New 75mm Bindings

[lowangle al]

What do you guys consider a long tour that would be too much for a T4?

MacKaye, sticking with the Targa will let you use your T4 or the Transnordics.

[Jurassien]

I can't imagine to go on longer tours in my t4s to be honest.

I can’t imagine longer tours in a plastic boot either.

I can quite easily imagine it, as I've been there and done that.

Can't imagine doing it again though.

[MacKaye]

So far i have only done some easy access climbing with my T4s. Especially in the flats i start suffering after about an hour and i can spend whole days in the resort in the same boots.
I starting to like the idea of using a two boots/1 set of skis and bindings setup. Let´s hope the targas still last some time. Haven´t seen any real alternative out there..

[phoenix]

"I starting to like the idea of using a two boots/1 set of skis and bindings setup."

Good way to broaden versatility.

[rongon]

MacKaye wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 7:35 am
I can't imagine to go on longer tours in my t4s to be honest.

I've had many adventures in bootfitting so that I can go on long tours in my plastic boots -- Crispi CXP, to be precise.

I started out with Asolo Extreme Pro boots, but the forward cant was horrible. So I finally spent the $300 on a pair of Garmont Excursions. At first I thought I'd died and gone to tele boot heaven. But then the toe bang got to me. Multiple trips to the bootfitter couldn't fix it. So I gave up on them and started looking for something similar, but with a different fit.

On Sierra Trading Post, I scored a pair of Crispi CXT (2 buckle plastic) for like $150. I got them blown out for my way-too-wide forefoot (especially the left foot). But then I noticed that dang way-too-stiff bellows on the CXT. The boot's too low to give you the leverage to bend that bellows easily. They tour like poopoo in 3-Pins. But the old Crispi last fits my feet well (after a visit to the bootfitter). So I became a Crispi guy.

Finally, I went from 3-Pin Hardwire bindings to Switchbacks. Now I could go a bit heavier with the boots. I found a pair of used Crispi CXP (3 buckle plastic) for way cheap, took 'em to the bootfitter, bought a pair of closeout Scarpa liners so I could toss the thoroughly wretched original liners, and that was it! The longest tour I've done in the CXPs was a 20 mile day up Glastenbury Mountain in southern VT, from and back to VT-9. I was on my Annums with Switchbacks. I think that was only about 2500 feet of vertical, so there was a lot of low angle touring involved. The worst part of the day was at the end, after a Forest Service crew had come through and trimmed back the balsam firs from the forest road, leaving sticky, sap-soaked fir needles and twigs in the snow, for like 2 miles down to VT-9. I got no glide at all. That last couple of miles seemed to take forever.

Then I took those same CXPs with Voile Vectors and Switchback X2s across the Wapta Icefields. That was only 6 to 8 miles a day, for four days in a row, but with more vertical per mile. That went well too.

My take: Make your boots fit. The weight and stiffness may be a drag, but if your feet hurt you will not want to ski, so a long tour will feel like agony after 5 miles or so. Plastic boots don't have to hurt. Actually, they shouldn't.

My opinion, YMMV, etc.

[jalp]

@rongon I'll definitely second your opinion on the CXP. Took me quite a while to sort out the toe pinch with my pair but now they are pretty dialed in. I'd add that completely disabling the walk/ski mode makes them tour all that much better. Significant increase in ROM.

[rongon]

Wow, another CXP fan! I thought I was alone out here.

The tour/walk mode switches on my CXPs broke long ago. I'm always skiing in walk mode. Were you able to completely remove the metal bar and switch mechanism from the backs of the boots? How did you do that? Could you post photos showing what that part of your boots looks like now?

[jalp]

Wow, another CXP fan! I thought I was alone out here.

The tour/walk mode switches on my CXPs broke long ago. I'm always skiing in walk mode. Were you able to completely remove the metal bar and switch mechanism from the backs of the boots? How did you do that? Could you post photos showing what that part of your boots looks like now?

I'm sure that there's at least a few other CXP fans out there! I'm curious to also check out the CXA if I ever find a pair out in the wild.

I considered removing the whole lock bar and mechanism but ultimately decided to leave things easily reversible. Took about 10 minutes to get it all done. I'm not sure if this would work if your locks are broken though. Pulling the cross pin is one thing, securing the bar so it doesn't creep down and jamb things up is another.

[rongon]

Thanks for the photos. I'm going to try that. Maybe tomorrow while it rains buckets here, all day.

Re: CXA - I actually have a pair. I was hoping they'd be noticeably softer flexing than the CXP, especially in the bellows, but really they seem like very close to the same boot, just less tall. The problem with that is that with that shorter cuff it takes more leg power to get the bellows to break over. The end result is that the CXA doesn't tour any better than the CXP, but it feels less solid for downhill turns. A workaround is to use a taller liner with a stiff cuff around your calf, which will add a bit of oomph to the CXA (I have a pair of Palau liners like that). But that makes the touring even worse. I find I get better results using the taller CXP but with a shorter liner (I use an old pair of those Scarpa liners that were made by Intuition, years ago).

I've attached some photos of the two boots side by side. You can see how the CXA has a shorter cuff. What you can't see is how the boots flex.

[jalp]

Thanks for the photos. I'm going to try that. Maybe tomorrow while it rains buckets here, all day.

Re: CXA - I actually have a pair. I was hoping they'd be softer flexing than the CXP, especially in the bellows, but really they seem like the exact same boot, just less tall. The problem with that is that with that shorter cuff it takes more leg power to get the bellows to break over. The end result is that the CXA doesn't tour any better than the CXP, but it feels less solid for downhill turns. A workaround is to use a taller liner with a stiff cuff around your calf, which will add a bit of oomph to the CXA (I have a pair of Palau liners like that). But that makes the touring even worse. I find I get better results using the taller CXP but with a shorter liner (I use an old pair of those Scarpa liners that were made by Intuition, years ago).

I've attached some photos of the two boots side by side. You can see how the CXA has a shorter cuff. What you can't see is how the boots flex.

Thanks for the comparison on these! Come to think of it, what you are saying about the short cuff but similar flex makes sense. I would have also hoped for a slightly softer boot. I'm still pretty happy with my Excursions for longer tours and the CXP for more challenging terrain and conditions.