Tecnica Dragon 120 reviewed
Ok, first me.
I am 5'10" and 190 lbs. 6th season back to skiing after many years off. In my book I am a level 6 skier, though some may say a little better than that, whatever. I have skied the Diablo Fires for the previous 3 seasons which I believe were a 90 flex. My foot description is above.
Last season, I felt my boots were just feeling to sloppy/loose in the top of the arch/ankle area. My skis often felt like they were being pushed around when in deeper snow and especially when in tracked out snow with big deflection points in my path.
The Dragons changed all that. In my first 3 days on them, 2 were serious powder days and I skied the most controlled that I have ever skied deep powder. Now part of that is likely that I went up to a 191 powder ski from a 179 last season
, but at all times there was no sloppiness in how the boot felt. I tracked smoothly through the snow with no deflection when hitting some pretty tracked out conditions. The third day was a performance day as the conditions went from very soft to Mammoth wind blown firm powder conditions. I put on my Thunders and honestly, for my 3rd day back on snow this season, just blew up.
I am uncertain if it was the perfect conditions, the boots, the skis or all 3, but I had an EPIC day. The snow was firmer on top, but you could break through the crust and find yourself in 2-3 feet of soft snow if you slowed down. There were lots of deflection points as the snow was pretty cut up in areas. Frankly, last season these conditions caused me problems on the same skis and that day I just ripped (for me) as my boots just kept the skis tracking where I wanted to go, so I could keep my speed up, and not break through the snows crust. I was in wind buff heaven.
The bad news is each day I would feel my toes getting cold (it was 14 degrees out) from I believe lack of circulation. I would take a 15 minute break in the morning after a few hours and again at lunch to loosen the boots and let some blood in. Oddly enough, the 3 hours after lunch I never had the same feeling and all was good. These boots fit very snug all around my foot. The heel/Achilles fit is really snug and there is no sloppiness in the fit in the boot at all. I think with a few more days on them, the liner will pack down a bit more and my toes will get a bit more blood to them, there for, no more cold/numb big toe.
On groomers or anything firm, these boots made skiing a real joy. Just lean into the shin of the boot and I was craving as good as I every have even with my Goliaths on (109 under boot powder ski).
In summary, a pair of boots that fits you well with no sloppiness in it makes a world of difference. I had no adjusting done to these by a boot fitter. For my foot, the Tecnica brand is pretty much perfect out of the box. I love these boots.
