Scarpa gea RS boots

[Moonrocket]

Anyone have thoughts on these?

I have a 15 YO pair of Scarpa Divas that stated cracking across the top of where the pin holes are on a hut trip I did.

They held up to the car luckily but I guess it’s replacement time.

I am happy with them- but think a little stiffer would be good- so I’m eyeing the Gea RS.

This would be for hut trips and touring. I mostly alpine at the resort.

I have a pair of Majesty Velvet skis and Rotation 10 bindings I’ll use them with.

Just curious if anyone has first hand experience.

 

[arbusch]

I have these boots. They are a great boot. I wish they were a bit narrower but I have skinny feet.

 

[WaterGirl]

Same as @arbusch except I have the regular Gea. In hind sight I should have bought the RS.
The specs for the 18/19 version I have are:
Shell: Grilamid® Cuff: Grilamid® Tongue: Pebax® Flex: 100 Forward Lean: 14˚ +/- 2˚

I have stuck my foot in the most recent versions and I see for this year based upon the specs on line at Scarpa they have pushed the forward lean +2 the regular GEA. You also need to look at what the boots are made of. I didn't necessarily like the feel of the Pebax. I actually felt the version of the Gea I have is stiffer than the current one. So I wasn't in such a hurry to replace it..... unless I can find a 22.5 RS on sale....But I really like the boot, and I have no issues with it and primarily use it for touring. I do have a custom foot bed that helps the fit for my narrower foot.

Current Gea
SHELL : Pebax R-New®
CUFF : Pebax R-New®
TONGUE : Pebax®
FLEX : 100
FORWARD LEAN : 16º +/- 2º

Current Gea RS
SHELL : Carbon Grilamid® LFT
CUFF : Grilamid® Bio
TONGUE : Pebax®
FLEX : 120
FORWARD LEAN : 16º +/- 2º

 

[Moonrocket]

@WaterGirl

Thank You! I appreciate your info!

Funny you mention finding a pair on sale.

I just ordered from this site (my friend recommended them- but I have not used them before) and they have your size on sale.

https://www.telemark-pyrenees.com/scarpa-gea-rs-2023?currency=USD&tax=ex_vat&country=US&var=72398&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2v-gBhC1ARIsAOQdKY3BKvIo7CbKO1HZkBb4St_yaDDRe8QDxp50hJFNn277NZ-pNlua2NsaAj5XEALw_wcB

 

[WaterGirl]

Thank you @Moonrocket!!!! for enabling me to make the least expensive boot purchase of the year......

I was waffling for a few days, however, right now my Gea boot is providing the most fun out of all my boots (alpine bootfiting has been a bust this year) except I would love a bit stiffer flex and a bit snugger in the fore foot area. So upgrading to the 22/23 Gea RS in a 22.5 vs 23 will give me the upgrades I need. The liner in the RS for this year is much stiffer than my old one and I may need to actually heat mold it. (I skied the old one out of the box no heat molding) Or if I hate it, since the 22.5 and the 23 are both 271 BLS I can just put my old liner in win win win!

And a big thanks to Scarpa for having their catalog for 23/24 up already on issuu. This assisted me in pulling the trigger on the 22/23 for the following reasons:
The 22/23 Gea/RS is 271 bsl 101 last, 1250g and a 4.5 degree footbed. Same as my old version.
The 23/24 Gea/RS is 273 bsl 102 last, 1300g and a whopping 5.2 boot board angle.

If you look at the new Gea/RS it is looking a lot more like the quarttro boot. Which could be good or bad. Except they are also making more of the boot out Pebax which I thought felt weird. So grabbing the model closest to what I have at a substantial discount made sense.

So going more average in width seems to be a trend in all boots. I can understand the 101 vs 102 (as discussed, doesn't feel like a 101) to fit more average foot. But I have no idea why they would increase the footboard degree* from 4.5 (which was already high) to 5.2??????? Like you really need more high heel effect when your pin bindings already have a toe /heel difference of up to 13mm? This doesn't make sense.

So anyone looking at this years boot vs next years take into account the changes in the general shape/ material/ boot board and increased weight in the next years model .....


