~1300g boot thread

[frorider]

Ok I have several days on my 28.5 Transalp Pros, so it’s quick review time.

I tried on Quantum Frees and the Transalps same day, and immediately preferred the Transalp. The Quantum had a friendly, comfortable fit but there was just something about it that seemed lower performance. The fwd flex was soft and not progressive. Meanwhile the Transalp has a progressive flex that really feeds back energy as you drive the tongue. Out of the box the heel pocket on the TP felt secure, and the overall fit of tge 28.5 was similar to the insanely good fit of my 28.5 F1s. I have feet with medium dimensions overall but a high instep.

On the carpet the tour mode ROM felt similar on the TP and Quantum, but at cold temps I think the 2 piece cuff on the quantum will tour better. The TP has such a stiff cuff that even completely unbuckled the effective ROM is noticeably inferior to the F1 at 25 F. But goddamn it skis well on the descent.

Gear mgrs at two of the best AT stores I frequent both had the TP as their personal boot after trying everything on the market. Both felt it skied better than anything in this weight class. I’m stoked so far

[frorider]

Negatives: getting them on requires pulling the cuff all the way back, and rolling down the fabric gaiter. Getting them off is hard if you have a high instep like me. The forefoot area buckle works fine, like other boots, but I prefer the fine tuning ability of Boa.

The cuff buckle has no return spring, and flops around if you’re skinning with it unbuckled …fortunately I figured out an easy fix (small section of bicycle inner tube, works great).

[dub_xion]

Thanks for the write up, fro! Very useful. Curious if you’ve put them on a scale.


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[frorider]

Size 28.5 liner: 300 g
28.5 shell: 1140 g

About what I expected. The mfg 1280 g number is for a smaller boot and is probably optimistic.

[abcdethan]

Great review! I ordered a pair to replace the Atomic Hawx XTD 130 as my daily driver boot. I want something more in the weight class of the F1 and it was between Transalp Pro and ZGTP since they both fit felt fit with a carpet test. I went for the Transalp because of the more ROM and simpler buckles. After the Hawx, I’m down with 4 buckle touring boots. I also have the Backland Carbons for really long days. Those walk like trail runners.


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[frorider]

Fischer shied away from a flex rating (at least in the marketing I’ve seen) but I think they’re an honest 120. As I rack up the miles, this really has become my go to touring boot. Skis as well as my Maestrale RS and Mercuries, but significantly less weight and better ROM. Also the quality / engr seems better than some. The powerstrap has a big wide zone up front with silicone strips to grip on the shell, and a clever quick release (as opposed to the cheap Velcro strap on the dalbello). The heel lever mechanism locks against movement in both directions but releases easily in the field. The liner has beefed up areas to make it ski better but articulates well in tour mode.

About the only improvement I can think of is for the fabric ‘lower gaiter’ to be goretex rather than plain old waterproof non-breathable.

[jacob_dbu]

Reviving this thread as we have some new entries for 22-23 and to get some discussion going.

I just picked up a pair of the MTN Summit's to try on in a 26.5. 288mm BSL! I thought about putting this in the 1kg boot thread but they weigh in at 1190g with the footbed. Let's just say they are cavernous for their length, holy shit. Basically I think they fit like a ~102mm last 26.5, but 3-4mm short in length. I don't think I'd need a 6th toe punch or even navicular (normal for me), which goes to show how big they really are. They may actually work for me even though I'm 273mm on the brannock if I can get the big toe punched 3-4mm in length (paging gregL...). For me, the heel is actually perfect, the liner has a really nice gel-like triangle piece that fits in the part between your heel and achilles on either side. Feels real good. I have one of those heel spurs and on most lightweight boots (sub ~1200g) they give me a helluva time.

In terms of the boot design, I think the BOA is a little wanting it's hard to get even tightness, but overall it works decent. The extra powerstrap on top has two torx bolts for the rear, but then is riveted on the side cuff? This makes no sense to me. Transitioning will be kind of annoying with two velcros to undo. The rubber sole feels really hard at room temp...wonder how it'll do out in the cold and snow. Have a feeling recycled rubber is probably not gonna be great for grip, maybe good for durability tho. Walk mode is great of course. Flex seems pretty good, some splaying at the rivets on the lower shell, but for the weight I think these will ski well. Better than the La Sportiva Skorps? Idk...

[Benneke10]

Interesting that you make the skorp comparison, have you tried them? They are generous in length and have quite a different fit than the salomon. The skorps fit more similarly to the older salomon X Alp

[jacob_dbu]

Interesting that you make the skorp comparison, have you tried them? They are generous in length and have quite a different fit than the salomon. The skorps fit more similarly to the older salomon X Alp

I carpet tested a 27.5 Skorp. It felt really good, I don't think these would ski as well (given the reviews and how they felt to me). I don't think I could fit in a 26.5 Skorp due to the instep, although maybe yes in the CR II version since I heard they increased the instep. The fit on the Skorpius was not as good for me but they didn't feel terrible. The MTN Summits feel more snug throughout the whole boot for me, and actually seem to fit quite nicely aside from the length issue.

