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The Ski Touring Kit Thread 12/13

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thought I'd start a thread so that those of us who have a fetish for ski touring gear can swap opinions and reviews.

I'll kick it off with a few links to some of the latest touring kit for this season.
http://www.wildsnow.com/6957/ski-test-review-backcountry-skiing/

A few picks for the American market - widths tend to be wider circa 100 to 115mm waist, sub 90mm is considered narrow.
http://www.backcountrymagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=760&Itemid=174

http://www.wildsnow.com/7233/scarpa-spitfire-maestrale-review/



A new ski from Dynastar namely the "Cham High Mountain 87" gets a good review here. Test in German, the optimum width in the European market tests tends to be around 85-95 mm.
http://www.testberichte.de/a/ski/magazin/alpin-11-2012/341840.html
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Been trying a couple of boots on recently.

Scarpa Maestrale RS - great boot, surprisingly stiff flex, walk mode is UNREAL - felt more akin to walking in hiking boots than ski boots. Sadly super tight over the instep/ankle in the correct size, and I don't think this is easily fixable. Very nice liners (Intuition).

BD Factor 130 - Nice fit, would need the toes blowing out a bit though. Very nice flex, stiff and alpine-style, walk mode nowhere near the Meastrale though. Could put up with that though I think, the down is the priority for me. Funky 'auto-liner-lace-up' system was pretty cool, but pretty gimmicky.

Struggling to get hold of the Technica Cochise 120s, thinking about taking a risk and just ordering them...
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
just ordered some Head Rev 90's with Dynafit Radical ST bindings to use with Dynafit Titans... Saw a pair of rev 90's at Hemel and am a bit worried they are too soft and floppy but hoping they will be light..

Had to bin the liners on the boots and replace with Zipfits due to chaffing on the archilles due to the seam of the liner rubbing.
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skimottaret,
Yes I threw out my Dynafit Titan liners after a days skiing and put Intuition liners in.

I was thinking of trying a pair of Gecko skins on my narrow touring skis until I read this -
http://www.wildsnow.com/6281/gecko-skins-review/

More on skins in this german test.
http://www.mpsports.at/download/01_060_TEST.PDF

Basically "Colltex CT40", "Kohla Mohair i-clip" and "G3 Alpinist" come top of the test. The Colltex has better grip, whereas the G3's glide far better than any of the skins (but are the weakest climber). In terms of grip the Kohla's are inbetween but the Kohlas score best against ingression of water. So Colltex for steep tours, G3 for long flatter tours (e.g.Haute Route) and Kohla's for when it's warmer and wetter (e.g. Scotland).


Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Wed 31-10-12 14:50; edited 1 time in total
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
DB, interesting that you had problems as well... I would have done intuition but had some old zipfits that were just about dead (but comfortable) so used them instead. I went with Coltex skins mainly as i got em cheap but good to hear they are on the top of the list...

One thing to think about is getting your binding heights set up correctly. I am quite sensitive to delta angle on my bindings and the dynafits seem to vary widely depending on boot binding combination, spyderjon is sorting me out some shims to set up the toe heights correctly.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
skimottaret,

I had put intuitions in my old touring boots the year before so just swapped them over. It was obvious on the first day that the standard Titans liners were not top quality.

Thanks for the nods up on the delta angle - the setup of the Titan's and the dynafits sems to suit me better than my old boots teamed up with Fritschi's. Thinking of putting dynafits on my skinny touring skis too and getting some new Colltex CT40's for them.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Tried on the Dynafit Vulans today too. Not enough room for my toes, didn't have the size up to try though. VERY stiff (obviously being carbon they won't get softer in the warm shop like everything else, which will have some effect here). Also very fiddly, lots of different flaps on the shell, buckles on the buckles... Quite difficult to get into. Walk mode again great, bloody expensive though! Would like to try the Mercuries to compare, haven't found any here though.

Tried on a size up of the Maestrale RS, felt much better, but masses of room in the forefoot. Then realised I'd forgotten to put the footbeds in Embarassed As the shop was about to close, I didn't have time to try them on again, hoping this might reduce some of the forefoot volume..? Love the way the tongue flap opens to the side, very easy to get in and out/ take the liners out. Might end up being a goer after all...


Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Wed 31-10-12 19:19; edited 1 time in total
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
clarky999, where are you trying on these boots? I might need to take a trip. Maestrale RS, Vulcan and Mercury are on my shortlist at the moment.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Sportler in Innsbruck, staff don't seem to be proper bootfitters though so I've jsut been trying to work stuff out myself (Skullie) - got a place you can crash if you do come wink

Haven't found the Mercuries anywhere, but everywhere seems to have the Ones, which I believe are the same but softer?
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
clarky999, something is deeply wrong with the world as I can't find anyone stocking these boots that also has a good rep for fitting. I have two pairs of skis now that also need mounting with a shared set of Dynafits when I do manage to buy a new set of boots. The walk mode is very important to me as 90% of my skiing is self-propelled and everyone seems to have gone with the options that suck the most.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Yeah it's weird - there's clearly a lot of growth in this market at the moment, I'd have thought more places would be stocking them, but I guess piste boots still make up the majority of sales.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
clarky999, oh yeah definitely and all the specialist shops are probably small outfits that are hard to find online. I'm in the sucky position to have to actually leave the country to buy boots so have been looking quite far afield too.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
clarky999,

Have you tried St Anton? Proper Bootfitters and a fair few shops.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
DB, I'm going to - gf' car broke, but she's actually in Vienna atm picking up her new one, so will definitely be going over soon (Geoffrey in Jennewein has been really good to me in the past when I was working in St Anton, and has a rep as a good fitter too).
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
clarky999,

If Salomon hadn't messed up on the tech inserts I would have bought a pair of Quests from Geoffrey.


If anyone is forced to buy online (not advisable if you can avoid it), Telemark-pyrenees are doing some good deals on last years models.

http://www.telemark-pyrenees.com/en/all/c-skiboots/skidiscipline-alpinetouring/f/?page=1
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Idris skis Chamois mounted with Plum guide bindings, Dalbello Sherpa

This recommendation comes properly tested Wink
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:

clarky999, oh yeah definitely and all the specialist shops are probably small outfits that are hard to find online. I'm in the sucky position to have to actually leave the country to buy boots so have been looking quite far afield too.

Good outfit in the UK are > Backcountry UK < (previously called Basecamp Ilkley) - I bought my Scarpa Denalis mailorder from them a while back. Very helpful & knowledgeable
ski holidays
 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
geoffers, yer am aware of the UK stores. They have one of the boots I'd like to try on but trying to find the best fit is key for me as opposed to having to settle for whatever happens to be in store that meets my requirements. I live in Iceland so it's as expensive to head to Europe and typically there is a better selection there. I did ask the Backcountry UK guys on Facebook about what they were getting in IIRC.
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Idris wrote:
Idris skis Chamois mounted with Plum guide bindings, Dalbello Sherpa

This recommendation comes properly tested Wink



It's interesting that many of the top European touring skis have similar dimensions. (circa 125-90-110)

Nearly went Plum but they were too new and I also wanted something with brakes.

The Sherpa looks very nice .....
http://www.dalbello.it/en/sherpa-tech

not sure that I'm up to the same standard as Glen Plake's mum though wink



http://youtube.com/v/6_v-F-t0OAk
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Idris, are the Sherpas any stiffer than the Viruses?
I really liked the walk mode on the Viruses and how they fitted me but they felt a little on the soft side for a fatty like me and I did wonder whether the ski/walk mode was a bit over-engineered and therefore prone to breaking
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