First Impressions: K2 Darko BOA Conda Snowboard Boots 2010/11

Posted: 08 August 2011 01:18 PM

Since this is the first bit of new kit I’ve bought i a while I thought I’d share the joy…
I had (for 3 seasons) A pair of Saloman F22’s - 44.5. Relatively stiff 7/10, Light & with a small footprint.
My riding stile is pretty much all about high speed descents and powder when I can get it and the f 22’s worked well with my 161 ride fleetwood. Then the right foot started to get really uncomfortable (Why is that?)

But after two consecutive seasons of “Black Toe” and finally stacking harder than ever before at Val Thorens, April last season, I decided to stop being cheap and go shopping for new boots. After wandering around the station I found myself in Intersport Péclet. I was looking at the Burton Driver but they didn’t have my size but a cool staffer gave e me a tour (about 2 hours worth) of everything that they had, finally getting to the K2’s. Now I think in freeride or freestyle terms so all this “All Mountain” talk seems a bit vague to me and normally I would never even have tried the Darko’s. But the guy in the shop talked them up so much I figured what the hell….

Imressions:

Colour - Teal Green.
Not exactly discreet (Now I think they’re SICK!!!)

Comfort - Ridiculous
Wore them like slippers in the apartment

Closure - Boa & Traditional lacing
First Boa boot I’ve tried. Found the system very strange.
The Boa tightens a section over the instep on the inner boot. This was ok in the shop but it took
some getting used to and took me a while to find the right tightness balance for riding. Once that was sorted though I found that the heel hold was very good, really secure without over tightening which I tended to do with the F22’s

Feel - Harsmellow Sole
Another first for me and though I appreciate the shock absorption benefits but in the beginning the I felt a little disconnected from the board when riding, but on the plus side, less joint ache at the end of the day.

Feel / Stiffness - 7/10
Apparently one of the stiffer boots in the line up. And the single biggest reason these boots were recommended to me given my riding style. Again after the 22’s this felt a little sluggish while riding so I bought some velcro straps, the kind skiers use and put those around the top of the outer boot which helped a lot with the response.

So there we go. Got about three days with this set up and only on groomed slopes & hardpack. I really like the boots. Even though I still think these are “Freestyle” boots I had a lot of fun with them and I’m looking forward to really taxing them next season. As I said before, given the classification of these boots I would never have tried them. Glad I did, glad I had good advice.

Cheers