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"We tip our hat to the invention
of the decade - the Terminator”
Couloir Magazine.
Yahoo! This winter Scarpa has equipped
their telemark boots with heat moldable liners. This reduces
the weight of the boot substantially as well as creating the
perfect fit. The liners requires gentle heat in a convection
oven preferably but a conventional oven on very low heat or a
hair dryer can work as well. Once the liner is warm place your
feet on your insoles with toes spread with cotton wool inside
the liner. Stand up and wait until the liner cools. Perfect.
Plastic boots allow for incredible customization
both in the insole, upper liner as well as the plastic shell.
Scarpa Telemark boots have mastered the toe flex zone as well
as making a durable problem free boot. Power, power and more
power. Power is usually the experience people have with their
first plastic boots. At first it seems like a struggle to keep
up to these boots that turn your skis on a dime, edge where no
edge would hold before and land air that was purely impossible
before. Somehow in between the first and second run the feeling
has switched to control. You now have control to feel the skis
underfoot where lesser boots would bend, warp and twist to dull
the experience. You want the one that is most appropriate for
your conditions, ability, skis and energy level.
Bigger boots like the T1 definitely require
more power/confidence to get the power returned. These are the
only boots that will drive the larger fat skis. The lighter and
slighter boots T2 or T3 are extremely appropriate for softer
snow conditions, mid-fat skis, less aggressive posture and a
relaxed attitude.
We have to analyze ourselves and friends
as to what is the most appropriate boot and see how people can
be very different in what they desire now, what they look like
now and what they may become.....For the purist backcountry skier
there are always leather boots like Alico which flex perfectly
and offer an experience which plastic has only tried to copy.
Boot fitting
The starting point is to buy the correct
size boot. Telemark boots should be bought snug. Your toes should
touch the end of the boot before you buckle up the boot, and
brush the front of the boot when you’re standing straight
up and buckled up. Your toe should pull away when you flex down
into a tele stance. One midweight sock is fine. The liner should
be comfortable; over time it will pack out a little. Once you've
purchased your boot, minor fit adjustments can be made via sock
weight, insoles, foam and/or rubbing bar. First determine what
aspect of the boot doesn't fit well. Sock combinations can be
one lightweight with a mid-weight or one midweight sock. Insoles
can be customized with extra pieces of foam to fill in the parts
of the boot that are too loose.
1. Try ski boots on with properly fitting
ski socks. No cotton!
2. Don’t tuck anything into the
boot, not even your long underwear; the crease at the bottom
may cause discomfort, and slow circulation throughout the ski
day.
3. Buckle boots from the top down. Top
buckles first, then flex knees and ankles. This moves the foot
and liner back slightly, setting the heel and gives the toes
more room. The lower buckles should be latched while the knees
are flexed forward!!!!!
4. Check the fit. Your toes should be
touching the front of the boot when standing. When you drop your
knee into the tele stance, the toes should be free to wiggle
- this will ensure the correct length, and allow proper circulation.
5. Walk around in the boots, and not
just a quick lap around the fitting bench. They should be left
on for at least 5 minutes.
6. Put the boot into a binding on the
living room rug, now drop into the tele stance. Any pinch on
top of your toes? If there is, and it happens prematurely in
your flex, and it hurts badly, this is not good. Toe pinch is
not a liner issue, it’s a shell problem, and may not be
fixable for your foot.
7. Every good specialty shop will have
the capabilities to make adjustments to the liner or shell, as
most boots will need some custom work to achieve the fit we should
all be striving for. If you don’t live near a shop, read
on.
8. You are not buying a new pair of sneakers
and your new boots should last you years. Choose wisely. Don’t
expect the boot to necessarily fit out of the box to where you
can ski comfortably the next day and for the rest of the season.
Boots take dialing in, and once they are, you’ll thank yourself
for taking the time to make it right.
To get the most out of your telemark
boots, it is important that they should fit you as well as possible.
The following are a few tips, which should help you get the best
possible fit.
Socks
The correct sock is a key component in
getting comfortable performance from your boots. Try to buy good
performance socks. A few guidelines to look for in a good sock
are:
· The tightness of the knit -
a good sock will normally be quite a tight and smooth knit.
· Make sure there is good shaping
to the sock.
· Check that the sock has good
stretch and elasticity.
· If possible try to use socks
that wick moisture away ( the foot puts out around 50ml of sweat
per day) like a wool blend.
· Let’s face it, you kicked
down in the neighborhood of $400+ for boots, do yourself a favor,
spend $17 on a new pair of ski socks. There are a few good brands
out there, I personally like the Bridgdale brand, of course they
are the most expensive, but they last longer and are contoured
right.
