The Most Versatile Hybrid Boot I’ve Ever Skied: Scarpa 4-Quattro GT Review

I die a little bit inside every time I see the word “hybrid” in a ski boot description. It’s historically a euphemism for “great at nothing.” So I was feeling standoffish from the start with the Scarpa 4-Quattro GTs, less than eager to sink days of testing into a boring product and lots of uphill hours in an alpine boot masquerading as a legitimate touring option.

I slipped the 4-Quattros ($670) on my feet and walked around. Huh, I thought to myself. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. I grabbed a bundle of skis and set out toward the accumulating snow. I proceeded to eat my words when I snapped into my bindings and flipped the boot levers into ski mode.

The 2025/26 4-Quattro GTs add a few important upgrades to Scarpa’s 4-Quattro lineup, which has been around for a few seasons. It’s aimed at appealing to vastly more skiers who face the one-boot-for-everything dilemma. After many days in the resort and several on the skin track, I couldn’t help but wonder, are these backcountry boots that can drive alpine skis or alpine boots that can go uphill?

I leaned in to find out.

In short: Scarpa’s new 4-Quattro GT is sturdy, progressive, and consistent on piste. On the skin track, they sport the best-in-class range of motion. Subtle details in the new boot only add to the versatility. The GTs are significantly more accommodating than others in the lineup and distinctly warmer. They’re also heavier and softer. It’s a combination that will suit a very broad range of skiers on both sides of the resort boundary.

Check out our guide to the best Backcountry Ski Boots.

Scarpa 4-Quattro GT Review

Scarpa’s 4-Quattro line has grown significantly since GearJunkie broke the news on the original 4-Quattro XT. Since then, Scarpa has added an even stiffer 130+ flex 4-Quattro Pro, a softer 120 Flex 4-Quattro SL, and the new-for-2026 110 flex 4-Quattro GT — the softest and most affordable option in the lineup.

At $230 cheaper than the flagship model, the 4-Quattro GT is going to make a lot of sense for a lot of skiers this year. But the 4-Quattro GT isn’t just softer and cheaper than its siblings — it offers a more accommodating fit, different build materials, and better insulation for skiers who find themselves doing a lot of walking around in the snow.

Fit

Slipping my feet into the 4-Quattro GTs was a relief. They’re really easy to get into compared to other boots, like Scarpa’s own Maestrale RS. Once my dawgs were inside, more relief. The 101mm-lasted GTs are noticeably roomier in the forefoot than the rest of the 4-Quattro family’s 100mm last. So right off the bat, I was happy.

I almost could hear the bootfitters of my teenage years: “If your feet are happy, the boots are too big.”

I blame them for the shape of my feet to this day, but that’s a story for another time. Despite ultra-high arches, my feet are at least average width. The size 27 4-Quattro GTs felt good on my U.S. Men’s 10 feet. I added a Remind Remedy Impact 5.5mm Custom Arch Heat Moldable footbed after ditching the placeholder factory insole.

The 4-Quattro GTs are accommodating. However, I wouldn’t call them cavernous, sloppy, or even overly roomy. They fit about how I’d expect a boot with these intentions to fit. My ultra-high arches didn’t explode even with the thicker Remind insole inserted. It’s the type of boot I could actually wear all day without needing to tote around a bag of ibuprofen.

So while they’re designed to be roomy, that’s in comparison to the rest of the distinctly low-volume 4-Quattros. And it’s one of the few boots I’ve tried that didn’t have a painful break-in period.

Build

The 4-Quattro GTs utilize a two-piece overlap shell/cuff design with a full-length articulating PU tongue. Four stout, plentifully leveraged buckles pull it all together for an honest and consistent alpine boot feel.

All locked down, the tension felt solid across my foot and lower leg. Despite the unique shape of my feet, there were no noticeable pinch points. The tongue/shell/cuff combo dispersed tension nicely.

Best of all, there’s not a rivet in sight. Every buckle and feature is bolted on, so they’re easy to adjust and replace.

Materials & Design

The 4-Quattro GT’s shell and cuff are made from polyurethane (PU) rather than the mix of PBax Rnew, Grilamid Bio, and carbon of its stiffer siblings. It’s a common material for alpine ski boots, offering a damp, smooth flex. It’s also easy to modify in the shop.

But PU is heavy. It mostly explains the nearly 200g difference between the GT and the SL models.

The 4-Quattro GT also diverges from its brethren in the footbed. Scarpa aimed to make the 4-Quattro GT the warmest in the line, primarily by blocking cold transfer from the snow with a multi-layered footbed. I definitely stood around in the snow for a long time. As advertised, my feet did not get particularly cold.

I could say the same for most other beefy ski boots I’ve been in. Maybe that’s because my feet don’t tend to get that cold. Or maybe it’s because I’m not throwing bombs with Ski Patrol at 6 o’clock in the frigid morning with my ski boots on. So, although it’s something I personally struggled to notice, folks working on the ski hill will appreciate Scarpa’s attention to halting cold transfer.

Sole Compatibility

The 4-Quattro GTs are one of the few high-performance touring boots with GripWalk-compatible soles. That means they’re equally at home with a GripWalk binding as they are with a full tech binding, or any kind of hybrid like a Salomon Shift, Marker Kingpin/Duke, or the new ATK HY. It’s one of the few legitimate 50/50 resort/touring options out there right now that can tour with the best of them and also lock in for a day of resort shredding.

Why don’t all ski touring boots flatten the soles’ forefoot to be compatible with GripWdealk? You trade some grip on rock and snow compared to a fully lugged touring boot like the Scarpa Maestrale. I found that while scrambling around on rocks, they just don’t have the same bite or confident feel with a plastic plate underneath.

