@bauerb - thanks for all the guidance! I’m going to tackle a rec course with the F1 Race boots and the setup @mikesee posted above (as well as some good adventures in the woods with my dog) and see if I catch the skimo bug.

I’ll keep you all posted on how it goes!

bauerb - After going down this rabbit hole and talking to a few of my buddies who truly skimo, it seems that AT is the only way to compete and survive the downhills while staying light. It's been awesome to see the posts from a few years back and now see you crushing these races. I think for me, I ...

Thanks everyone for such thoughtful responses - digging into your experiences trying this out and talking about this on the forum and backcountry talk it seems like this is a hot topic that hopefully get's some attention (although Scarpa probably doesn't have a ton of economic incentive to build rac...

Secondly, I was the only person skiing tele in the race and I'm quite new to tele skiing. It sounds like you're way ahead of me there. I do like the Xplore binding but it just wasn't enough for the downhill, which was steeper and really chopped up by the time I got there. I'd never skied anything q...

Thanks for such a detailed reply @baurb. Actually what got me to post here was a thread you started a while back asking about a tele setup for a race - I followed your journey there and it was super informative: https://www.backcountrytalk.com/forum/bc-talk/backside-bar-grill/110660-my-first-post-th...

Although... I will say if the goal is the GT... I've often wondered about that race with a patterned base ski and tele/nordic bindings. I know to be at the front one would need to skate, but it's more an xcd race anyway than a pure skimo race. Thanks for the great advice here spopepro - I am wonder...

I have been cajoled into doing the Gothic Mountain Tour this year and if all goes well, the GT in 2024. I would love to do it without locking down my heel, and without lugging my old TX Pros and Freerides the whole way. I have been lurking on a few of the older threads and have seen good recs on a l...