Boot Weight Weenies. Do they actually exist?

[GoldenBC]

Does anyone actually care what their boots weigh? Like, after you know enough about the weight to decide it is in a certain category, do you actually care? Beyond skimotards does someone actually buy one boot over another because it weighs 50g less? There seems to be so much emphasis on weight from manufacturers but it doesn't match up with real life. Case in point, the success of hojis boots.

I sell boots for a living and I average one person per year who actually asks what a boot weighs. Keep in mind, I am talking about boots that are actually made for skiing and not strictly uphill travel.

[snoboy]

I bought my last boots in part because they weighed more than another option - figured they had more beef and might last longer...

[mntlion]

I think if you where at "ski uphill" yes, you would get gram counters. As we are in skiing towns, and / or ski hills, nope. I get 1/month that is asking questions like that. I send them away as that is not the market we have/going for.

[plugboots]

I already know the weights by the time I’m actually at a shop to try them on or take an in-person look. And yes I care.

[natebob]

Very few of my customers care what their boots weigh. Once they decide on a category, it's all pretty close. I don't sell much to the skimo crowd, but they do care.

[cat in january]

Because I am getting older, weight will be a big factor in the next pair of tech boots I buy. Current boots are a bit under 1.5 kg. Next boots will need to loose at least 200g

[Marshal Olson]

ROM weenies unite

[XXX-er]

Does anyone actually care what their boots weigh? Like, after you know enough about the weight to decide it is in a certain category, do you actually care? Beyond skimotards does someone actually buy one boot over another because it weighs 50g less? There seems to be so much emphasis on weight from manufacturers but it doesn't match up with real life. Case in point, the success of hojis boots.

I sell boots for a living and I average one person per year who actually asks what a boot weighs. Keep in mind, I am talking about boots that are actually made for skiing and not strictly uphill travel.

well sure but at the point I was trying on a boot I would have done the homework and might know more about the boot than the average sales person

in the AT segment don't the really light boots ski like ass and while the next level of boot above that are able to actualy drive a powski are too heavy for Lou to consider ?

still on the vulcan which is the amount boot this skier needs

[Lord Thomas]

For inbounds boots I don't really care. However, when there is uphill involved the older, fatter, and more broke down I get the more I care. And yes, I have a spreadsheet with actual weights recorded. I started noticing when I passed the 50yr mark that there was an increasingly prevalent, negative correlation between the weight of my gear and my potential vert. Could almost develop a predictive equation.

[Benneke10]

You’d probably consider me a skimotard so I shouldn’t even be replying but I care about light boots. Once you go below 1200g the performance starts to drop off more steeply. I also enjoy light resort boots (Hawx) because I mostly ski at Alta and Solitude where you spend a lot of time hiking.

[Lindahl]

Does anyone actually care what their boots weigh? Like, after you know enough about the weight to decide it is in a certain category, do you actually care? Beyond skimotards does someone actually buy one boot over another because it weighs 50g less? There seems to be so much emphasis on weight from manufacturers but it doesn't match up with real life. Case in point, the success of hojis boots.

I sell boots for a living and I average one person per year who actually asks what a boot weighs. Keep in mind, I am talking about boots that are actually made for skiing and not strictly uphill travel.

I don't care about 50g. I do care about what weight class the touring boot is in - 1800g, 1400g or 1000g.

[gregL]

We get tons of people asking what boots weigh, especially for touring and hybrid models, and we refer them to our website. We also have a digital scale on our boot wall - one guy tonight probably weighed 8 boots. Lots of people want the lightest touring boot they can get, not aware that they may not have the skillset to ski decently in it.

There are also plenty of people who ask for a light alpine boot, not realizing that a heavier one might actually ski better.

[bodywhomper]

When I worked at marmot mtn works, we’d get customers that’d bring in their own digital scale. Some seasons it took a while for staff to all remember where the plugs were in the various locations of the boot area.

[Pinned]

I work in the bike industry, and it's a similar thing where customers / riders are super fixated on weight. It's because it is a low hanging fruit measurement. You can weigh any of the options and immediately have a point of comparison without riding / skiing them.

It is simply the easiest comparison between multiple products. It communicates almost nothing, but you have to keep in mind most folks aren't going to own 5 road bikes or 5 pairs of ski boots to build any real world reference from. Most folks won't even demo 5 pairs of ski boots before buying boots. I'm sure that's a pain in the ass as a bootfitter - people have enough pitfalls in terms of finding the right boot before they've gone and locked themselves out of an option due to a minor difference in weight (which they likely cannot feel if it's actually ~50g anyways).

