The Gist
Our female testers are a tough, skeptical bunch. New-fangled plastics and high-falutin' gizmos don't impress them much. Unless, of course, the boot fits great and rips. The new Hawx Ultra 110 W made quite an impression on them because it's got all those attributes and wraps them in a noticeably lightweight and compact package.
Fit
Snug everywhere except the toebox where there's some welcome wiggle room. Despite its smaller than average boot sole length, the Hawx Ultra somehow manages to supply a little extra length, width and height for the toes while maintaining category-standard narrowness elsewhere. Fit notes were repetitive, all reading "ideal, ideal, ideal, ideal" for flex feel, tongue cushion, cuff height and stance.
Performance
There's no point in fussing with backcountry-boot-inspired plastics like Grilamid (similar to Nylon, super stiff and thin-walled) if it doesn’t make the boot ski well. In this case, it sure did. Testers could feel the thin-wrapping feel of the Grilamid cuff and easily noticed the lighter weight both in hand and on the foot. They said it skied stiff and snappy with a resilient, powerful feel that was highly reactive. The lower shell is traditional polyurethane, but with varied shell wall thicknesses to reduce weight and increase power while providing a shorter boot sole. Well done, testers said.
Cool Features
Memolink is a plastic additive used in Hawx boots as well as a few others in the Atomic line. It allows for shell molding to the foot and leg shape. Our tests have shown subtle results that even out peak pressure points and slightly increase volume. The Power Shift mechanism tweaks forward lean angles and modifies stiffness. Most testers didn’t monkey with it, finding the boot well set-up as is.
Kudos