You’ll likely feel a more progressive flex in a three-piece design – commonly identified by a soft flex to start as you push into the tongue, with the stiffness ramping up the more your ankle flexes. All in, a three-piece typical gives a smooth flex, almost like that of a suspension spring – rather than what is frequently identified as a brick wall feeling of an overlap touring boot.

In the Lupo lineup of boots, Dalbello have borrowed tech from their classic Krypton three-piece design and brought it into a touring boot. This, the Lupo 130 C carries a familiar, progressive flex, with an inbuilt walk mode and the ability to remove the tongue for increased cuff range of motion.

“The Lupo 130 C carries a familiar, progressive flex”

On top of the three-piece design, the Lupo 130 C comes with a low cuff hinge point, meaning that the boot cuff follows the natural movement of your leg as you flex, giving you a further and of course, more natural range of motion as you’re skinning along.

On top of the lower cuff hinge point, the Lupo 130 C comes with removable tongues, meaning that you can increase the range of motion during your ascent by taking out the stiff tongues, popping them in your pack for the ascent. This not only decreases friction within your stride, but also decreases the weight of your boots by around 150 grams – a gram on your feet equals two in your pack and all that.

Coming in at 1920 grams when in full downhill mode, this boot is by far the lightest out there, but with this weight, you’re getting one of the best performing downhill boots in this roundup of backcountry skiing equipment.

Pair these boots with one of the heavier weight skis, such as the Faction Dictator 3.0, Blizzard Rustler 10, or Head Kore 117, with a Tyrolia Adrenalin 16 or Atomic Shift and you’ve got yourself a setup that’ll be a weapon through all conditions, at any speed – buckle up and go!

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