Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD 130 Ski Boot Review

This season has been unique for me, specifically when it comes to ski boots. Having spent the last decade or so skiing almost exclusively in Nordica boots, I’ve broadened my horizons this season by spending time in lots of other brands as well. Perhaps you saw our Lange Shadow 130 review earlier this season. That continues to be a boot I spend a considerable amount of time in. Another boot that I’ve had on my feet quite a lot this season is the Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD 130 BOA GW. Perhaps the longest name in the history of ski boots, but a fantastic product. Full disclosure, I don’t do a tremendous amount of ski touring, and given the fact this is a hybrid alpine/touring boot, it’s not something I would ski in every day. I do, however, do a little bit of ski touring, so I always like to have a boot like this in my arsenal, and alpine performance is a big factor in choosing a 50/50 boot like this.

Atomic offers this exact boot for the current 2024 ski season, and it’s back again for 2025 unchanged. We do get new Prime and Magma boots (the 100 and 102 mm last versions) for 2025, which we can cover in another article sometime down the road. The Ultra versions are the narrowest, with a stated 98 mm last. Before we get into my experience in these boots, let’s run through some of their technology and features, of which there are many. The shell is constructed out of what Atomic calls True Flex PU/PU, which is an Atomic-exclusive material that I’ve been quite impressed with. It’s lightweight (1830 g in the 26.5 size), yet supportive and consistent in its flex. Other hybrid touring boots I’ve skied have more of a hinge point where you can push through the flex and the boot folds a little bit, but I haven’t had that happen in these. The walk/hike mechanism is called Free/Lock 4.5 and is the strongest mechanism Atomic uses in any boot. It’s super easy to use and I never had any issue going to and from walk and ski modes. Trustworthy, too. I’ve skied it pretty hard without any thought of it popping into walk mode, providing value peace of mind. When in walk mode, you get 54 degrees of motion, which felt intuitive and ergonomic for me.

At a Glance:

2025 Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD 130 Ski Boots

Atomic puts the whole thing together with their Prolite techniques, utilizing lightweight construction with supportive reinforcements in key areas of the boot. Essentially, certain sections of the boot are thinner than others, and the boot is bolstered in locations where you need it. The power strap is 50 mm wide and uses a quick-release system that’s relatively unique in my experience. Its functionality is pretty slick too. You just flip a little switch and can either tighten or loosen the strap just by pulling. Reminds me of the straps I use to secure a whitewater kayak on top of a car, but with a quick release system. Cool! The upper cuff has relatively traditional buckles, although they open a little wider than usual. There’s also a spring-loaded bar across the buckle ladders so you can quickly flip up the buckle closure without switching to a different spot in the ladder accidentally. It definitely comes in handy when going back and forth between ascents and descents. Soles are Skywalk GripWalk, and while I’m generally not a huge fan of GripWalk soles, it makes sense in these boots with their intended use, and the deep rubber treads are super grippy. I’ve walked through some sketchy rocky and/or icy situations on these boots with full confidence.

Then there’s that giant dial thing on the lower cuff… You didn’t think we’d forget about that, did you? Yes, these boots utilize the BOA system that’s been dominating the news cycle for ski boots over the past year. I’ll wait until we get to my experience to talk more about the benefits and drawbacks of BOA, but simply put, it absolutely works and the more I use it, the more normal it feels.

Moving on to the liner, these boots use Atomic’s Mimic Platinum system in a touring-specific design. Mimic is impressive technology. It’s not wildly unique, but I do think it’s better than most other similar liner systems from other brands. The pre-shaped heel, ankle, and tongue feature a layer of supportive, heat-moldable material that’s quite dense, but also relatively thin. Heat molding the liners is 100% necessary in these boots because of the density of that material. If you didn’t mold it, it would be quite painful I think. Heat it up, the material softens, then shapes and molds to your foot and ankle and goes back to its dense, thin feel. The fit that it achieves is fantastic, and important for me to fit into a relatively small boot like this, which we’ll get to momentarily. The only other thing I want to point out about the liner is the flex zone in the rear to allow for more rearward articulation when in walk mode. Certainly not unique to this boot, however, as my Nordica Unlimited 130 basically has the exact same design.