Socks are an ideal way of making small
adjustments to the volume and fit of the boot so be prepared
to experiment with combination and density of socks you use to
get the best fit - but we believe that you should never wear
more than one pair of socks. That liner stuff is old school and
made for old school itchy wool. There are a few exceptions to
that rule, sometimes we get people with 2 different size feet
and they need to fill up space on the big boot, and I’m
sure there are other exceptions you can come up with. Generally,
telemarkers aren’t as prone to cold feet, because the constant
movement makes for good circulation. Believe it or not, sometimes
a thinner sock is warmer, because it allows for more circulation.
Boot modifications
It is not uncommon to find that some
modification to the boot is required to get an optimal fit. There
are several ways to achieve this:
Footbeds
There are now a variety of high performance
footbeds available to suit differing needs. Off the rack, there
are two principle kinds of footbeds with which you can customize
the fit of your boot. The low arch support footbed, which is
geared toward the flat foot, and the high arch footbed, which
gives a firmer heel cradle and underfoot support. Please note,
if you have a flat foot, don’t try to make a high arch with
a foot bed, this will only lead to discomfort and problems. Try
the long-term approach if you want change, Yoga. Standard, “off
the rack” footbeds run about $30, and their are a number
of brands, step on one of these first before you kick down the
$100+ for a custom, not everyone needs a custom. About 90% of
skiers should be using a footbed; it WILL improve your skiing.
How? Contact to the snow starts with full contact to the footbed,
then to the boot, then ski, .... Get it? It works!
Volume Adjusters
A Volume Adjuster is a thin insert, which
can be added under the footbed to reduce the overall volume of
the boot. This can make up to a half size difference in fit.
This “shim” will only set you back a couple of dollars.
Rubbing Bars
Some people have specific foot problems
(e.g. swollen toe joints) that can cause problems when fitting
new boots. It is worth knowing that boots can often be 'stretched'
in specific areas to ease any painful rub points. Some specialist
shops have rubbing bars specifically designed for this purpose.
It is also possible to modify slightly heel and toe shapes to
improve the fit of a boot. However, this job does not need to
be a “trained professional,” let’s be real here,
if you’ve got a rubbing spot in your boot, pull out the
liner and use a broom handle to wear it down, this is not rocket
science. Heating it will also help form it, try a hair dryer.
Telemark Boots
The revolution with telemark boots began
in 1992 when Black Diamond and Scarpa introduced the T1, the
original full plastic tele boot. It took a year or two for the
original problems with uneven flex at the belows and "toe
pinch" to get taken care of. The end result is boots that
are more powerful, warmer, more durable with less maintenance,
and more comfortable for most people. And though they are by
no means cheap, plastic boots cost less than comparable leather
boots.
Some skiers still lament the the "death"
of leather tele boots with their lighter weight and softer flex
and more "sensitive" feel at the ball of the foot.
We still have a few pair of quality leather tele boots left (check
the link), but there really isn't anything of any quality or
substance still made and most probably those days are over for
good due to the economics of hand made leather tele boots :(
But cheer up, you have lots of choices
with modern plastic tele boots! Boots are your most important
piece of gear. A good tele boot and you could probably ski a
2X4 if you had to, with a ratty broken down low top old school
boot and the best ski in the world you'd be lucky to make it
off the chair lift without a crash! And nothing will make a bigger
difference in your comfort on a normal day of skiing than whether
your boots fit or not.
So if its that important how do you choose!
Most people start by deciding on how heavy duty a boot they want.
But we recommend starting by thinking about your foot and boot
fit. This is really going to limit your choices. There are two
(well maybe three) main brands to choose from out there, and
they have distinctly different fits. If you have a narrow fit,
its simple, your only real choice is a Scarpa boot from Black
Diamond. Lucky you with the medium foot, you will notice differences
between brands but with a little bit of custom boot fitting you
can make just about anything work well.
Just because current boots are well designed
and well made doesn't mean that they'll fit you perfectly out
of the box (even if you get the right size and brand). But we're
all in luck- since all of the modern plastic boots are "double"
boots with a plastic shell and removeable inner liner, its very
easy to do certain kinds of custom boot fitting to subtley change
and improve the fit. Check out our boot fitting page for more
info.
Now its time to think about how "heavy
duty" of a boot you want. Consider your physical size, type
of skiing done, and ski choice. A lighter boot might give plenty
of control with a lighter skier with a small foot on nice snow,
even on more difficult terrain. But that same boot would be utterly
unsatisfactory for a 250lb skier with a size 13 foot skiing fast
on boilerplate! You get the idea; the lighter the ski or skier,
easier the terrain, better the snow, slower the speed, the the
lighter the boot.
Further assistance always available
> Email
> Toll Free 1-888-488-(GEAR) 4327
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