After having been on the sidelines for more than 10 years, I finally decided to put together a new backcountry touring rig. My Alpina 1550's (size 41) are partnered with a pair of Rossignol BC90 waxless skis (169 cm), and Rossignol BC Magnum NNN bindings which appear to be almost indentical to the Rottefella BC Magnums. I took this gear out for the first time yesterday, to Burstall Pass in Kananskis Country west of Calgary. About 8" of fresh moist snow had fallen the previous day and air temp was about 0C/32F.

The boots were extremely comfortable, and pretty much felt like slippers compared to the single leathers I had skied in in the past. Sizing seems to be on the large size. I'm a solid size 8 in street shoes and these 41's felt like 8.5 US size. They are also quite roomy over the instep and in the heel and are medium wide at the ball of the foot. I intend to add a thin insole to raise my foot a bit and also go with thicker socks. These mods should make the fit just about perfect.

The boots were a dream along the flats and low-angle rolling terrain. The skis gripped very well up to at least a 10 deg. inclination (guessing here) and even more in the untracked fresh stuff. I put some skins on for a steep wooded "headwall" that lead up into the alpine. After slogging up to the pass, I started down the rolling terrain with 5-15 to occasional short 20 deg slopes and tried some tele turns. The first few turns were a little disconcerting - think telemarking in slippers! These boots have excellent lateral rigidity/stiffness because of the plastic frame but almost no forward stiffness. This makes it almost impossible to apply any pressure to the skis by pushing forward in the boots. It seemed to me that carefully balanced application of weight using the balls of the feet was the key to turning. A delicate touch is definitely required. And possibly a little more of an upright stance than I had used in the past. Having said that, I'm confident that with a bit more practice, I'll be turning these skis just fine. It could be that the NNN bindings were partly reponsible for the "loose" feel as well - I'm new to these also.

I'd have to disagree with some reviewers who found that these boots have good ankle support. Laterally yes, longitudinally no. They felt very soft to me.

I hope to get up on some of the local glaciers this spring and see how this setup performs. To be honest, I'm a bit leary about the stability of these boots/bindings going downhill with a heavy pack on. We'll see.