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Review: La Sportiva Stratos Hybrid

Where a fine skimo boot fits into the boot quiver.

By

Gavin Hess

Photo: Adam Wirth

Photo: Adam Wirth

Overview We’ve talked lots about the La Sportiva Kilo family of boots on The High Route over the past year or so. Before the Kilo, La Sportiva had a hint of greatness with the Skorpius boots, which were well-loved by many as a mid-weight option. Simultaneously, La Sportiva has offered a variety of race and…

Responses

  1. Alex Lee

    Thanks for the review Gavin! Quick question for ya-How is the zipper on the gaiter holding up? …In my experience with Spotiva race boots past, this is the first thing to go, annoying to repair, and an unfortunate failure point.

    1. Gavin Hess

      Hey Alex,

      No issues so far with the zipper. On both the DNA and PG Mountain I was stressed about the high-strain on the zipper, but it seems like the gaiter is less snug and the zipper a bit less tight on these, so I dont imagine it will be a premature failure point.

  2. Spencer Dillon

    I would also enquire, from a wear perspective, on the hooks for the cuff closure. I have basically bent the hooks the string attaches to open trying to get the cuff relatively tight on a pair of race boots with the same cuff setup. Did you glue on a powerstrap? or just ski more gently than I can? I would love to switch out these dumb hooks for the Dynafit DNA closure mechanism. worth 10g.

    And did you find the ski/walk lever disengaged in ski mode if the cuff wasn’t sufficiently tight?

    1. Gavin Hess

      Hey Spencer,

      I have thought about swapping to the DNA closure mechanism as it is certainly more robust and user friendly, but I haven’t had any issues with bending the hooks on mine. No powerstrap on these, I wanted to maintain the one step transition. I wouldn’t say I’ve been overly gentle with regard to conditions or ski pairings, but I would say I’m generally not overly aggressive or hard on my gear/boots so perhaps that is a factor.

      The walk lever is certainly somewhat reliant on having some tenison in the string system, which was never an issue for me in normal use.

  3. Christian Strachan

    Just curious if it’s ever possible/advisable to put in a full (non-bikini) liner in these kinds of boots, assuming one can remove the cuff foam?

    1. Gavin Hess

      Yes! I went that route with the Dynafit DNA with good success. Intuition used to make the ‘Tour Mod’ liner that was pretty sweet for this purpose. My word of caution would be to be careful that the liner isnt so bulky as to stress the gaiter zip – that could lead to premature failure.

      I’m sure you could get better ski performance with a full liner, but the walking with the bikini is pretty dang nice. The Pierre Gignoux mountain liner is probably a good starting point.

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