Review - Disruptive Hard Boot - from Key Equipment
What we liked …
Surfy ride, and the solid up-hill performance.
What we didn’t …
Niggle with liner, and too adjustable strap.
The Verdict
THE SHORT READ…
For a new to market product, the Key Equipment Disruptive is a great step forwards into the hard boot world, it was solid on the way up - loose and easy on the way down, there may well be improvements in the pipe line, but I for one am more than happy with my purchase.
And if you want to read about the range of hard-boot kit on offer, you can check out our “Going Hard” article, here.
This review is for the 2023 boot, last season they moved from a soft tongue to a firmer plastic one, which still allows a good flex while riding. For 2024/25 season they have a new lighter plastic bottom half in a limited edition run of 80 pairs (these are being worn by Krister Kopala who is riding some very big lines). The new 100g/foot lighter boots will also have a Vibram sole and are available from Oct 2024, in 27, 28 and 29 cm only, with hopefully more sizes and availability in Oct 2025.
THE LONG READ …
Last season I probably spent more time talking about hard boots, and hard boot set ups, than I did actually riding in them.
What with Brexit, a new product, and my dithering I didn’t get my hands on the Key Equipment - Disruptive until late Feb, by which time I’d already had a lot of my seasons splitboarding trips. But I did manage a week in the Picos de Europa, Spain and a week of weather effected riding in the Lyngen Alps of Norway. So, while I can’t claim to be able to write an authoritative review of the Disruptive, I can give you my first thoughts on the new to market hard boot and boy they’re some nice thoughts, all be it with a few niggles.
The Disruptive is a collaboration between the guys at Furberg Snowboards and Plum bindings, apparently they both independently contacted the Italian ski boot manufacturer Roxa, at the same time, to discuss making a splitboarding specific hard boot. Having chatted with the crews at both Phantom and Key Equipment, it was obvious that a start-up simply can’t afford the costs of designing a boot from scratch, so the only way forward is to customise a suitable boot, that is if that manufacturer will let you.
After a lot (if fact far too much) deliberating as to the best boot option for my new Phantom bindings set up, I ran with the Disruptive. Firstly, to save money on the Phantom Slipper, secondly Andy, from the Backdrop crew, had already bought the slipper (one reason for this was Disruptive doesn’t come in a size big enough, 290 mondo foot is the max size on offer) and I thought we should try out both options and lastly, I’m in the UK so a boot from the Alps over one from the US kept the carbon impact to a minimum, as the boots, including all the individual parts, are produced within a 800 km radius of their headquarters in the Haute-Savoie region in France.
The Boot
Out the box I did notice the weight, at 1430g per boot (on the kitchen scales) they are 200g/boot heavier than my Van Infuse soft boot, although when you take into account the savings in weight on a hard boot set up’s hard-wear it’s negligible, especially underfoot as you carry the Phantom bindings in your backpack on the way up.
The boots look kick ass Darth Vader mean, and are well constructed with a seemingly glued on 8KV Walk sole, which offers a deep grip and performed well every time I had to step out of the ski on the way up. One thing I noticed straight away was how easy it was to kick steps into hard packed snow, when boot packing, compared to my soft boots.
The two Velcro straps, which have slightly different non-adjustable buckles, are both fully adjustable - which is both a blessing and a curse. I loved the way you could easily adjust the tightness across your feet and around your shin, but I couldn’t seem to find the sweet spot every day, and I would often find myself having to move the Velcro straps. I think once you’ve worked out exactly how tight you want the boots you could possibly stitch in a piece of cotton as a marker.
When in hike mode I’d simply undo the top buckle, it is suggested that you put the shin strap on the inside of the tongue, to allow for a long stride, but I didn’t find it necessary and found having to undo the Velcro strap and move the tongue hassle when transitioning.
The disruptive kept my foot dry, even when crossing the odd shallow stream, and I never got cold feet, although I did buy on the larger side so there’s plenty of air around my toes and it wasn’t that cold in Spain or Norway.
The very handy clip at the back of the boot, allows for two settings of forward lean, and is simply folded up in walk mode, it also has four other micro adjustments which can be moved by undoing two allen/hex keys.
The Palau inner is lace up and very thick, with lots of padding. One slightly annoying thing is there’s an internal screw thread that started to rub a hole in the liner, in the achilles area, but when I mentioned this to the Key equipment team they advised to rectified it with a small piece of gaffer tape, which seems to have worked. As my boots are version-one I’d hope the problem is now addressed at source from now on.
The Disruptive is available from 23.5 to 29 mondo, so will cover most people, but no bigger than a UK 10:5/US 11:5.
The Ride
On the way up I can safely say that there is almost no comparison to a soft boot, the response and traction was everything I’d hoped for. I pushed myself across icy hard pack and still held a firm down-hill ski edge, which was the main reason I switched to a hard boot set up. Unfortunately, I did get hot spots on the inside of both heels from skinning, but with a compeed and some sports tape it didn’t blister. This may not happen if you buy a tighter fitting boot, but as I was in the UK and the factory is in France I took a gamble on sizing and went with my normal soft boot size.
My first ride down was on near sheet ice in the Picos, which wasn’t the best conditions for testing, but I made turns, held an edge, and got back to the van in one piece. My next few rides were a lot more successful and a few days in I wasn’t even thinking about the boots, while making some easy carve turns in the spring slush. Late April in Norway I got some powder and the boot responded with easy surf like turns and were a real joy to be in.
One thing I loved was that I also had some long near flat approaches in Norway, which I split-skied out of, on the way back to the car – i.e. took the skins off. It was a little terrifying skiing without my heels clipped in to anything, and with a couple of straps you could attach your heels to the Phantom risers, but I didn’t bother and it was very funny seeing my ski touring mates, who had set in for a long wait, see me skiing through the forest just behind them.
New plastic tongue, not the new for 2024/25 limited lighter version.
Summery
With only a few weeks of use, all be it in differing conditions, and taking into account its a new to market product, the Key Equipment Disruptive is a great step forwards into the hard boot world, it was super solid on the way up and loose and easy on the way down, which ticks the boxes of why I wanted to switch to a hard boot set up. There may well be improvements in the pipe line, but I for one am more than happy with my purchase and, blisters aside, I did love riding in the Disruptive even if I did slip straight back into my Van’s for a late season family holiday. I think I’ll only be in the hard boots when touring as for up and down the Disruptive is king, but for down hill only softs still get my vote.