Testers love the clean aesthetic of the Kaliber, saying that the stylish lines of the lower boot, especially at the toebox, drew them in to take a closer look. They really began to appreciate the Kaliber Pro 105 W LV BOA when they first put it on—without struggle. BOA closure systems can cause some barrier to entry depending on how the cuff, shell and liner interact with the technology but our team says that there was no hindrance here. Getting the boot closed-up was intuitive and they still like traditional buckles on the lower boot for a familiar feel and ability to modify both fit zones independently of the other.
Our women’s test team have been monitoring Head’s all-mountain boots over the past several years and as a group they say the new Kaliber Pro LV BOA puts all the pieces together for the best women’s Head they’ve ever skied. The key to its appeal is its ease of operation and broad fit and performance bandwidth.
They say that the narrow fit is nearly perfect for the foot and lower leg shaft and say that the wrapping of the cuff on slender legs was executed in comfortable fashion via the cable reel. What gave cause for their nearly hedge? Testers say the fit is not extremely tight, and they put it on the relaxed-fit side of the narrow boot group. This gave it a nearly perfect rating as an LV, but earned it an absolutely perfect grade for a goldilocks-type fit right between narrow and medium, which testers thought would appeal to a lot of skiers, though they predicted it might rob some sales numbers from the medium-width Kaliber 105 W MV BOA2.
The convenience of entry and the easy-to-love fit made the new LV a boot for everyone, they said, but they doubled-down on that claim after skiing it, saying that it ripped everywhere without their having to make any changes to their skiing style or try very hard, period. This was as close to automatic pilot as skiing got, they said, noting that the 105-flex was solid enough for most skiers but that the boot can be drilled-and-pinned with included hardware to tap into a higher-geared 115-flex for taller, bigger skiers looking for an even firmer flex feel.
There are 95- and 85-flex versions available with the same key features found on the 105-flex we tested, providing a wide swath of performance and price options in this winning combination of relaxed-LV fit and instantly good on-snow performance.
