Dual Purpose Boots - Race Coaching Boots Doubling as Back Country/Hike Mode Boots

[K Skis]

Hello! This is my first time on the forum, so I hope I'm doing it right :-). I was wondering if anyone has experience dual purposing boots. I coach Development Team for "littles" (5-8 year olds), and we, as a family, are dabbling in starting up backcountry skiing. I am looking to dual purpose boots with a good walk mode for coaching (standing at the tops/bottoms of the course) and for use as my boots for starting out in "early stages" of backcountry skiing.

I currently ski/coach/race with Lange XT 110s, and am looking at the Lange XT Free 90. I have a small foot (22.5 mondo, 5 1/2 US shoe size) boot. I'm wondering if the flex of 90 will be too soft, or if I should be looking at the 110s.
I've heard that you should go a bit softer with backcountry boots, but I am not sure if the 90 flex may be too soft.

Does anyone have thoughts/opinions/recommendations? Thank you very much for your thoughts!

 

[K Skis]

Quick edit, current boots are Lange RC sc 110s, not XT 110s. Thank you!

 

[MissySki]

I have no experience in the backcountry, and just went for my first time this past weekend on rental boots (that were horrible). So I need to get boots to continue exploring AT stuff. I ski in the Lange RS 110 SC as well and tried on the Lange XT 110 LV freeride on Monday because I want to do more backcountry. The fit was super similiar to my current boot and the flex felt really good. This is what I’m considering to get a start in the backcountry without losing the downhill performance I want. One of the guys in the shop told me that he has the same set of boots for alpine and backcountry setups.

I’m probably going to go try some more options on, but right now the Freeride is my frontrunner. I am not planning to make it my one boot, unless it is way better in some way than my current boot, but I could see this boot in particular working in both applications for you. Is there a reason you wouldn’t keep just using your current boot inbounds and the new one in the backcountry? Time to replace etc.?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

Fun! The coaching and touring. I just upgraded to a new touring boot. The tecnica zero G scout tour. I like it because it is a four buckle. It is lighter than the lange and seems to have a wider range of fore/aft mobility and is stiff enough to ski some fairly aggressive turns in. I have owned touring langes and touring garmonts and the former were not light or useful enough for my touring needs and the latter sucked on the descents. Tomorrow I get try the tecnicas for the first time on snow and am cautiously optimistic that this will be THE boot.

While I do not coach racers, I attended a USSA course setting class and was very envious of the coaches who had their touring setups for drilling.

Best of luck finding the right boot.

 

[MissySki]

Fun! The coaching and touring. I just upgraded to a new touring boot. The tecnica zero G scout tour. I like it because it is a four buckle. It is lighter than the lange and seems to have a wider range of fore/aft mobility and is stiff enough to ski some fairly aggressive turns in. I have owned touring langes and touring garmonts and the former were not light or useful enough for my touring needs and the latter sucked on the descents. Tomorrow I get try the tecnicas for the first time on snow and am cautiously optimistic that this will be THE boot.

While I do not coach racers, I attended a USSA course setting class and was very envious of the coaches who had their touring setups for drilling.

Best of luck finding the right boot.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the Technicas once you get to ski them tomorrow! Also, what did you mean by the Langes not being useful enough, was that based on the range of motion on the uphill or something else?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

Sorry for not being clear on the langes. They were from 5 years ago, so probably much better now. Yes, exactly, the fore to aft range in uphill touring mode was not sufficient, nor very well articulated. This year's lances compared to the tecnicas also seemed heavier.

 

[MrsPlow]

One thing that was suggested to me when I bought my new boots (alpine with hike mode/tech inserts) was to get a custom foam liner for in-resort, and then use the stock liner for touring. I ended up with the higher flex boot of the 2 options I had, so I'm sticking with the stock liner at least for the time being. But possibly an option in your situation?

 

[SallyCat]

I'm new to touring, so not much to offer but encouragement. And a question: I wonder why people recommend a softer flex for touring? My AT boots are three-buckle, and despite being a 110 flex, are really soft. Generally if I'm skinning, it's to access relatively challenging terrain; I definitely do NOT like feeling as though I can't provide too much forward pressure on my cuffs because they have too much "give."
I can just loosen the buckles a bit on the way up if I want a softer-flex climbing mode, right?