We've found that some folks are pretty willing to learn / listen to experience and consider that weight isn't actually what matters most to them. But some others already have all the answers, for those people I still explain our thoughts but only so they know we gave them all the info even if they chose to use it to make a less than great decision.

[frorider]

There’s a website called TGR in which most any discussion of AT boots turns into a ski performance:weight ratio discussion. Most people I know IRL care somewhat about AT boot weight but only in the context of that ratio, not as a separate isolated number.

[GoldenBC]

ROM weenies unite

This is the thing that actually matters. When you can move efficiently, with proper form, you can move far more weight, which will ski better.


Interesting range of opinions.

@mtnlion, I agree, if Ski Up Hill wasn't nearby, I would probably have more of those questions. Also, we don't sell the ultralight weight class of boots that would attract those people.

I totally understand the 1kg boot crew wanting to be the lightest, but in the 1.5kg AT market, I don't understand it beyond lazy marketing. Making boots shorter to save weight, not having removable buckles, plastic so thin it claps out in a season. Personally, I would pay extra money for the hawx XTD to weigh 300g more. They would ski better and last longer.

[fleaches]

ROM weenies unite

+1

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[cat in january]

This is the thing that actually matters. When you can move efficiently, with proper form, you can move far more weight, which will ski better.


Interesting range of opinions.

, I would pay extra money for the hawx XTD to weigh 300g more. They would ski better and last longer.

Guess we will agree to disagree here. Sure range of motion is important, but most AT boots seem to be moving in a good direction that way. 300g is nearly 11 ounces more per foot which unlike skis, skins and bindings you are lifting every time you stride. I probably average thirty days a year and most days are 5,000 vertical give or take 1K so not too worried about clapping out a pair in a year. Sure 50g is pretty negligible, but 300g sure isn’t. My five year old boots have at least another year in them. I cheer on any advancements to get the weight down.

[rod9301]

Guess we will agree to disagree here. Sure range of motion is important, but most AT boots seem to be moving in a good direction that way. 300g is nearly 11 ounces more per foot which unlike skis, skins and bindings you are lifting every time you stride. I probably average thirty days a year and most days are 5,000 vertical give or take 1K so not too worried about clapping out a pair in a year. Sure 50g is pretty negligible, but 300g sure isn’t. My five year old boots have at least another year in them. I cheer on any advancements to get the weight down.

I went to hoji free from zero g, gained 200+g but because of the range of motion, I didn't go any slower

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[gregL]

Really? I don't change my stride because I get a boot with more or less range of motion. Either a boot has enough for my regular stride or it doesn't (these days, pretty much everything I will actually take touring does). If I want to go faster, I up my cadence or get in better shape.

[CirqueScaler]

Seems to me once someone picks a category of boot you'd generally want it's more down to fit and features than fifty grams.

[tgapp]

ROM weenies unite

+100

I don't need some 150 flex boot because I weigh 150 and ski in a centered (re: backseat) stance. I do want a great ROM and tons of support.

For me, the boot that most embodies those characteristics is the LaSpo Skorpius. I would still ski them if they weighed 300g more. The balance between walk mode and ski ability, plus the fit of the boot, is incredible.

I spent a couple days on my Alien RS (true wright weenie boots) only to find myself longing for my Skorps. ROM > weight, any day.

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[cat in january]

Don’t know either boot, but thought the alien rs had a greater rom than the skorpius

[XXX-er]

back in the day when i was training a 4 km stretch of up-hill to the ski hill on a regular basis I was using a light but not crazy light dynafit stoke/ vertical/ mercury/ pomoca setup, so just for kicks i tried my JJ/ FR+/ nylon BD/ 4 buckle alpine setup the purpose being to checkout the difference between the lightest & heaviest setups I own so I figure the difference in a timed hour & 1/2 run was 12%

that was > just the ROM & weight of the boots cuz everything was heavy so there was a lot of extra weight, the difference was very real and noticable

[frorider]

It is kinda crazy how much difference ROM can make, all else being equal. Especially when combined with a ‘just barely tall enough’ heel elevator. The stride length becomes as long as you need, and if you tour a lot you start to unconsciously vary it to optimize efficiency depending on gradient, skin track conditions etc.