Boots may be the most important part of your ski kit—and the hardest to get right. Poor fit, or a profile that’s too soft or too stiff, can ruin a day very quickly. In our 2022 Winter Buyer’s Guide, we rounded up the six best alpine ski boots for various kinds of riders. But there were two other great boots that narrowly missed the cut and still deserve recognition.
Lange RX 130 ($900)
Here’s the mid-volume, 100-millimeter lasted boot for skiers who want Lange’s performance pedigree minus its vice-like fit. The liner locks down the heels and provides a comfortably snug wrap everywhere else and a new tongue made of honeycomb-molded polyurethane gives the boot a snappy, responsive feel. The dual injection shell sandwiches softer plastic between harder layers so that the boot becomes progressively stiffer as it flexes. This means the RX 130 earned props as an all-day, everywhere boot for hard-charging skiers. Why didn’t it make the cut? Each boot weighs 4.7 pounds.—Kelly Bastone, alpine boots test manager
Salomon S/Max 120 W ($700)
This year’s S/Max gives women better traction from a GripWalk sole, and more power thanks to fiberglass reinforcements in the shell that improve lateral stability for better energy transmission at higher speeds. Weighing just over 3.5 pounds per boot, it’s light enough for all-day shralping and bootpacking to distant powder stashes. And testers loved how the bump-absorbing flex softened landings and helped them stay balanced through crud. —K.B.