Scarpa Maestrale

At first I thought the boot was a little soft for a four buckle. But after two full days in the backcountry, what I realized was the consistent flex of the boot, whether skiing soft snow or laying out a turn on corduroy. And that trumped my initial opinion of the boot’s less-than-expected stiffness. And it’s only really the tongue that’s a little soft for my taste, which gave way a wee bit if I really flexed forward. The lateral stiffness was all there and rewarded me while snapping short swing turns on steep corn.

Scarpa has long used Intuition liners in their boots. Recently they’ve moved away from overlap design in favor of tongue liners, which are more comfy out of the box. I prefer overlap because they hug the shin better in my opinion and ultimately ski better. However, the tongue liners toured better and allowed an easier range of motion when skinning and bootpacking. The elastic powerstrap also held the higher reaches of the upper cuff snugly against my shin, which added to the smooth, consistent flex when skiing.

Figuring out the tongue was a little annoying. Disengaging off to the side looked cool, but I found it didn’t make getting into or out of the boot any easier. That said, the tongue interface with the lower shell and upper cuff, when buckled, was secure and I felt no hotspots.