* fwiw when I looked in my boot recently there is no boot board -- so that means either my fitter took mine out or the boot board ramp is built in to the bottom of the boot ? which would mean you can't change this at all ??? I have a posted foot bed which puts me at a much better fore/aft set up. I also have shimmed my dynafit toes with B&D shims to get rid of the excessive delta. Some pin bindings are now coming with lower delta angles which is a great asset to smaller bsl and sensitive skiers.

 

[WaterGirl]

@Moonrocket I received the boots -what a deal !
I'll be checking telemark-pyrenes more often

 

[echo_VT]

I thought the scarpa gea rs was too stiff for me. I didn’t try the new scarpa gea.

I have a scarpa gea from 2017-8 and I ended up just replacing the intuition liner with the pro tour since my shell is still in okay condition. That makes me nervous that they changed it so much!

 

[WaterGirl]

@echo_VT I think we have similar Geas. And I'm sure my boots have another season* or two left. But a bird in the hand for $360 .....

here is the link to the new catalog

SCARPA collection 2023/2024 by Scarpa_AT - Issuu

SCARPA collection 2023/2024

Read SCARPA collection 2023/2024 by Scarpa_AT on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

issuu.com

Btw there is no footbed so the bottom of the boot serves as the boot board. While using the boot in a pin binding I'm not sure how the boot board ramp would really measure out, using the boot say in a shift or GW binding would put you in a higher heel mode than the current boot. Since I need to reduce my bootboard ramp (extreme dorsiflexion) or post the footbed the increased ramp in the foot bed is not a benefit for me. It also looks Quatro-ish. I tried the Quatro it wasnt for me different sizing / feel. Who knows maybe there will be a better boot BUT I tried on a lot of boots and kept comming back to the Geas...

*The tag on my new Scarpa says replace every 3 years if worn regularly every 5 if worn weekends lol

 

[echo_VT]

I actually have the Scarpa F1 GT women's as well, and I like it for ease of use. that said it cannot be used with a shift binding or a hybrid binding, only the pin bindings. I only have the dynafit pin bindings and I do have a shift binding but I use the ski for downhill more than going uphill.

Interesting. The Scarpa F1 XT is of similar weight to the F1 GT but has the lip in order to use with hybrid bindings. I would be interested in trying it.

I will post my review of the Scarpa F1 GT

 

[SarahXC]

I’m excited to hear telemark-Pyrenees seems to be a real site because I have looked there often at the amazing prices but never knew anyone who had placed an order. Thanks for the info!

 

[WaterGirl]

I’m excited to hear telemark-Pyrenees seems to be a real site because I have looked there often at the amazing prices but never knew anyone who had placed an order. Thanks for the info!

I just checked the credit card I used to purchase which was a card that does not charge foreign transactions fees and yup no extra fees just the purchase price. I was concerned maybe some duty or ? tax ? but apparently not from France. They use DHL which provided way more updates that UPS or FedEx. My only complaints are they only used one box (not double boxed) and I watched the DHL guy throw the box in my yard..... ymmv.

 

[echo_VT]

I was waffling for a few days, however, right now my Gea boot is providing the most fun out of all my boots (alpine bootfiting has been a bust this year) except I would love a bit stiffer flex and a bit snugger in the fore foot area. So upgrading to the 22/23 Gea RS in a 22.5 vs 23 will give me the upgrades I need. The liner in the RS for this year is much stiffer than my old one and I may need to actually heat mold it. (I skied the old one out of the box no heat molding) Or if I hate it, since the 22.5 and the 23 are both 271 BLS I can just put my old liner in win win win!

I missed this. I had an issue where the fore area of the boot had too much wiggle room (too much volume for a low volume foot). for the Scarpa Gea, I ended up having our local boot fitter add neoprene to the top of the liner with some duck tape with slippery-ness on the outside so it would slide easily if needed.

It (the boot or the liner, even after heat molding) specifically had too much room above the toes where the ball of the foot starts. The change helped with retaining a very snug boot for the downhill.

A downside effect of this in the very cold weather, this trapped air so it wouldn't stay as warm. I used toe warmers on the top or my heated socks to help with this. in spring, I didn't notice it at all, only in the deep cold of winter. Not sure if this helps!

 

[Moonrocket]

*The tag on my new Scarpa says replace every 3 years if worn regularly every 5 if worn weekends lol

Well I guess that helps justify replacing the boots I got when my teenager was a baby

I also had no issues and was surprised how quick the boots came. The DHL app is awesome!