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First Look: La Sportiva Kilo

By

Jason Albert

Side profile of the Kilo. Although it feels more like a skimo boot on the uphills, it retains some clout in the boot stiffness category.

La Sportiva’s high mobility and solid skiing offering: The Kilo.

I was set to head out the door Saturday for what I expected to be some rather poor turns. With cold temps and raging winds, I had touring on my mind but knew there’d be plenty of walking. I packed the Zero G Tour Pros and Rossignol Escaper 97 Nanos. The boots were maybe a…

Responses

  1. Slim

    I like the upgraded hardware compared to the Skorpius II;
    -Bolt on hardwear and cuff pivots
    -Z cable instead of Boa
    -regular buckle and cam strap instead of two Velcro things.

    Hopefully they will relapse a Skorpius III with those upgrades as well.

    And as far as the name, I suppose it refers to the shell only (La Spo’s own guy says there is usually about 35 gram difference per size, putting the 26.5 just under 1100 grams complete).

  2. Alex Rose-Innes

    Interesting–might be enough to get me away from the Tecnica Zero G Peak which I’ve been fighting with for the last year–fits short, under-delivers on ROM, and is a nightmare to get on and off. My Tecnicas, with a Palau liner, come in at 980g in a 26.5, though–very hard to beat given how well they perform on the downhill.

  3. Doug Freeman

    I’ve logged 125 days on the La Sportiva Skorpius II and, for my low-volume feet, absolutely love these boots. I use it to ski 80 mm Dynafit Blacklight Pro’s, Zero G 95’s, and BD Helio’s at 105, all with good results. Like Slim, I would like to see the next Skorpius do without the Boa, return to the Z-cable, and replace the velcro strap with a removable cam-buckle – just like these Kilos. The head scratcher for me is why there is only a 59 gm difference between the Kilo at 1136 gms and the Skorpius at 1195.

    1. Alex Rose-Innes

      I think there’s an important distinction which applies to ski boots which is often independent of weight and that’s functional differences. Some 1300g boots ski vastly differently or walk vastly differently. Some 1200g boots feel much heavier than a 1300g boot that has superior ROM. I think the Kilo will walk amazingly and have a mediocre ski performance. So much of the delta between 1100g and 950g is taking material away that does nothing to improve performance.

      1. Jason Albert

        Hey Alex, as usual, good points. Like many readers, I tend to be finicky. Fit is paramount, then, with a 1kg class boot, I’m looking for the basics as I guess we all are: walkability and descending. The walkability, no question, it’s sweet. The skiing, so far, is very un-mediocre. I’m not looking to take a boot like this and rage in variable 3D snow (I don’t trust the knee enough), but I was very impressed uphilling the other day and descending on super firm (2D) snow. The boots skied stiff with a just-supple-enough forward flex to really help drive the ski’s front ends. I was a bit surprised at how much I was enjoying them. In providing such great ROM, the skiability, thus far, isn’t really compromised. I’m not sure how light the snow is coming in from this weekend’s storm, but I can see folks using this boot with a big-fun powder ski in drier snow climates. Functionally, the Kilos feel light (prob a function of the ROM) and, it seems the designers left enough material to ensure a solid performing descender. I’m tracking down the 27.5 Skorpius CR IIs at my friend’s house to get a side by side comparison.

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