I sometimes blame rear-entry skiboots for spoiling my ski racing career. As a young teenager, I switched from the classic four-buckled overlap boot to the revolutionary Salomon SX90. The change was not immediately, I sort of drifted away from overlap to rear-entry via Nordicas three-buckle Comp III cabrio style skiboot. Stepping in to the SX90 was definitely not good for my ski racing.

Others might say that it was my personal attitude or lack of dedication that was failing me. There where top skiers winning the world cup in the Salomon SX90 like Luxemburg’s Marc Girardelli. So if these boots worked for them, it would be good enough for me, they said.

Besides, I got them for free. Well, if the SX90 was decent for the 1980s industry standard. The follow-up SX91 was a catastrophe for every ski racer in the Salomon team.

I lost a couple of seasons in my rear-entry ski boots in the most crucial time of my ongoing ski career development. I was too young to understand. Later, I did switch back to overlap as I inherited a pair of my brothers’ world cup tuned Lange XL-R. (that’s a real skiboot by the way).

But it was too late to get back on track. When I switched to snowboard racing, I used my brother’s Lange for the first couple of seasons. Before UPS came up with the Mach-Z, a cabrio style four-buckle skiboot. It was the first real snowboard hard-boot by the way.

Anyway, enough with ski boot history for now.

Let’s talk abut the future. Every skier knows that the four buckle overlap system is the only system that gives the skier both support, the ability to feel the snow under the ski, and at the same time transfer the power to the ski the way we want.

Sure, there are cabrio boots, like the Full Tilt, an off-spring from Raichle’s flexon. But they were never great for skiing hard pack, just better than the contemporary rear-entry Salomon SX-91.

The problem with the overlap system is getting in and out of the skiboot. Every ski racer knows the felling when the hard shell carves the foot trying to enter or exit an ice cooled over-lap skiboot.

As I’m getting older and less willing to gain pain for my ski vain, I have given up my stiff Lange RS 130 for the more comfortable Lange XTR Tour 130.

This, however, have affected my skiing as there is a big difference in the stiffness comparing the two shells to each other. And I still fear the feeling of getting in and out of my current ski-boot, as it tends to carve in to my foot-blade when taking that action. But do i miss my rear-entry SX91 from the 80s? O nooo.

This summer I noticed that the R/D department at Rossignol had found a solution for this, combining rear-entry with four buckle overlap in their brand-new patent Vizion.

Smart move! So I took a bow for the new revolution, called up my man at Rossignol and ordered a pair fresh from the stock. Now I can’t wait for deliverance, boot fitting, and finally get them going on the slopes. No more pain getting in and out of the skiboots.

This is anyway my imagination from the early reviews I’ve been scouting up on the internet. As soon as I have my Rossignol Vizion going on-snow, I will get back to you all with a review on my own, that’s a promise.

Won’t Get Fooled Again