Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

DanJuans wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:16 am

Just restored these thrift store merrell leather boots using nicwax's leather product and very pleased with how they ski. A couple of questions:
1. I'm trying to find info on year and product. They were made in Italy and from what I found on the merrell wiki page, it looks like they were bought out by Karhu in 1986 and the factory moved to China. So, I'm guessing mid 80s, the cuff is pretty high and stiff so I can tell it was not a cross country boit and specifically made for downhill/mountaineering.
2. My least favorite part is the velcro straps. Has anybody just used a strong pair of laces with better results. I can tell how little these were used because they are in such good condition. In my experience, velcro straps like these disintegrate when exposed to the elements and I just want to remove them and put them in a safe spot to keep the boot authentic if I ever resale (even though I know there is an extremely small chance of that ever happening).
3. The left boot has a bit of damage to the rubber surrounding the pin holes. I was thinking of applying shoe goo then spreading it with a metal scraper to prevent it from taking further damage.

Frania331 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 17, 2025 5:09 pm

DanJuans wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:16 am

Just restored these thrift store merrell leather boots using nicwax's leather product and very pleased with how they ski. A couple of questions:
1. I'm trying to find info on year and product. They were made in Italy and from what I found on the merrell wiki page, it looks like they were bought out by Karhu in 1986 and the factory moved to China. So, I'm guessing mid 80s, the cuff is pretty high and stiff so I can tell it was not a cross country boit and specifically made for downhill/mountaineering.
2. My least favorite part is the velcro straps. Has anybody just used a strong pair of laces with better results. I can tell how little these were used because they are in such good condition. In my experience, velcro straps like these disintegrate when exposed to the elements and I just want to remove them and put them in a safe spot to keep the boot authentic if I ever resale (even though I know there is an extremely small chance of that ever happening).
3. The left boot has a bit of damage to the rubber surrounding the pin holes. I was thinking of applying shoe goo then spreading it with a metal scraper to prevent it from taking further damage.

Nice work on the boots! Mid-80s sounds about right. I’ve swapped velcro for laces before, works great. Shoe Goo should do the trick for the damage. How are they skiing feeling comfy or still stiff?

fgd135 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:50 am

That appears to be a pair of Merrell double leather tele boots with a Nordica or similar downhill boot liner inserted in place of the regular Merrell lower cut inner boots. I could be mistaken, but I also was selling beaucoup leather tele boots in the 80's and 90's, in Colorado, by the hundreds, and don't remember seeing a boot with that liner.
It was a common practice to replace the liners of leather double boots with higher liners from ~usually discarded~ alpine boots to give at least the illusion of more control, for your Asolos, Merrells, Kastingers, Fabianos, etc. Some tele skiers even attached the cuffs from downhill boots using T nuts, which eventually was copied by Merrell to create the XCD Comp.
Otoh, if those boot has liners were made by Merrell, the boots have to be some very early pre-Comp transitional model. Given the condition, I's guess that boot might've been a one-off or salesman's sample, etc.
I'd replace the velcro with Voile straps; the velcro straps also tell me that's an early 1980's boot, as Merrell transitioned pretty quickly to their version of Voile straps in all their tele boots, as indeed, the velcro straps really sucked for skiing, even if they work for toddler's sneakers.

DanJuans wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:40 am

Frania331 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 17, 2025 5:09 pm

DanJuans wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 14, 2025 11:16 am

Just restored these thrift store merrell leather boots using nicwax's leather product and very pleased with how they ski. A couple of questions:
1. I'm trying to find info on year and product. They were made in Italy and from what I found on the merrell wiki page, it looks like they were bought out by Karhu in 1986 and the factory moved to China. So, I'm guessing mid 80s, the cuff is pretty high and stiff so I can tell it was not a cross country boit and specifically made for downhill/mountaineering.
2. My least favorite part is the velcro straps. Has anybody just used a strong pair of laces with better results. I can tell how little these were used because they are in such good condition. In my experience, velcro straps like these disintegrate when exposed to the elements and I just want to remove them and put them in a safe spot to keep the boot authentic if I ever resale (even though I know there is an extremely small chance of that ever happening).
3. The left boot has a bit of damage to the rubber surrounding the pin holes. I was thinking of applying shoe goo then spreading it with a metal scraper to prevent it from taking further damage.

Nice work on the boots! Mid-80s sounds about right. I’ve swapped velcro for laces before, works great. Shoe Goo should do the trick for the damage. How are they skiing feeling comfy or still stiff?

This is my first go around with leather. To test them out. I took them on a groomed blue run that was very icy that I can normally blast through with plastic boots without hesitation and immediately noticed the difference. I then fiddled around tightening this and that and found a good comfort zone. Definitely was a good day for improving telemark technique. Went out with a plastic boot the next day after about 5 inches of fresh and was skiing better than ever. Plan on doing a tour with rolling terrain today on some waxless skis (kom) and voile hardwire binding. Trying to get a no transition xcd setup for when I just want to go solo and avalanche risk is anything above green (live in sw colorado, tons of great skiing options on all of the >10,000 ft passes) but still want some downhill performance for the 20-30 degree slopes. put some boot laces on and a voile strap for the top loop. Put about 3 layers of shoe goo on duckbill using the apply wait 24 hours, sand down, and reapply method that I have developed over the years.

fgd135 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 18, 2025 9:50 am

That appears to be a pair of Merrell double leather tele boots with a Nordica or similar downhill boot liner inserted in place of the regular Merrell lower cut inner boots. I could be mistaken, but I also was selling beaucoup leather tele boots in the 80's and 90's, in Colorado, by the hundreds, and don't remember seeing a boot with that liner.
It was a common practice to replace the liners of leather double boots with higher liners from ~usually discarded~ alpine boots to give at least the illusion of more control, for your Asolos, Merrells, Kastingers, Fabianos, etc. Some tele skiers even attached the cuffs from downhill boots using T nuts, which eventually was copied by Merrell to create the XCD Comp.
Otoh, if those boot has liners were made by Merrell, the boots have to be some very early pre-Comp transitional model. Given the condition, I's guess that boot might've been a one-off or salesman's sample, etc.
I'd replace the velcro with Voile straps; the velcro straps also tell me that's an early 1980's boot, as Merrell transitioned pretty quickly to their version of Voile straps in all their tele boots, as indeed, the velcro straps really sucked for skiing, even if they work for toddler's sneakers.