Final spring, Dynafit debuted their downhill-oriented four-buckle Tigard boot which skied like an alpine boot however at 1559 grams was too heavy for some mild’n’quick Dynafit diehards.
With the Feb. 1 launch of the brand new Ridge Professional Boot designed with Eric Hjorleifson, Dynafit drops about 300 grams off the Tigard for a claimed weight of 1250 grams which places the Ridge Professional nearer to light-but-stiff boots comparable to Fischer’s 1280g Transalp Carbon Professional (learn our overview right here) and Tecnica’s Zero G Tour Professional (1320g). (After standing pat with the profitable Zero G Tour Professional for a number of years, Tecnica has a brand new mannequin coming for ’24-’25 with a acknowledged weight of 1290.)
Hoji has been concerned in loads of Dynafit’s boots over time, a lot in order that their locking system (reimagined barely for the Ridge Professional) is known as Hoji Lock. However slightly than merely lend his identify to a boot, Hjorleifson is deeply concerned within the design and he home-built a prototype of the Ridge Professional to show the idea earlier than it turned a manufacturing mannequin. You possibly can see him snowboarding the prototype and listen to extra about his course of on this video.
Listed here are the fundamentals:
Sizes 25 – 31.5 MP (males) / 23 – 27.5 MP (ladies)
Weight 1,250 grams (males) / 1,130 grams (ladies)
Materials Grilamid with carbon fiber
Flex 120 (males) / 110 (ladies)
MSRP $899.95
There are 4 completely different boots within the Ridge lineup: the lads’s Ridge Professional described right here thus far, the Ridge (not professional!), and ladies’s variations of every. The Ridge boots use fiberglass/Grilamid as a substitute of carbon fiber/Grilamid and thus are 30% heavier and 10% much less stiff than the Ridge Professional, however in any other case are primarily the identical boot.
We count on to check a pair of the Ridge Professional boots quickly and can comply with up with an in-depth overview after we’ve put it by way of its paces on snow.
Whereas a lot of the WildSnow backcountry snowboarding weblog posts are finest attributed to a single writer, some work properly as carried out by the group.