Soft or Stiff snowboard boots

[Jonathan Hall]

It's probably a personal preference, but I was wondering if snowkiters prefer soft support boots or stiffer boots. At the resort, park riders prefer soft (free style) boots where I just ride the mountain and like fairly stiff boots to transfer the energy. Snowkiters that unhook and do boxes and rails probably prefer freestyle boots but kiters that ride miles and boost air I would think like more support from their boots. I appreciate any thoughts ya'll might have.

[matt dadam]

At the ski hill I've been riding super stiff (burton drivers) boots for years. Love the response and support for speed, cliff drops, powder turns, euro carves... When I started kiting I stayed with the drivers. After a few season's of kiting i am on mid-stiff boots, softer than my drivers by far. I am liking the softer flex much better for kiting. The flex is nice when kiting for: long tacks when edging hard, lateral flex which seems more prevalent when kiting for some reason, and for tweaking out that grab cause kiting tends to bring out the freestyler that lies deep whithin in all of us. I just don't think the need for the responsiveness and support is the same for kiting versus freeriding. I am still on pretty stiff (burton P1) bindings however and have yet to experiment with softer bindings when kiting.

I'll bet billy would have some input being a hardbooting freak and freestylin kiter.

[Jonathan Hall]

Thanks for your input Matt. The drivers are the boots that I'm considering because they would be great at the resort and perhaps good for snowkiting. Have your drivers softened up at all? I use the mission bindings which seem about medium flex...you use P1 bindings which are stiff (with a softer boot) so I wonder if it all balances out.

[bordy]

personal comfort, is key. anyboot will do. I rock drivers some days, ions others and sarrows on the freashey pow days, Sonw kiting is for sure not snowboarding, there are very few toe side turns, in snowboarding this is were the boot flex is key. You still have lateral and medal flex on the snowkite, but your binding is there for the true support. so how much "tweak"you want tip to tail is the factor in snowkiting that the flex will effect, also having a stiffer boot help on the hard landings. I rock P1s or Cartels depending on the board and the snow. I would buy a boot you want to snowboard with, and then use it snowkiting.