Lange RSJ 65 Ski Boots

The Lange RSJ 65 is a junior alpine ski boot at 65 flex on a junior last, for a kid who skis enough to be done with rental boots. It is a boot for a young skier who is progressing — not a boot to grow into.

The shell is polyurethane with a polyolefin cuff, closed by four aluminum buckles and a 30mm power strap. Lange lists a new junior liner for 26/27 and publishes nothing further about it. The 26/27 catalog lists 1,450 g. Color: Vibrant Blue.

Flex 65 is soft, and that is the point: a light skier cannot bend a stiff shell, and a boot that will not move is a boot that will not turn. The RSJ 65 suits a progressing junior learning to drive a boot. It is the wrong boot for a heavier, aggressive teenager who already loads a shell hard, and wrong for an adult with small feet hunting a bargain — a junior last and a 65 flex are not built for adult weight and leverage.

Lange builds this boot from 19.5 to 27.5. We stocked eight sizes for 26/27, 19.5 through 26.5, and the size dropdown is what we actually have. Lange publishes no last width in millimeters for it, only "Junior" — one more reason this boot gets bought on a fitted foot, not on a number. And the growth question, because it always comes up: a boot bought two sizes long does not buy you a season. It teaches a kid to fight the boot.

The sole is where parents get caught. Lange's 26/27 spec for this boot reads "GripWalk® compatible" — a junior alpine sole described as compatible, which is not the same statement as a boot that ships with a GripWalk sole. We are not going to blur that. So do not assume the boot and the binding on the skis are a match: a certified technician confirms which sole type that binding is built to accept, mounts to it, and sets and tests the release values.

Come in and get fitted before you order. Bring the skis if you have them.