Part ii, baked the liner and a short tour - SCOTT Cosmos III Ski Boot

The liner was baked which helped open up the throat and allowed the reinstallation of the laces. That said, it is a bit of a process to remove your foot from the liner without pulling the liner out of the boot. Care should be taken to completely slacken the laces and open up the liner, tongue and cuff. I suspect the soft liner aids performance while in hike mode.

Moving on to the cuff lock mechanism and buckles. The lock is easy to activate and the bale clasps on the buckles worked well keeping loosened bales in place while in hike mode. All buckles are micro adjustable and the tooth plates on the cuff may be moved to shorten or lengthen the cuff straps.

Due to the lack of early season snow, my first tour in these boots was limited to low angle slopes for six miles out and back. Fit was solid on the up and no foot movement or toe jamming was experienced. Coming down, I did not know what to expect making turns in softer flexing boot than I have been using. No problem.

Overall, my feet were warm, the boots were comfortable and they performed well. +++

As we get deeper into the season and more terrain is accessible, I will update this review.