I am thinking of buying some new boots but cannt afford two pairs.  The question is wether to go for a downhill boot - as I spend MOST of my time on the pieste but also go off pieste a fair amount.  But, I am now thinking that I would like to do a bit of backcountry skiing, away from the crowds and maybe some ski mountainerring.

the question is - Is there a boot out there which will suit both of my needs?

I know NOTHING about touring boots.

Any advice would be welcome

I think some of the heavy duty freeride boots like those by Black Diamond (BD Factor) would serve your purpose, they are pretty heavy like alpine boots but offer superior walking experience… I’m no expert either in boots but I was looking at these in Snell in Chamonix today and thinking it’s just like an alpine boot with a walk mode… hang on, didn’t they all have that years ago?

On the other hand why not invest the most in some touring boots since alpine boots are pretty cheap

Dan Fascia - 28 January 2010 11:07 PM

On the other hand why not invest the most in some touring boots since alpine boots are pretty cheap

350 Euro for a pair of boots - I wasnt sure if thats cheap....

then I am going to need another pair.....

I think Scarpa and Garmont both do boots that are a ‘hybrid’. They are stiffer than a touring boot but softer than a piste boot. They also have changeable tongues and soles in some models. They might suit what you are looking for but they are not really touring boots. The Scarpa Spirit 4 (or similar) may well cope with both schools.
Personally, I have just spent a week skiing on and off piste and spent 5 of the 6 days in my 2nd hand,old Denali touring boots and didn’t find any problems on piste. The one day I spent in my piste boots was a little more aggressive on piste, but then it’s also the only day I fell over!

If you can wait until next season then the new Quest boot from Salomon would be well worth a try. As apposed to Touring boot manufacturers moving torwards downhill performance, heres a touring boot designed by downhill boot manufacturer.

Its light weight, has a vibram sole, dynafit compatible, has three buckles but with a huge power strap with a 120 flex!! so it skis exactly like a downhill boot but equally goes uphill well.Its also made out of Pbax, so not affected by the cold.

Other than that, and if you can’t wait then try the Dynafit Zero, seriously light weight but camparatively stiff.

Hope this helps
cheers

Houghty

The Quest sounds interesting, have you seen any photos? There have been some alpine boots that were suitable for smallish tours, you need to be able to flex your calves.

The Dynafit Titan is worth taking a look at too.

The Garmont Adrenalin seems to be popular with lifties

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Gear/Garmont-Adrenalin

As is the Endorphin-Mg

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Gear/Garmont-Endorphin-Mg

here is the Scarpa Tornado

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Gear/Scarpa-Tornado

also look at the Tecnica Agent AT

My impression is that touring boots wear faster than alpine boots… but maybe the heavier duty boots are tougher. Any of the boots that lifties wear tend to be pretty durable.

Hi - my first post here.

I’ve been touring for a long time, and although I own both alpine and touring boots, I find that I hardly ever wear the touring boots nowadays.  Pretty much the only time I use them is if I am either doing a multi-day tour (but sometimes not even then), or if I will be doing a lot of walking on roads or loose ground.  All the day tours I do in Chamonix for example, I use alpine boots for (I also use pretty heavy alpine touring kit too, but I’m a big guy so I quite like using heavier gear).

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

Which alpine boots do you use?

Did you see the new Dalbello Virus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj3y-ilCI6A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj7u66IJlvA

seems to be a crossover alpine/touring boot.

Salomon Quest
http://www.montaz.com/fiche-SALOMON-Quest-12,MONTH,CHRA,RANFR,96184.html

Hi Davidof,

Interesting links.  It looks like a lot of thought has gone into the Virus, and it may well be worth checking out.  The alpine boots I use for touring are Salomon X-Wave 10, (Falcon 10) Salomon’s stiffest and most aggressive boot in 2007 (I think), so pretty much as far removed from a touring boot as it’s possible to be!

Apologies for posting in an old thread, but I’ve just got back from St Anton and had a little look at the new Salomon Quests which have been mentioned above. They look really nice and really do seem to be a full on DH boot with genuine touring ability. There are 2 or 3 different models I think, I saw 2 in the shop, the Quest 120 is the stiffest, the Quest Pro is the pebax model and has a flex of 110 and is the lightest. Sadly I did not get to try them out, but my personal view is that the Pro is going to be the one to go for (I don’t like a really stiff boot anyway, so even if I were buying a pure DH boot I’d go for the same level of flex). So, as long as the Solomon fit suits your feet then it looks like you won’t need to choose between touring or DH boots… Of course there is a downside, these boots are not cheap and won’t suit everyone’s feet.

The boots I saw were early versions, according to the chap I spoke to in Jennewein’s Salomon are making a couple of modifications to the boot for next winter - the volume will be slightly lower as they are raising the footbed and the velcro powerband will be longer - apparently the early version wasn’t quite long enough if you had very beefy calves.

I couldn’t find anything on the Salomon website about the Quests, but a web search throws up a lot of results if you want to take a look: http://www.bing.com/search?q=Salomon+Quest+Pro

One very interesting rumour I read on the web is that Salomon are intending the get the Quest DIN certified *with* the rockered walking soles. You can already get DIN replacement toe and heel pieces which allow the boot to be used in DH bindings today, but if the boot could be used with the rocker sole in DH bindings that would be very interesting.

Also worth mentioning are the BD Factor, a nasty horrible green colour but a powerfull looking cross-over boot. Atomic are also be doing a crossover boot which will be similar to the Salomon (I assume they share a lot of R&D) but it looked stiffer and more aimed at occassional touring. The idea of a cross over boot really seems to be catching on, the guy in the shop said he expected to see more available next season too.

Steve

I have heard today that Salomon have issued a recall for all the Salomon Quest boots in use in the US. There have been some problems with the pin inserts pulling out. Other skier forums have plenty of graphic detail. You might want to wait and see what the co. do with the toe area design before spending your money.

This doesn’t look at all good for Salomon. I really liked the look of the boot. I don’t use Dynfit bindings, but even so I’d be wary of them now. Hopefully they will revise this by next season, but I wonder if it’s too late, surley production would have already started by now? Maybe if it is just a case of redesigning the toe piece then they’ll be OK. I suppose they could just remove the Dynafit compatibility, which would be a shame for Dynafit users.

Aggh, the Ford Pinto of ski boots.

davidof - 27 April 2010 10:06 AM

Aggh, the Ford Pinto of ski boots.

A little harsh perhaps, they have (according the t’internet) issued a recall at least. It’ll be shame if this model turns out to be a lemon though, I was particularly keen on the rumour of DIN compatible rocker soles, and the use of pebax is interesting too (I know, a bit sad really ). Still, the good news is that a lot of other manufacturers are releasing (sorry, bad pun) “cross over” boots. I guess they looked at Black Diamond and Garmont and decided to spoil their party, but for consumers I think it is good news.

I know that Atomic and Lange are doing this kind of boot for next season. I think the Atomics came out in limited numbers this season at around the same time as the Salomons, I had a look at them in a shop in March - they were heavier than the Salomons but I am sure they will appeal to people who want a stiff boot and find the fit is good.

Don’t Salomon make Atomic’s boots now? I imagine there is a fair amount of technology sharing going on?