoor Retailer, I got to fondle one of the new La Sportiva skis. While it seemed to have decent construction (made in the Movement ski factory, in Tunisia), it was sub 90mm at the waist, which honestly, doesn’t really get me jumping for joy. But when I heard they also had a more North American market ski, with early rise/rocker tip and a waist of 105mm, I was much more intrigued.
While at the demo, I was able to go for a spin on the new La Sportiva Hi-5, and honestly, I was really quite impressed. It skied the best out of all of the 100-105mm skis I was able to try and with its giant rocker tip; I’m dubbing it the mini-Megawatt. With a progressive radius of 18/24/18 for the 188cm model, it was very easy to turn, but not so much to make it squirrelly. Vertical sidewalls helped with edge hold and the big tip was pretty tough to bury in the chopped up crud. At 1800 grams, it’s not the lightest ski out there, but sub 8lbs is still pretty light in my book for a 105mm/188cm size ski.
La Sportiva Spitfire, Sideral and Starlet.
It must have taken some serious arm twisting from the La Sportiva offices down in Boulder to convince the higher-ups overseas make such non-traditional ski and I applaud them for making it happen. The new boot line is truly Euro-inspired though and really focuses on lightweight and touring, as opposed to beef and downhill performance. I didn’t ski on these new boots, so I can only judge from looking at them, but they had a nice single throw (a al Stratos) for going from fully unbuckled and in walk more, to locked and loaded for skiing. Range of motion looked good in walk mode and it will be interesting to see how there boots are received by the US consumer.
Dynafit Titan Ultralight is 250 grams lighter than the standard Titan.
I spent a good amount of time looking at all the new Dynafit products. We touched base on the Radical bindings already, but the new boots look great as well. The new Titan Ultralight ($869) has some carbon fiber in it, but it really gets most of its weight savings by moving to Pebax 
construction, which is lighter that the Polyurethane the Titan is made with now. Dynafit shaves off 250 grams by going with Pebax, which is rather substantial in my book. I’m sure the new Titan Ultralight is also stiffer than the regular Titan, and will be winner for Dynafit just the same.
I was anxious to see the updated Zzero4 Green Machine ($1000), which now has a full carbon spoiler on the cuff, as opposed to only lateral stringers of the past version…which is still available. The new construction and design of the cuff also adds about 10 degrees of cuff travel in the rear-ward part of the stride, which is something I like, since a lot of the tours here in the Tetons have flat approaches. While not earth shattering, the new Green Machine is 50 grams lighter (1585gr) than the past version and I think it looks cooler too. I can’t wait to see how they ski.
Light and affordable Ski Trab TR-Race bidning.
There are many new “tech-style†bindings out there, some for racing, some for freeride and others for general ski touring. I though Ski Trab’s had one of the best and affordable race bindings being offered with their TR-Race ($539). There are lighter and more expensive models out there, but not everyone can throw down $800 for a pair and I applaud Ski Trab for trying to keep the price down. The TR-Race keeps the weight down, even with a ski crampon attachment and at only 141 grams…light, IS right!
ABS Vario system allows the user to buy one base-unit and several zip-on packs.
As some of you may know, the JHMR ski patrol now use ABS airbags when they are on duty and doing snow-control work. I’ve shied away from ABS packs in the past, mainly due to the extra weight that goes along with them, but I figured I’d swing by 
the ABS booth to see what they had to offer. Not only was I excited to see that the weights of their packs are coming down (3kg for the Vario 50L/2.5kg for Vario 15L), I was also psyched when I learned that the body of the packs could be interchanged. Meaning, one would only have to buy a single base unit (with the airbag system and backpack harness) but then could attach many different size packs onto it. This is nice and saves money in the long run. ABS is also using a new material (some sort of Hypalon, from the rafting industry) in its balloons, which reduces weight, but is also more durable than what they were using in the past. Pretty nice stuff and I will probably now have to get an ABS pack sooner, rather than later.
“The TR-Race doesn’t have a ski-crampon attachment […]”
— The earlier versions didn’t, but your picture clearly shows the standard two holes for the ski crampon attachment to screw into.
