Seeing the new fleet of AT boots from Crispi was a welcome addition, as they haven’t updated their AT boots in years. At first glace, the Pebax SKr!!m was handsome, with trim buckles and not a lot of showy nonsense. The standard three-buckle placement of forefoot, heel and shin, plus a powerstrap is nothing new, but exactly where I like them to be. The sparse, lugged sole looked good for scrambling and moving over more technical terrain, and the ski-mode lock-out looked dependable.

Getting into the boot was easy, and ratcheting down the buckles gave way to an enjoyable first impression of the boot’s comfy bosom. The liner didn’t wow me, as do few AT liners that aren’t Intuition. That said, it was comfortable, and I thought it held my heel snugly into the ankle pocket, something I take special notice of. Visions of ski touring immediately came to mind.

I paired them with a fairly wide ski (108mm underfoot) and spent a few runs making shorter and medium radius turns. Like just about every boot I skied, the lateral side to side precision was there, and putting the ski on edge was a no brainer. Once I left the groomed runs, I felt the flex’s true colors on non-maintained ski runs. The Skr!!m’s consistency was a little softer than what I perceived when arcing turns on the hardpack. Instead, I felt I was falling forward into my ski tips a little. In good backcountry powder this wouldn’t be a problem, but for broken snow, they required a little more effort on my part to stay centered over the ski.