Scarpa Diva A/T Boot
June 27, 2008
It’s summer! What better time for a ski boot review? Okay, so I’m a little behind on my gear review pile. But Scarpa said they won’t be making changes to the boot so this review still applies to next year’s Diva. So in a way, I got to test a prototype!
This boot was tested by two, count ‘em, TWO Geargals. One of whom (me) does the writing, and the other provides thoughtful, technical appraisals such as “I love them! They’re white, and they’re called Divas!” Hmm. Guess I’m on my own on this one.
They are pretty and have a cute name, but there are other reasons to love this boot. They’re light. They’re Dynafit compatible. They have Intuition moldable liners (heaven!). They’re nicely stiff, and even if they’re not stiff enough, they come with an extra super mega-stiff tongue that can be swapped out with the hinged, flexible touring tongue. Scarpa told me “it’s like getting two boots in one!” which I’ll just have to take their word for because not only am I a touring skier, I’m a lazy touring skier who doesn’t like to carry extra things and therefore never lugged the extra tongues up any mountains to test them out. I also didn’t want to sit in the snow trying to swap out ski boot tongues, so I never even tried to see how easy or difficult it was to do. Bad tester! I’m, er, sure they’re really nice tongues though.
So, I only skied the Divas with the flexible touring tongue, but even so, the boot was plenty stiff for me, a welcome relief after trying other mushy touring boots. The micro-adjustable four buckles made for a snug, custom fit, though with the genius instep strap, the fourth buckle almost seems superfluous. That instep strap is probably the best idea ever (except for all of the other “best ideas ever” I’ve mentioned in this blog) because it completely eliminates heel lift and lateral slop. It’s awesome! Not in the classic sense of awesome as in “inspiring awe” but awesome as in “totally rad!” Look I said I was behind on the reviews. You’re stuck with “awesome.” And awesome is how these boots ski – in all conditions they were solid and dependable. I was surprised at how well the boots performed on ice and in various other lousy ski conditions – usually a light boot means a performance trade-off, but not this time. For serious alpine touring divas, the Diva really is the holy grail. Do all rave reviews fall back on that hackneyed metaphor? Gads, I’m slipping.
The instep strap buckle itself, while an excellent design, is kind of nonintuitive and a little strange to adjust – at first look, it appears to be kind of a ratchet type of system, which I guess it is, but it doesn’t really ratchet. You just shove it through the buckle and then strap it down. It would be nicer if you could ratchet it tight when it’s already buckled, so that you don’t just have to just guess how much to shove through. My other tester reported problems with ice buildup in the buckle when she’d undo it while skinning up. I didn’t have that problem, mostly because I skin with my boots buckled, but I can see how it could happen.
The Divas shine in the uptrack, as well, in large part thanks to that very nice flexible touring tongue. I think that the hallmark of a good touring boot is that you really don’t notice it much while skinning, and the Diva fits that bill perfectly. While trudging up the mountain (otherwise known as “touring”, but come on – it’s just trudging up the mountain. No amount of sugar coating will change that), you don’t have to think about, be distracted by, or otherwise notice the Divas. If you’re coming from a heavier boot, you might notice how light the Divas are, but that is an acceptable distraction for certain.
Comments
6 Responses to “Scarpa Diva A/T Boot”
Thanks for the review…I’m thinking about getting these boots and am worried that they’ll be too much for my weight. Basically, I’m not a big person (5′4″ and 120 lbs.) but I am an aggressive skiier. I’m currently using Men’s Scarpa Lasers which are nice and all for slogging uphill but are essentially like wearing jello while I’m on the way down.
I’m trying to decide between this boot and a 3 buckle model (i.e. the Scarpa Star Lite). I need a pair of boots that matches my skiing ability but compensates for the fact that I don’t have lots of weight to throw around. Any thoughts you have would be super…
Thanks!
-Kristen
Hi Kristen,
The Diva is very popular and lots of women here ski on them, but I personally fell in love with the Star Lite (also reviewed on this site). it’s lighter and softer, and still is great to ski in. You might want to give it a shot!
~Head Geargal
If you have a high instep this is not the boot for you.
I have a really high instep and I loved the Divas. Maybe you have the wrong size or didn’t mold the liners correctly.
I just bought the Diva in June so have only skied on it once this summer. These boots are replacing an older pair of Scarpa Magics that were giving me terrible boot bang on my right shin. It got so bad this spring that I ended up with a bone contusion that has lasted well into the summer. After skiing the Divas I’m concerned these may be too stiff and continue causing contusions. Does anyone have a solution to solving the contusion problem?
Hi Kim,
My first inclination is to think that your bone contusion is not yet properly healed; making any ski boot painful. My experience is that any overuse injury involving bone takes a LONG time to heal. You might want to give it a bit more time to heal before you ski. Be sure you’re using the softer (white) tongue rather than the stiff (black) tongue as well.
Another thing to consider: did you have them properly fitted? If you’re having this problem with more than one boot, perhaps a fit adjustment is in order.
I’ve also found that this type of boot is more of a balance-y type of boot; it’s not really necessary to smash your shin into the boot the way we used to have to do it back in the day. Find a balance point and influence the boot rather than push it. It works for me…
If you really are struggling in the Divas, you should check out the Star Lites. Same balance, softer plastic. But really – I’d give your bone contusion more time to heal. My stress fractures sadly took YEARS to fully heal and sometimes I wonder if they’re not still causing issues. What does your doc say?