Stephen wrote: ↑Wed Mar 09, 2022 3:22 pm
Maybe I missed it, but how does the Alf Free come out 2 points lower than the Pioneer Pro for “Downhill,” when the “Support” “Stiffness” and “Control” numbers are “10” for each boot? That makes the Free equal to the Guard (both 7), which seems very surprising.
Just a few more words here to clarify the situation, and why the Alfa FREE got a 7/10 note for downhill. This place is called "Telemark Talk", a forum dedicated to the telemark turn, also called free-heel skiing, the technique of dropping knees in order to turn. If you take a closer look at the
Free description, you will notice that there is not a single mention of the word "telemark" on the page. No mentions of turns or dropped knees. According to Alfa, the Free is a
backcountry boot that
improves the stability and control in demanding terrains. It's made for
Hilly backcountry skiing. From that perspective, where telemark turns are not involved, I sure would give the Free 10/10 for "downhill", a perfect note. It's the most stable leather boot I know of.
If you are a backcountry skier and you are skiing downhill alpine-style, the Alfa Free is the best and safest option... If you are only doing half-tele turns, or fake-marks, or that snowplowing-with-one-raised-heel dance (aka here as "arcing"), it's clear that the Free will give you much more control for downhill than any other boots. The free is very stiff, and you can get a lot of control out of it from
driving the cuff instead of the ball of foot, something you won't get from any other leather boot, not even the Skaget, Guard, Alaska XP or the Pioneer.
The Free is a totally amazing boot. And as much as I'm in love with it, from the TELEMARK perspective, I find that with the basic soft flexor, the Alaska XP and the
Pioneer are smoother, more fun and more natural for pure traditional telemark turns. The "downhill" rating of each boot on the chart refers to the telemark, XCD skiing perspective, NOT the Alpine-Touring or Cross-Country point of view. Very different. Just saying...
Now the way the Free works is not unlike NTN boots. The sole being quite hard to flatten at the ball of foot, it requires additional help to fully unleash its full power for downhill telemark turns. As I first mentioned
last year when I first tried the XP, this additional help can come from:
1- a different technique
2- using hard flexors
3- driving the cuff of the boot, which is especially true and useful in the case of the Alfa Free boot
Just like plastic boots, the stiffer the upper cuff is, the easier it is to use it to flex the sole and drive the ski. Some people (Yes, including me
) might argue here that this is not the pure, original 3-pin telemark technique, as it was the case with NTN 15 years ago. But who cares really? Again, there is nothing new here, this is exactly like the stiff plastic NNN-BC boots of the 90's and their white flexors. Only with better boots and a better system this time. The world is moving forward.
And yes, with different flexors, each of the 7 boots reviewed in the chart have totally different characteristics and ratings. The difference is even greater than a boot with and without cables. But the idea here is to keep the comparisons simple and fair.
)