Now that we have most of the technical jargon aside, I’m happy to talk about my personal experience in these boots. I got these boots back in January on my trip to Utah with Atomic. This was a 2-day backcountry touring, cat skiing, and powder skiing trip with some fantastic snow conditions. Put yourself in my shoes. Would you want to go on a trip like that and ski a brand new boot not knowing how it would fit? If you’re anything like me (or most skiers), I would expect your answer is no. What I did, however, was fully commit to the concept by not even bringing a backup pair of boots, despite Atomic saying we should do exactly that. It was either going to work or it wasn’t going to work, and I was going to make it work. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of flipping the boot over and reading the sole of my 24.5. The sole reads “24.5 | 94 mm Narrow Last.” Yikes. Having just recently landed in Utah, my excitement quickly turned to concern. Had I made a serious mistake? My instincts told me yes. Luckily, Atomic had a boot fitting operation set up for us. I grabbed a beer to help ease me through the process and went about heat molding the liners. WOW! This boot with a 282 mm boot sole length and a 94 mm last printed on the sole all of a sudden started feeling pretty darn good. Tight, yes, but in a good way. This is where I really started to ponder why Mimic is so good. I think it’s just how thin it can become through the molding process, while still feeling exceptionally supportive.

With my recently molded ski boots, we headed into the backcountry just later that evening. The next day consisted of ski touring in the morning followed by cat-skiing in the afternoon. Waking up that morning, I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get these boots on. They are, with their narrow last, the smallest boots I own. Atomic puts 4 pull straps on the liner. Part of the reason is because of the importance of the molding process and really getting your ankle to fit into the correct spot on the liner, but I find them very helpful just putting the boot on in a normal situation too. It makes me wonder why all ski boots don’t have 4 pull straps? Pretty common to have one in front and one behind you, but having two more on the sides is fantastic. Once we were out on skis, I was very happy with these boots on my feet. To me, spending most of my time in alpine boots, they feel super light when touring. I know there are many far lighter boots on the market, but I feel like you’d have to be a true dedicated backcountry skier to want anything much lighter. I’m sure people are rolling their eyes reading this, but that’s at least my opinion. Plenty light enough for me. They feel intuitive and efficient when going uphill and felt like a perfect match with the Backland 109 skis and Shift 2 bindings I was on. Super easy to get in and out of walk mode, I just never felt like I was struggling or fighting with the boot.

On the descents during our touring morning, I found them playful, fun, and responsive. The snow was light and the terrain was relatively low angle, so it was a lot of bouncing and popping around through powder. Fantastic! I neglected to mention earlier that there’s an adjustment to forward lean. As it comes out of the box, you’re at a 15 degree forward lean, but you can move it to either 13 or 17. At first, with my park skiing background, I wondered if I would prefer 13, but the 15 degree lean feels perfect to me. Nice to have, however, for someone who might prefer 13 or 17. All in all, as a touring boot, they felt exactly how I want a touring boot to feel. Light enough for the uphill, easy to use, and supportive and fun on the downhill, but I knew I wasn’t really pushing them.

The afternoon and the following day consistent of cat-skiing in some DEEP snow and then a day at Powder Mountain in some even DEEPER snow. In that application, they once again excelled. I never put them into walk mode after that first morning on our trip. Honestly, compared to an alpine boot, when skiing conditions and terrain like that, I can’t even notice a difference. They’re plenty supportive and feel very trustworthy. Of course, just about anything will feel fun when you’re skiing knee to waist deep snow in Utah, but they genuinely felt great. I was consistently impressed by how comfortable I felt in them, both from a fit perspective and in regards to actual skiing performance. I felt like I could ski like myself and do whatever I wanted, which doesn’t happen in every new boot I try. Sometimes boots just feel weird. Sometimes I feel weird skiing in new boots. None of that happened in the Hawx Ultra XTD 130 BOA GW. While our touring morning I skied on the Backland 109, the remainder of the trip I switched between a Bent Chetler 120, Maverick 105 CTI, and Maverick 115 CTI. In the conditions and terrain we were skiing, it felt like a fantastic match to all of those skis.

