Good boot--some reservations

By Greg Ranked #474 - Alpine Touring Boots February 16, 2009

This boot is good, but it took some learning and getting used to. First, alot of people think this boot puts you way in the backseat automatically. Most of these people often aren't aware that they are in the rearmost of two foward lean settings which are adjusted by leaning forward or back with the switch in walk mode, and then locking in. If you are in the back position, you feel like you're standing almost straight up, and can never seem to get forward. In the front position, this boot has a similiar forward lean to a tecnica race plug. With a .5cm lifter under the heel you can achieve a downright racelike stance. The only problem is that with the boot in the forward position the boot is noticeably softer, esp at warm temperatures since the stiff tongue won't provide as much resistance. In cold temperatures however (as with many other boots), this thing is impressively stiff... I feel it is comparable to a the 130 race plug from tecnica (bu I also have a booster strap on my tornado pro)

a few words of caution about sizing: it's hard to know if you have the right size with this boot until it's baked. Im a 27.5 in most boots, and the 27.5/28 (same shell in the tornado btw) felt way too small unbaked, so I went with the 28.5 tornado. After baking it felt good, but now it's starting to get packed out. I feel like I could have achieved the same comfortable fit with the 27.5/28 after baking but wouldn't be packing out quite as quickly... but then again my feet are always warm even on -20 degree VT/NH days in these boots, probably because of the extra room... so proceed carefully here; maybe go big for comfort and warmth, or small for a more performance feel... if you go big I feel like you won't get the same edging ability because your foot will swim in the boot a bit more.

finally on the uphills do yourself a favor and just take the tongue out completely (don't even bother with the touring tongue). if you go to the hassle of changing the tongue between tour and ski, just keep the ski tongue in your pack, and tour tongueless. by doing this I've been super comfortable and in control while skinning mellow skin tracks or climbing hairy mixed ice/rock/steep snow. it's a bit of a pain to get the tongues back in, but a pain i think is well worth the effort.

all in all, i like the boot. it would be 5 stars if it had dynafit compatibility even considering the wierdness/learning curve i described above.

View Details: Scarpa Tornado Pro Alpine Touring Boot

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