[gregL]

Reviving this thread as we have some new entries for 22-23 and to get some discussion going.

I just picked up a pair of the MTN Summit's to try on in a 26.5. 288mm BSL! I thought about putting this in the 1kg boot thread but they weigh in at 1190g with the footbed. Let's just say they are cavernous for their length, holy shit. Basically I think they fit like a ~102mm last 26.5, but 3-4mm short in length. I don't think I'd need a 6th toe punch or even navicular (normal for me), which goes to show how big they really are. They may actually work for me even though I'm 273mm on the brannock if I can get the big toe punched 3-4mm in length (paging gregL...). For me, the heel is actually perfect, the liner has a really nice gel-like triangle piece that fits in the part between your heel and achilles on either side. Feels real good. I have one of those heel spurs and on most lightweight boots (sub ~1200g) they give me a helluva time.

In terms of the boot design, I think the BOA is a little wanting it's hard to get even tightness, but overall it works decent. The extra powerstrap on top has two torx bolts for the rear, but then is riveted on the side cuff? This makes no sense to me. Transitioning will be kind of annoying with two velcros to undo. The rubber sole feels really hard at room temp...wonder how it'll do out in the cold and snow. Have a feeling recycled rubber is probably not gonna be great for grip, maybe good for durability tho. Walk mode is great of course. Flex seems pretty good, some splaying at the rivets on the lower shell, but for the weight I think these will ski well. Better than the La Sportiva Skorps? Idk...

Bring them by so I can try them on!

[lazyasian]

Does anybody have any experience on boots in this class driving a FAT ski (in soft snow)? I just got a pair of Protests (128 underfoot) and I don't want to blow up my Alien RSs trying to ski them. But the Aliens have also gotten me so spoiled with their amazing walk mode that I don't want to have to go back to my old Maestrale RSs. I assume a ski like the Protest would be no problem for a ZGTP, but would anything with a more frictionless walk mode be enough to ski it in pow without too big a chance of spontaneous explosion?

[ctsmith]

It’s all relative…. I skied protests with TLT 5P’s in light powder worked for me. These days it’s more Hyper V8’s with Alien RS, but try it, I don’t think you’ll break the boots. Skorpious, old or new would probably be fine as well.

[kid-kapow]

Does anybody have any experience on boots in this class driving a FAT ski (in soft snow)?

Paul Forward's reviews of boots in this class on Blister usually involves skiing some significant lines on fat skis, done by a bigger / more powerful guy - so could be worth checking out.

[lazyasian]

Thanks folks. Looked like Paul skis his Alien RSs on some pretty big skis too. Maybe it's worth a shot, though I'm a bit worried about long term durability on skis that big. On the plus side, days where I want to take out the Protests will be deep and soft, so that should certainly help a bit!


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[kid-kapow]

Ok I have several days on my 28.5 Transalp Pros, so it’s quick review time.

Thanks for posting your thoughts on these boots - the posts made me pick up a pair. I ran the previous version of the Transalp as well, and while I did not like that boot very much at the end (wayyyyy to soft and with a much too flimsy liner) I still like Fischer.

I ran regular xt3 130s + xt3 pro tours - a combo I kinda felt like made no sense the more I thought about it. I need all the help I can get on the up, and if I can get on a pair that still ski solidly on the way down then mission accomplised. So far so good - fit is fine and range of motion is markedly better than xt3 pro tours.

[DGamms]

Thanks folks. Looked like Paul skis his Alien RSs on some pretty big skis too. Maybe it's worth a shot, though I'm a bit worried about long term durability on skis that big. On the plus side, days where I want to take out the Protests will be deep and soft, so that should certainly help a bit!

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Lots of days using Fischer Travers (with Tour Wrap and Pulse Strap mods) driving Bentchetler 120s. No problems when backcountry conditions were soft.

I tried one half day in the resort though last season, and did some small jumps/drops on a BC hut trip last April. For my ability level, that combo doesn’t work well for that. The Travers (even with the mods) is just too soft fore/aft to stay centered and ski fast on moguls or drops.

Makes me TransAlp curious for sure, I’m going to go try a pair on at SkiMo soon.

