Rossignol Vizion: The ski boot with maximum comfort and high performance

The French sports company Rossignol has been working on a completely new ski boot that will be launched this winter. They named this new highlight "Vizion" because it was probably linked to the vision of giving skiers a ski boot like never before. The ski boot should be as easy to put on and take off as a normal low shoe, but offer the same stability and performance as a normal alpine ski boot when skiing.

Conventional ski boots and their weak point
We all know this from previous ski boots. They are always the biggest weak point of the "system" because ski boots tend to pinch, cut into the skin and cause pain. Putting on and taking off ski boots is particularly difficult. If you drive to go skiing early in the morning and get to the top of the ski station, the ski boots are cold and hard and putting them on is already a real sporting feat until you have squeezed your foot into the ski boot. But taking them off at the end of the day's skiing is particularly painful if you have been wearing ski boots all day or even just half the day. You are already tired and almost a little exhausted and sometimes have to force your foot out of the stiff, tight plastic boot with massive effort - a real torture.

Rossignol Vizion
With the "Vizion" from Rossignol, the days of torture are over. You can slip into the ski boot effortlessly, without using your hands (!), almost like slipper shoes or panties, and take it off again almost as easily. This is a potential hit! Of course, the fear and objection of many experts was that there were already plenty of comfortable ski boots - think of ski boots with walking mechanisms and the like - but previous "comfort ski boots" are not as powerful as conventional alpine ski boots. The catch is that alpine ski boots are always rock hard to ensure maximum control between the ski boot and the ski. And that is precisely the highlight of the new Rossignol Vizion. Thanks to its sophisticated concept, it combines maximum comfort with the conventional performance of an alpine ski boot. How does it do that?

The concept of the Vizion
Without getting too technical, I will try to explain the construction of the new Vizion at this point. First, the shell was cut open up to the Achilles heel. This opens the boot almost up to the heel and makes it easy to get in. Second, a movable flap, the BI injected spoiler, was mounted on the cut-out part. This movable part closes the ski boot up to the lower calf. Third, this movable flap, i.e. the spoiler, was reinforced with a robust, articulated steel plate, which gives the spoiler massive support. Rossignol calls this element the Steel Spine. The last element is the double buckle, the Double Buckle. The second highest buckle is connected to the Steel Spine and the spoiler by a cable. When this buckle is opened, the spoiler, i.e. the rear flap in the calf area, is wide open and the entry into the ski boot is generously designed. As soon as you have stepped into the ski boot and are standing, you close the buckle, which closes the spoiler, i.e. this massively reinforced calf flap, if you like, and the ski boot is then securely closed. This ingenious double buckle system is particularly clever. The system is completed by an inner boot that is able to follow the movements of the outer shell. Rossignol calls this concept the "Step In Liner Full Custom". The following images and videos should illustrate the whole thing.

Now the whole secret is out. The Vizion from Rossignol is a conventional 4-buckle alpine ski boot that offers a sophisticated boot opening concept in the calf area, but is strong and stable enough to meet high demands on the performance of a ski boot. In the first winter, Rossignol is offering interested customers 9 different Vizion models, 5 models for men, 4 models for women. The men's models are available with a last width of 98 mm, 100 mm and 102 mm and with a flex of 100, 120 or 130, depending on the model. The ladies have 4 models to choose from with last widths between 98 mm, 100 mm and 102 mm and a flex of 80, 90 or 100. The models cost between CHF 500 and CHF 720.00 or € 450 to € 650. I think many skiers will be excited about these models, especially when they try them on for the first time.