The BOA® fastening mechanism has exploded onto the ski boot scene in a big way this season. The fastening mechanism has become well known in the cycling world for providing precision fits and easy locking/unlocking mechanisms, and after years of testing and development has now made its way onto ski boots.
Launching this season are a brand new range of boots from a huge array of brands, including Salomon, Atomic and K2, the latter of which was a pioneer in this space last season.
How does BOA work? Why are some brands embracing it and others not? And is it the salvation for ill fitting boots that it is being advertised as? Let’s dig in and unlock BOA's entrance to the ski boot market.
How Does BOA Work?
Traditional ski boots are tightened into place using a system of buckles – either four, with two on the clog over the instep and two on the cuff, or three with varying placements but at least one each on the cuff and clog. These use a combination of slots and micro adjustments by screwing the clasp tighter or looser in its housing to provide a pretty good precision fit.
This system has been in use for what must be close to a hundred years, the first buckle systems appearing on low ankle leather boots around the time of the Second World War. This mass industry shift to BOA is therefore the first major innovation in this space for a very, very long time.
BOA replaces the buckles with a single wire, attached at the toe and down by the navicular (knobbly ankle bone) on the outside of the boot. It zig-zags a couple of times across the boot and is fed through a ratchet system that sits on the outside of the clog on the instep, offset to the side about 45 degrees around the foot.
To tighten the boot, twist the dial until it is at the desired level. To loosen – and here’s the cool bit – simply pull the dial out; it will click up, a bit like the lid of a jam jar when opening it for the first time, and the BOA wire will instantly be released. A really simple system, therefore, for ensuring precision fit and instant loosening.
Why Aren’t All Brands Using it?
If it is such a simple and effective system, why aren’t all brands using it? There are two ways of looking at the same answer here.
Talk to brand reps that aren’t using it and they will tell you that BOA isn’t all it’s made out to be. The extra cost both to the manufacturer and customer (the average uplift for a pair of BOA boots is anything from £15 to £50 for the same make and model) is something they’re not willing to embrace for such small or even no improvement in boot fit, as they see it. Their philosophy, in many ways rightly so, is that getting the right boot in the first place, a custom footbed, and performing permanent modifications to the boot is the best way of ensuring the best fit. The clunky design and placement of the dial, as well as a supposed lack of “real life” testing, is another reason they’re not rolling with BOA this season.
There’s an underlying motive here, however, that reps and brands won’t want you to consider; brands that have not moved forward with BOA were simply at the wrong point in the development cycle to include boa in their designs.
Ski boots are expensive to design. Really expensive. The mould and shape of the clog of the boot – where the foot sits – takes a very long time to get right, and is rolled out across all boots the brand makes when it is done, thereby ensuring that boot shapes and designs will remain as they are for many years to come. Boots that are new in the last couple of seasons, therefore, won’t see Boa for a little while yet.
There is a good chance that as the rest of the market rolls with Boa, and the development cycle comes round once more, Boa will become universal. Currently around 50% of the market are using Boa in some form or another, usually as a like-for-like alternative to a standard boot kept in production, but expect this number to tick up in the years to come.
Is BOA All It’s Cracked Up to Be?
So, I’ll start by saying this – I’ve not yet tried BOA. I’ve been to a few tests featuring BOA, but as brands only bring sample sizes (25.0 to 27.5) and ya man is 28/28.5, it’s very difficult to test.
Instead, I’ll approach this another way – is it worth the uplift in price? That can definitely be answered outside of actual user experience.
What does BOA achieve, at a fundamental level? Precision fit and easy release. If we break down each of these, the short answer to “is it worth the uplift in price” is “probably not.”
If you are looking for a precision fit, there are so many things you can do before you even think about the tightening angles of the cuff. First of all, ensure you are in the right ski boot by speaking to a trained boot fitter, getting your feet measured, and trying on a variety of boots. Remember, the fastest and 100% guaranteed way to get the wrong boot size is simply to convert from shoe size to mondopoint size.
When you first wear your boots, the buckles should be done up to “finger tightness” – that is, you should be able to lift the buckle with your little finger without any, or very little, pressure applied to the buckle. Therefore, how “precise” you can tighten your boots is pretty much irrelevant.
As the boots loosen up over time, this becomes more of an issue, sure. But buckles and micro adjustments have worked just fine for the last thirty years, so why fix what ain’t broke?
The instant release mechanism is a bit of a different beast. This actually is of use; I known many, many times when I’ve tightened my boots up beyond what’s comfortable, mostly on days when I know I’m hitting big lines and need that extra control from my boots. It can get quite painful, and the relief that’s gained from flipping the buckles open at the bottom of the run is quite something. Having that precision fit with the quick release mechanism could make a big difference to my skiing.
Trouble is, that only affects a small number of skiers; instructors, hardcore backcountry skiers, or racers, especially the latter who have tight fitting boots tightened up to a whole different level.
Final Thoughts
Is BOA worth the extra cost for you and me? Maybe, maybe not. For a skiing market that is already getting a bit tight for cash, and with the uplift in ski gear prices anyway, is this extra cost for marginal gain worth it? Probably not. The placement of the dial also seems weird, and there isn't enough out there to demonstrate the BOA know the dial will survive bangs or freezing in cold weather. Let’s allow the market to adjust to this influx before we jump headfirst into the BOA mix.
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