The cold wasn’t all that cold in Park City, and thanks to an ongoing storm, conditions were superlative at the Mountain Resort: The area was being dumped on during the Festival weekend, with some four feet of snow materializing to use the most universal of storm size measures, Uber surge prices in Park City started around 6x and went as high as 12x for an SUV during peak evening hours. As soon as I learned there was an Adidas Samba snowboard boot, and people seemed to like it, that was that. It didn’t matter that I was a Burton loyalist while growing up, or that other new models caught my eye. It was early in my pre-trip Googling for “best snowboard boots,” then, that I came across the Adidas Samba, which was surprising - in my time away from snowboarding I had missed that Adidas had gotten into the game, and done so with a model name primarily associated with the soccer-style shoes I wore in sixth grade. I was happy to ride whatever duffer plank I rented for the afternoon, but had no desire to plunge my feet into the dank orifices of loaner boots. No time away from riding could erase my memories of rental shop grab-bag footwear, with lining that’s perma-damp for some indeterminate reason, and assorted internal facets and ridges ready to claw at your high ankle as soon as you’ve set off on your first run. What I wasn’t willing to risk was a pair of uncomfortable boots. It had been five years since my last snowboarding session, and since my Park City outing was one of opportunity during a work trip to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, my preparation had entailed simply raiding the dregs of my winter sports gear bag. And though I have a helmet, I can’t remember when I bought it, or why: it’s a Burton RED model colored a shade of deep brown that would prompt a living coil of feces to remark, “Christ, that looks like shit,” with a spherical shape that will be sub-optimal if aerodynamics ever actually matter in my riding. My gloves were adequate but old, with palm padding that was breaking down in real time, leaving trails of tiny black debris on anything I touched. That combo kept my torso dry, but because of the limited body coverage, every time my butt hit the mountain - be it when I was strapping into my board or, as the day went on, eating shit - fistfulls of slope would do flume runs down Ned Canyon. My proper snowsports coat was at my in-laws’s place, so I was wearing a waist-length winter bomber jacket with an autumn-weight rainjacket as a waterproof shell. I’ve never liked the way goggles limit peripheral vision, so I don’t own a pair instead I typically snowboard with a pair of sunglasses - except for when I forget to bring them to the mountain, which, on this day: that. The liner also feels very comfortable after molding to my foot.Let’s talk first about what I didn’t have, standing atop a Park City Mountain Resort trail in Utah on a 17-degree day in late January. The articulating cuff helps keep the boot shells natural shape and rigidity even when fully flexed. The power lace system works great over traditional lacing and is a good alternative to the ugly BOA lace system. I am an all mountain rider from the woods to the park and this boot feels like it will do a great job with what ever you throw at it. It's an excellent boot, not too stiff but not too hard also. Okay now that that is out of the way I can talk about the boot itself. If you have a bit of wiggle room in an Adidas size 8 shoe you might want to consider sizing down a half and heat mold the boot liner with a cut sock toe cap under your snowboard socks (REI's video on Youtube explains this technique the best) or just allowing the boot to pack out naturally because I personally would prefer the pain of breaking them in over having a too much room in any boot but that's just me, If you like having room then by all means get what feels comfortable for you. ![]() Adidas are pretty consistent with seizing with all their footwear so if you are an 8 in Adidas shoes there is a good chance that an 8 in their boots will be a perfect fit for you (lets just say a pair of Busenitz because I'm sure anyone who is buying this boot has a pair of those to skate in, just a guess). The key is knowing what size you wear in Adidas shoes for obvious reasons. Okay so I'll write this to save the trouble for people attempting to determine what size they should get in this boot and probably any other Adidas boot because I hate vague reviews when I am looking for fit details.
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