What’s the story with La Sportiva? Are they the same company as Scarpa, or is it that they have the same importer? Have they been available in the US? There boots do look very cool!
to much skiing (and whiney dynafit users) on the brain, I guess.
So, any word on what the boots’ pricepoint is? Curious to see how they compare with TLT 5.
wayne…the green machine? $1000.
Sorry, not clear. Sportivas.
wayne…
spitfire…$1500
sideral…$800
starlet…$800
hey steve,
do the zzero4c’s have carbon on the tongue? i know it seems like they have the the carbon over the two lower buckles but is there more on the upper cuff or did they stiffen the upper cuff in any way? i always felt the original zzero was soft fore and aft across the tongue area and a bit low volume on the cuff.
mtnwriter…just the carbon plate under the lower two buckles…none higher up. but from what i’ve experienced with boots, one gets a more progressive flex by building stiffness into the back of the boot, instead of building a stiffer tongue. stiff tongues feel like brick walls that want to break my shins.
“I’m sure the new Titan Ultralight is also stiffer than the regular Titan, and will be winner for Dynafit just the same.”
Isn’t the liner significantly lighter than the regular Titan? And much less burly? How could it be stiffer than the original? Especially with the PU on a cold day….. Seems like propaganda to me.
I agree with you that it looks like a great boot but I doubt its stiffer than the original Titan. Also, its strange they left the swappable soles rather than having a “fixed” AT sole…. probably could have dropped 100+grams… guess it might require a new mold though….
duder…the titan ultralight has more moldability with it’s TF-X liner (which might be the reason for the liner’s lighter weight), but it also has a plastic reinforced tongue…like an alpine boot.
Man I hope you make some money… or a lot of money because you deal with a fussy crowd. Thanks again.
I had pretty much the same thoughts about the Titans weight as Duder. If you’re trying to make the boot lighter, the interchangeable soles make no sense. How many people really change them anyways? I too am curious how much of the weight change comes from the liners versus the shell. Since many people, including you Steve, have taken out the Titan liners and put Intuitions in them, if much of the weight savings is from the liner its less of an improvement on the overall boot. It also looks like they got sick of people complaining about the moving cuff alignment and just did away with it altogether… Not to sound negative, I’m psyched to see them.
justin and company…it looks like about 140gr is shaved with the new liner…so that means 110gr is from the pebax shell. i would agree that it would be nice to see all the interchangeable sole hardware removed…adding to the weight savings.
starky…i make very little money from this website. and yes…people can be quite fussy and relentless when it comes to voicing their opinions. stating your thoughts and opinions is one thing, but to go on and on, and do it 10 times in a row is what gets old…fast. i’m not sure how much more i can take.
Thanks for the cool photos and information about new gear. It sounds like you need to get out and do some skiing! Looking forward to more firsthand trip reports. Hopefully the Tetons continues to deliver good snow conditions.
is the new la sportiva boots weight known?
thanks
carlo…
spitfire…950g
sideral…1065g
starlet…980g
thanks so much randosteve..
maybe you know also sole lenght in mm. for 27 -27.5?
I am going to mount some new skis and I would like to place biondings in order to be able to use those boots next season..
thanks
Steve,
Have you tried or heard any reviews on the green machines? Surprised no chatter yet given these are on the market.
hell yeah mtnwriter! we sell them at the shop where i work. we have sold a few pairs and folks aren’t afraid of the 1k$ price tag. i think the green machine is the most overlooked boot in the dynafit line right now, as far as new boots for 2011 go.
i’d say it’s lighter than the quadrant, stiffer than maestrale and quadrant. great all around boot with improved range of motion to the rear in the cuff than the original z-zero.
i’m at the store tomorrow if you want to call and chat more in depth and in person. 307.733.6094.
No time today during work but I’d def. like to follow up and talk to you more about them! Thanks Steve.
roger that mtnwriter…i’m typically there sun-weds.
thanks RS. i’ll call during the week most likely with the 2 hr. difference in mind. GMT vs. MST.