The best skimo race boots of 2024

It’s a small world, but with a clear division: full-carbon and semi-carbon. The A team and the B team: the former is minimalist and pushes design boundaries to their absolute limit, while the latter is more amenable, comfortable and warmer. With some of the models, the differences are more evident than those between skis. But some of the semi-carbon boots do come close, at least in some aspects, to the top performers: in races, they can hold their own when used by athletes with aspirations to finish well in the rankings, but perhaps not aiming for the podium.

It’s a bit like in Formula One: team engineers work on their cars all year to enhance performance, but every year there are always those cars that remain untouchable. The Stratos VI too has received small upgrades, which have made it even more the poster child for minimalism that borders on perfection.

Just a tad more expensive than its main competitors, but the rockered forefoot provides excellent walkability, making Alien 4.0 outstanding on steep, rough terrain, and the Boa system provides fast, super-easy adjustment. Rock-solid heel hold. This makes it enormously popular amongst the best Pro racers. 

It’s difficult to guess the mix that’s managed to eliminate the cons of full carbon and maximize the pros of semi-carbon: great hold, but without the implacable rigidity of carbon; tolerant, but not excessively so; a competition-oriented fit but with a minimum of breathing space for the foot; and a minimalist race liner without overdoing it. Long live the Alien 1.0!

This might just be the choice for the next generation. La Sportiva’s new offering is the lightest among the semi-carbon models. But also the most aggressive, with many ‘race-ready’ features. Raceborg II is great on the uphill, and perhaps even better on the downhill, but with a different liner and insulation from the full-carbon models. It virtually creates a new category which sits between the two.