boots
boots
Randonnée ski boots need to perform a number of different functions in order to serve their owners' needs. They must provide control over your skis for descending, but also be flexible, light and comfortable enough to skin, hike and climb well for hours on end.
To achieve this multi-purpose ideal, most modern randonnée boots are designed with light weight as a primary goal. They have a softer overall flex than alpine boots, a lugged sole with a slight curvature for hiking and climbing, and a lockable walking hinge that lets your ankle flex freely when not skiing. To achieve stiffness without adding weight, boot designers are increasingly moving away from the use of polyurethane (PU) and toward materials like Pebax and Grillamid, as well as substituting carbon fiber for various structural pieces of the boot. All this, of course, adds to the pricetag. High-end randonnée boots now typically run in the $700-$1,000 range and even higher.
The available boots span a wide range of weights and stiffnesses, from near-alpine boots like the Garmont Delirium and Dynafit Titan, to medium-flex boots like the Scarpa Maestrale and Garmont Radium, and finishing up with über-light race-oriented models like the Dynafit DyNA, Scarpa Alien Carbon, and Pierre Gignoux XP444.
Backcountry is hip these days, and the largest potential market lies with the crossover alpine crowd. The end result is, among other things, that manufacturers are concentrating on beefier boots that appproach alpine levels of stiffness and control but are still suitable for short to medium length touring. What's new is the trend toward installing tech fittings in said boots. This in turn is driving the trend toward higher DIN randonnée bindings, both tech and non-tech, and should continue to do so for the immediate future. Many of these products are suitable for strong skiers moving beyond the boundaries of the ski area, who feel more secure with alpine-type support. Dynafit has also anticipated the additional forces of these burlier boots, and has introduced a new DIN 12 binding called the FT Radical, while Plum will market the DIN 12 Guide in the US this year. Of the boots shown on this page, all models are now Tech or Dynafit-compatible (the BD Factor requires purchasing the Tech sole separately for ~$50), but most will work with frame bindings like Fritschi and Marker as well. The Dynafit DyNA and TLT 5, Scarpa Alien and Pierre Gignoux boots are only for use with tech bindings as the toe shapes have been altered for lower weight.
As with skis and bindings, there is a trade-off between control while skiing (and the ability to drive longer, wider skis) and comfort and energy conservation while climbing and skinning. Experienced ski tourists are often willing to forgo some downhill control in favor of lighter weight and improved climbing - after all, the vast majority of their time is spent going uphill. The amount of downhill control a skier is willing to sacrifice is a personal decision - longtime expert alpine skiers used to alpine race or freeride boots may find it difficult to adjust to the softer randonnée boots right away, while people coming from a telemark or nordic background may find the control offered by a super light randonnée boot remarkable.
Those who intend to use their touring boots for lift-served skiing as well as touring are also faced with this dilemma, but need to compromise on the side of downhill performance. There are plenty of adequate choices for this sort of use - The Dynafit Titan, Black Diamond Factor, and Scarpa Mobe are all close to alpine boots in terms of control and tour reasonably well. People who are used to very stiff alpine boots for recreational skiing are often blown away by the increase in comfort an AT boot affords and can't bring themselves to go back to alpine footwear once they've tried a rando boot - check the feet of many ski coaches and pro patrollers and you'll see this is true!
Thermo-formable boot liners (which are heated in a convection oven or with hot air, then placed in your boot and buckled up to mold to your foot) are highly desirable both for lightness and comfort; they can easily lighten the weight of a pair of boots by over a pound. Switching from stock to aftermarket liners is common among experienced skiers, and can completely transform both the fit and skiing properties of a boot - keep in mind that the style of liner also affects performance, with overlap liners generally providing more responsive ski performance and tongue liners generally better skinning flexibility.
As with any form of non-conforming plastic footwear, problems with protruding bony areas are best addressed by a professional boot fitter - it's not a cheap solution, but a good fitting boot with a custom footbed can do wonders for your skiing, not to mention your disposition. Prevailing wisdom has it that you should always buy the boot that fits best, and there is some logic to this. If you can find a boot that fits well (after baking the liner) and it happens to ski and skin well for you, so much the better. The flip side of the coin is that a good bootfitter can make almost any boot fit almost any foot, as well as adjust flex profiles and stance problems - many longtime skiers prefer to shop for a boot that has the flex pattern and features they want, even if it kills them in the shop, and take it immediately to their favorite bootfitter before skiing it.
© 2012 Gregory C. Louie