 

[MissySki]

I'm new to touring, so not much to offer but encouragement. And a question: I wonder why people recommend a softer flex for touring? My AT boots are three-buckle, and despite being a 110 flex, are really soft. Generally if I'm skinning, it's to access relatively challenging terrain; I definitely do NOT like feeling as though I can't provide too much forward pressure on my cuffs because they have too much "give."
I can just loosen the buckles a bit on the way up if I want a softer-flex climbing mode, right?

That’s my thought as well. The rental boot I had last weekend gave me no support at all, and it was scary. Made me think that I definitely didn’t want to sacrifice so much of the downhill performance, they sure were light though!!

 

[snoWYmonkey]

I like my touring boot to be similar in flex to my alpine. That said I think that the materials in order to be both stiff and light often end up flexing strangely. I hate soft flexing boots and don't like uber stiff either as in 130 plus. I do both go into tour mode in back and loosen buckles to skin.

 

[WaterGirl]

And a question: I wonder why people recommend a softer flex for touring?

Its all about what your goals are -- this was a good explanation with some other links as well -
https://www.cripplecreekbc.com/blogs/news/choosing-your-ski-touring-setup
There are other reviews on line (outdoor gear lab etc) that rank boots by up and down capabilities.

From what I understand (being new to the AT scene as well) is that there has been a lot of progress and innovation in gear in the past few years. In the past, it may have been the only way to get good up was to sacrifice the down with a softer boot. There is a "skill" to skiing in a soft boot, but it appears that newer plastics and designs are providing the range of motion needed for the up with a stronger boot for the down.

Best to pair your boot and ski with your goals. If you have that frame binding on a regular alpine ski, your going to want the burlier boot. Having a skimo boot isn't going to drive the ski.

 

[MissySki]

@snoWYmonkey how were the Technicas?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@snoWYmonkey how were the Technicas?

I ended up having to work. Promise to post and sorry for the delay. If not today, it may be a while.

 

[MissySki]

I ended up having to work. Promise to post and sorry for the delay. If not today, it may be a while.

No need to apologize at all!

 

[elemmac]

I'm new to touring, so not much to offer but encouragement. And a question: I wonder why people recommend a softer flex for touring? My AT boots are three-buckle, and despite being a 110 flex, are really soft. Generally if I'm skinning, it's to access relatively challenging terrain; I definitely do NOT like feeling as though I can't provide too much forward pressure on my cuffs because they have too much "give."
I can just loosen the buckles a bit on the way up if I want a softer-flex climbing mode, right?

I always thought people recommended a softer boot for touring because you're not inputting the same amount of stresses on the boot. Of course it all depends on how you ski "on resort" for a comparison. I know I put a lot more force into my boots (and skis) when carving on open trails than when I'm picking my way through the woods. This probably goes along with the recommendation that if you normally ski back bowls, bumps, trees and otherwise unforgiving terrain, a forgiving boot can help correct those small off balanced movements, whereas a stiffer boot will amplify them. I can't see ever going so soft that the boot is floppy though.

With that all being said...I ski close to the same flex in both my alpine and my AT setups, 115 and 110 respectively. I have considered tracking down a set of the softer tongues for my AT boots just to see if I'd like it better.

 

[MrsPlow]

My understanding was that the flex rating for a touring/walk mode boot will generally be softer than the alpine equivalent. So a 110 flex in an touring boot is likely to be equivalent to 100 or lower in an alpine boot - my old 95 flex alpine boots were much stiffer than my 110 flex touring boots.

Although I think there's more to it than just a direct numerical comparison, what with lateral flex, rear flex with a walk mode etc.

 

[MissySki]

My understanding was that the flex rating for a touring/walk mode boot will generally be softer than the alpine equivalent. So a 110 flex in an touring boot is likely to be equivalent to 100 or lower in an alpine boot - my old 95 flex alpine boots were much stiffer than my 110 flex touring boots.

Although I think there's more to it than just a direct numerical comparison, what with lateral flex, rear flex with a walk mode etc.

I agree, at least in my limited experience so far of trying stuff on. Even the Lange freetour that fits so similiar to my Lange RS and has the same flex rating, felt softer than the latter when I had one on each foot.

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@MissySki The Tecnicas were a dream compared to my old 3 buckle scarpa gaeas. Lighter and better range of motion the climb, though they are pretty short sole length wise so toes hit a little. On the way down I could finally arc a nice turn while in touring gear! So stoked. Skied cut up pow on the one lap down. Need somw no or tweaking on the lid foot as it squeezes and cramps some when fully buckled down. Weird feeling to get almost true alpine performance out of such a light boot. It's a keeper!