Old soft alpine boots good for touring?

**tromano** · 06-06-2007, 07:46 PM

After doing a few tours in my alpine boots, I have been looking for a pair of AT boots. But at the moment I don't have access to a boot fitter that offers AT to try on. After searching for touring boots I saw that some heavier guys use low level alpine boots for AT. I am 210lbs and some of the posts I read indicated that I might need more stiffness than many of the most popular AT boots can offer. Is that true?

I was cleaning out my closet today and found my old ski boots which are Technica Rival X5. They were the first boots I bought around 9 years ago when I started skiing more than once a year. They are pretty light weight 8.5 lbs on my bathroom scale as compared to my current ones which are 11 lbs. They have a ski walk latch and are really soft compared to what I am used to. I think the flex was around 70 or so. I might eventually get a pair of AT boots, but I am curious if anyone has an opinion on using this boot for touring.

**TAHOEDOWN** · 06-06-2007, 08:28 PM

There are two things that define an AT boot IMO:
1) Walk mode.
2) Vibram sole
Sounds like you are halfway there. I find the vibram sole to be really usefull as soon as you have to boot pack or scurry up something solid, but for touring it sounds like you would be fine. I suggest trying them and seeing what you think before you dump money into another pair of boots. I actually prefer touring in my alpine boots if I know I can ski all the way to the top and there isn't much flat to traverse.

**mountain_man** · 06-07-2007, 04:26 AM

Since the boots already have a walk mode you've got 1) covered now all you have to do is 2) as per the link, Vibram soles DIY.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=12032

If i ever needed a boot which was better for touring, i'd pick up a plug Lange and do a DIY Vibram sole and Walk mode. I cant stand soft boots and let alone laterally flexy boots, but thats probably because i raced for 11years.

**tromano** · 06-07-2007, 07:32 AM

Thanks for the replies. I will look over the boot sole mods. It should be a fun DIY summer project.

**laseranimal** · 06-09-2007, 08:17 PM

I tried it with an old pair of Salomon Evolution2's, they had a walk switch and I had the soles vibramed so figured I was set to go

However I quickly discovered that I had managed to accomplish the worst of both worlds, they climbed like crap cause they were so heavy and didn't really flex like an AT boot. To add insult to injury they really didn't offer much performance on the way down as compared to my newer pair of Alpine boots since they were so soft and blown out.

Needless to say I was totally bummed and would highly recommend either going full on stiff alpine boot w/ vibram sole or a dedicated AT boot

that way your only compromising performance on one end of the spectrum, not both.