Since my trip with Atomic, I’ve skied in them quite a lot here in Vermont and again took them out to Utah for a ski day at Deer Valley. While initially I didn’t find any limitations to alpine performance skiing them in almost strictly in powder, I’ve had more time at this point to put them to the test on different snow conditions, with different skis, etc. Does this boot have limitations to alpine performance compared to a non-touring boot? Yes. It does. What are those limitations? In my opinion, it’s focused squarely around carving performance and firm snow. If you’re trying to drive a dynamic carving turn on a relatively stiff ski on firm snow, you’ll find a limitation to the boot. They just don’t quite have the lateral support of a true alpine boot. It also doesn’t feel quite as stiff as an alpine boot with a 130 flex pattern. There is a nice supportive, progressive flex to this boot, but it doesn’t feel as powerful as something like a Speedmachine 130 or Shadow 130, two boots that I’ve spent a lot of time in. So, there is a difference between these boots and a true alpine boot, but keep reading…

I took them back out to Utah to ski Deer Valley with Rossignol. Deer Valley (spoiler alert) has different snow conditions than Stowe, Vermont. On that trip, I skied a lot on the new Rossignol Arcade 84 and 88, both of which excel at carving. In that terrain, on Utah snow, I didn’t find as much of a limitation, which was a valuable testing experience for me. Yes, there’s a difference between Hawx Ultra XTD 130 and an alpine boot, but it takes a fairly specific situation to get there.

Back to that giant dial thing on the lower cuff… does BOA actually provide any benefits? In my experience, yes. There are downsides too, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. First, there are more and finer adjustments. There are so many tiny little clicks in the BOA system, it really feels like you can more precisely adjust fit compared to buckles. It’s also exceptionally easy to use. Making adjustments during a ski day with a buckle boot certainly isn’t hard, but there’s more fumbling around with your pant cuff, spinning the buckles for micro-adjustments, etc. Again, it’s not that it’s hard to do, it’s just that there’s more to do. With BOA, you just reach down and turn the dial in either direction. For me, especially during my first days skiing in the boot, the ability to quickly make minor adjustments was really nice. I would loosen things up a touch at the bottom of a run, then go slightly tighter than the previous run when I got to the top of the lift. With buckles, you’re mostly just unbuckling and then re-buckling from run to run on the lower cuff. I rarely actually stop and take the time to micro-adjust buckles, even if I probably should. The other capability I found nice to have with BOA is completely popping it out and taking all the tension off the cables when touring. When we were transitioning to skins, I would just pop open the BOA and let my foot breath a little more before we started our ascent. While touring, I would engage the BOA again, but just dial it in to very slight tension on the forefoot.

The only downside I can come up with in regards to BOA is the ability to independently adjust what would normally be two buckles on the lower cuff. Sometimes that can be nice, particularly for people that suffer from sensitive insteps. I personally often find myself only releasing the second buckle (the one over your instep) to slightly reduce pressure, and sometimes I ski that way. Now, I should clarify here that in the Hawx Ultra XTD 130, I never specifically felt like the inability to separately adjust was hindering my comfort or performance, but I also think it’s something that’s worth noting and that could potentially be a downside for certain feet.

There’s a lot to say about these boots. I feel like I could keep going on and on about fit, performance, the liner, etc, but for the sake of conciseness, I’m going to stop here. They’re impressive, they’re packed with technology. It’s a very snug fit, but the responsiveness and performance is all there. I don’t know that everyone would be willing to ski in these boots with the fit I have in this tiny little 24.5 with its 94 mm last, but with Prime and Magma options, it’s going to be relatively easy to adjust the width and overall fit to your own personal preference.