A resort boot you can also tour with

By Andrew McLean Ranked #2 - Alpine Touring Boots March 21, 2010

I got these boots mainly as a resort and kite skiing boot and love them for those uses. You could tour with them, but there are probably better touring boots out there (Spirit 4 comes to mind). But, as a boot that can handle a day of hard skiing at the resort, then with a flip of the switch allow you to tour out of the resort and into the backcountry, the Typhoon is great.

The soles have no rocker, so they walk like an alpine boot - a bit clunky. But, they do have a Vibram sole, so if you are booting, you'll have good traction. These boots also work well with crampons like the BD Sabertooth.

I had the liners fitted and molded at a shop and have had no blisters or hot spots with them. They are comfy and warm, yet when clamped down, you can get a lot of performance out of them.

The Typhoons don't come with Tech fittings, so if you are going to tour with them, you can't use a Dynafit binding. This doesn't matter all that much as they are more of a Marker Duke or Fritschi type of boot.

They only time I am ever annoyed by these boots is when I am getting into them as the buckles, tongue and shells all seem to conspire against going together in the right order and it can be tricky to get all the parts lined up. I've found that rotating the buckles out of the way helps with this quite a bit.

Overall, I'd say these are a 85% resort boot and 15% touring, but if that is what you are looking for (I am), they are perfect. You can hammer the resorts day after day in them, then skin back from a trip to the sidecountry if needed.

Another big plus is the fine Italian craftsmanship on these babies - they are a work of art that you can take out and play with.

View Details: Scarpa Typhoon Alpine Touring Boot

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