[DGamms]

Got the TransAlps today. Let the mental masturbation begin

In house comparison to my 27.5 Fischer Travers (with intuition TourWrap 27, green Superfeet, and added Pulse Labs Power strap)

- the stock TransAlp 27.5 is about 200gm heavier than my 27.5 Travers with mods
- the stock liner on the TransAlp is night and day thicker and more substantial than the wimpy stock liner on the Travers
- the stock power strap on the TransAlp is nice, basically equivalent to the Pulse Labs mod I made on the Travers
- shape of the lower shell seems to be virtually the same
- I’m a 13-14 degrees forward lean guy. Switching the TransAlp from stock 16 degrees to 13 degrees was a 60 second process per boot. In that configuration, looks like the TransAlp is a hair more upright than my Travers
-the height of the plastic on the rear cuff is identical (one of the reason I liked the Travers actually, pretty high cuff for a light boot)
- BSL 304mm on the 27.5 TransAlp and 296mm on the 27.5 Travers. Looks like all that extra shell length in the TransAlp is at the toe, pins are definitely further forward
-walk mode latch is more robust on the TransAlp, with less rearward play of the shell in ski mode
- significantly more rubber lugs on the sole of the TransAlp. Not sure if that actually translates to more traction or not, the Travers is a great walking/scrambling boot already
- friction through touring ROM of motion is noticeably higher in the TransAlp than the Travers, but still better than my old Hawx XTD
- room temp forward flex on the stock TransAlp is definitely stiffer than the modified Travers in a good way. Feels like a legit 110-120 with very nice ramp up/progression
- for someone with wide forefeet, low insteps, and narrow heels like me, the stock TransAlp setup feels good in the front half of the boot but a bit loose in the heel/ankle. Better than the stock Travers in that regard (again, sock thickness liner for that boot), but I’ll probably try an HV 27 Intuition ProTour (plus shims and foot beds) in the TransAlp soon for improved heel hold
- Blister complained about having a hard time getting the TransAlp on and off. At least at room temp, that’s a non issue for me

[DGamms]

Quick on snow impression of the 27.5 TransAlp (with old HV 27 Intuition ProTours and one shim + footbed).

Two short tours of deep Wasatch chop. TLDR: These boots are great for touring for me so far.

Very meaningful upgrade over both my modified 27.5 Travers (very light, great ROM with low friction, soft forward flex) and my OG 26.5 Hawx XTD 130s (higher friction touring ROM, uncomfortable for long tours on my feet, stiff but not very progressive forward flex).

Snow was good so there is definitely some bias there. But these seem like a winner for me, my foot shape, and my touring boot preferences.

[njfreeskier]

Anyone here have any experience with the Fischer Travers and the La Sportiva Skorpius. Trying to figure which direction to go in and don’t have the option of trying them on. I’d rather not go through the hassle of ordering online and then shipping back to return. Also curious about their sizing/fit as well. Thanks!

[Benneke10]

Anyone here have any experience with the Fischer Travers and the La Sportiva Skorpius. Trying to figure which direction to go in and don’t have the option of trying them on. I’d rather not go through the hassle of ordering online and then shipping back to return. Also curious about their sizing/fit as well. Thanks!

Travers is lighter and walks better. Skorpius is much stiffer and more supportive, can be skied more aggressively, has a taller cuff and more length room in the toes. Skorpius also has a tighter fit in the instep but I haven't tried the new version.

[fleaches]

Anyone here have any experience with the Fischer Travers and the La Sportiva Skorpius. Trying to figure which direction to go in and don’t have the option of trying them on. I’d rather not go through the hassle of ordering online and then shipping back to return. Also curious about their sizing/fit as well. Thanks!

For fit I remember the skorpius being a narrower and lower instep. Traverse had higher instep and was maybe a bit wider, but had a massive heel. Also shorter.

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[Lord Thomas]

For fit I remember the skorpius being a narrower and lower instep. Traverse had higher instep and was maybe a bit wider, but had a massive heel. Also shorter.

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So does the Skorpius fit about like an F1 LT with a lower instep?

[Benneke10]

So does the Skorpius fit about like an F1 LT with a lower instep?

The Skorpius has a much roomier forefoot area

[Lord Thomas]

Sounds like the Skorp II might be my spirit animal

[fleaches]

So does the Skorpius fit about like an F1 LT with a lower instep?

The Skorpius has a much roomier forefoot area

Yeah I wasn't able to try them on back to back, but I recall F1 LT being so narrow it was unworkable (especially with the tough to punch plastic).

Skorpius didn't feel as uncomfortably narrow out of the box and would have probably worked with some punching. I felt the instep pressure on the Skorpius but don't recall it being an issue on the F1, but it was also likely workable with some liner work. I have been told my instep is "on the high end of average" but none of the boots I tried really crushed it. Skorpius maybe doesn't walk as well as the F1 LT or other skimo+ boots but it is miles better than something like the ZGTP and seems to strike a great balance between uphill/downhill.

Skorpius also felt longer/more toe room. Those 1kg boots are all at least 1/2 size short to make them appear lighter (the new Technica maybe a full size).