Thankfully, they’re equally compatible with crampons for when the backcountry terrain ticks up into the more extreme realm. It’s a small sacrifice that makes a ton of sense for the 4-Quattro GT and its ability to pilot my entire ski quiver.

Touring in the 4-Quattro GT

It would be easy to mistake these ski boots for a straight-up Alpine Boot. But like its siblings, it’s a legitimate touring boot.

Cracking open the ski/walk lever doesn’t just yield an après-style walk mode, or even just a “you can hike in these for a little while” type articulation. The 4-Quattro GT frankly surprised me with its 60 degrees of articulation, which is in the same ballpark as one of the best midweight ski touring boots of all time, the new Scarpa Maestrale.

Here’s the cold, hard truth: boot companies fudge the articulation numbers. There are several touring boots out there whose cuff may articulate the full claimed ROM, but they only provide a fraction of that once you stuff a foot and ankle inside.

Scarpa is not one of those brands. Like the Maestrale and even F1, the 4-Quattro gives you that full 60 degrees, even if there’s noticeably more friction in the articulation than a lightweight two- or three-buckle boot.

The 4-Quattro GTs are significantly heavier, but they tour better than the Tecnica Zero G Tour Pro, the boot that many skiers worship as the pinnacle of lightweight four-buckle touring boots. Even though the 4-Quattro’s listed ROM is 5 degrees less than the ZGTP, the real-world articulation is higher, especially backward.

So while the 4-Quattro GTs lean into the resort skiing side of the touring-to-resort spectrum, they do so without sacrificing a stellar walk mode that, frankly, leads the four-buckle boot class. It’s a high bar that other manufacturers will struggle to match anytime soon.

Skiing the 4-Quattro GT

When I first donned the 4-Quattro GTs, I caught myself inflating my own ego. No way could a 110-flex touring boot provide enough support for me at the resort, a self-described “powerful” 195-pound skier. And again I was eating my words. The 4-Quattro GTs don’t ski like touring boots. They actually ski a lot more like alpine boots.

I dropped in on a big open face. I leaned them hard to the left. Then I took a big, hard turn to the right. I pushed heavily into the tongues and drove my edges into the snow. 110 flex is definitely on the softer side for full-on freeriding at my size. Still, the progressive nature of the flex supported my weight and force. The boots feel stout despite their scant weight (compared to most alpine boots).

The comfortable fit and good heel hold made them feel quick and responsive in the snow conditions I encountered, and with a bundle of different skis.

The Intuition liners, as always, were excellent. They’re a highlight of this boot and every other boot from Scarpa. The thick, comfortable build transferred energy and power from my foot to the shell to my skis remarkably well. (My aftermarket footbeds definitely helped, too.)

No, they weren’t like 130+ Flex race boots in terms of dampness and progressive flex. I could bend them very deeply at full blast on my carving skis. But for freeriders who are skiing all over the mountain and hiking to hard-to-reach terrain, the support they provided felt plentiful, especially for a boot that’s technically a hybrid.

The benefit of being softer is that they’re easy to engage when you’re moving more slowly. They felt easy skiing in the trees, moguls, and through techy chutes.

How It Compares

Compared to most ski touring boots, the 4-Quattros felt noticeably damp thanks to the PU construction. And yeah, that adds some weight, but skiers taking these boots to the resort every day will very much appreciate it.

The 4-Quattro GT specs a Velcro power strap that I wasn’t in love with. I’d always prefer a high-quality elastic power strap to further enhance the fit and power transfer, like the one that comes on the 4-Quattro Pro and XT models. It’s an upgrade I’ll probably make in the future.

There aren’t many (if any) ski boots that can transition as seamlessly from backcountry skiing to resort shredding as Scarpa’s 4-Quattros. Would I personally bump up to a stiffer version of the boot if it were my daily driver at the resort? Probably. I’m large, and I like long skis. But man, would I regret losing the accommodating fit and the friendly, easy-to-engage character of the 4-Quattro GT.

And dropping a few hundred grams with the stiffer SL, XT, and Pro versions wouldn’t hurt in the backcountry, either.

Scarpa 4-Quattro GT Hybrid Ski Boot: Conclusion

The 4-Quattro GT has carved out a nice little niche for itself. It’s a supportive four-buckle boot that leans into damp, progressive, and smooth skiing with its polyurethane build, even if it isn’t trying to be the stiffest freeride boot out there.

I’d say it’s a boot for low-key cruising, but that would undersell its capability to ski hard and fast, especially when the slopes are graced with some light and fluffy snow. They can hang with much burlier boots just fine.

Between that compliance, accommodating fit, excellent walk mode, and near-universal binding compatibility, the 4-Quattro GTs are both dang comfy and versatile boots. And yeah, I’m eating my words about the whole hybrid thing.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still tradeoffs as with all hybrids. They’re heavy for dedicated touring boots (about 360g heavier than Scarpa’s Maestrale RS) and kind of light for alpine boots. But they shrink the hybrid tradeoff to the absolute minimum as if by scientific calculation.

These (and the stiffer 4-Quattro models) are among the few boots I can honestly recommend for a true 50/50 resort/touring setup for beginner and expert skiers alike. It’s the boot for folks who ski bell to bell on the coldest days and won’t shy away from standing in the snow another few hours for après. Heck, maybe there’s a sunset ski tour on the menu too.

The 4-Quattro GTs are one of the most versatile ski boots on the planet and easily one of the best hybrids in the game.

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