New 75mm Bindings

[rongon]

I've been monkeying around with my vintage Crispi boot collection.
I think I need to take back a little of what I was saying earlier...

The CXP is definitely stiffer than the CXA, but not by much.

The CXA is softer flexing all around than the CXP, but it still feels fairly stiff, like a downhill-oriented telemark boot, rather than something closer to the Excursion or T4.

I also have a pair of CXT boots, the 2-buckle touring model from that period, designed to compete with the T3, T4 and Excursion boots. The CXT is a lot softer than the CXA. I remember the Excursion being softer yet than the CXT, especially the bellows flex. I really liked the way the Excursion bellows worked. The Excursion's kick and glide was really quite decent. The CXT's bellows flex is noticeably hinge-y, the opposite of a 'progressive' flex. It starts out stiff and then when you generate enough leverage to it, the bellows suddenly bends for you. Like a hinge.

As for cuff height, the CXT and the CXA are *identical*. The only difference in that regard is that the CXA has 3 buckles while the CXT has 2.

I can ski the CXT with a 3-Pin binding. I find the bellows flex is too stiff for easy kick and glide, but it tours. Not as well as the Excursion, but it does tour.

I could not imagine touring in the CXA's with pins. Too stiff.

That would be even worse in the CXP's. That's why I ski them with Switchbacks.

[lowangle al]

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.

20 miles is a long tour in my book, especially with plastic boots. At this point in my ski career I think the only way I could do a 20 miler would be with plastic boots.(T4s) I just spent 9 days touring in leather Merril Ultras. Although they were very comfortable, after 5 or 6 miles the ball of my left foot felt like it was on fire due to a nerve problem. With T4s I'm able to transfer weight to the ski, for K&G and turning, through the cuff of the boot so more weight is on my shin and less on my feet.

There is a learning curve going from a light boot to a plastic boot. My stride got shorter, cadence quicker, poles are shorter and like I said above I'm getting weight to the ski through the cuff which helps with fatigue in your feet. Especially on sketchy downhills.

Have you tried the T4? I have a very wide foot and they work for me at one size larger than length would indicate.

[rongon]

Hey hey lowangle al,

First off, no, I haven't tried on a pair of T4. I should, just to see. I have tried on T2X and T2eco, and that last will not work with my feet. I have a tailor's bunion on my left foot that requires a bit of punching out of the shell on the left side of my left foot metatarsal arch. Scarpa boots have that really nicely designed swoop to their bellows that places it right in the part of the boot that I'd need punched out. Crispi boots have a straight-across-the-forefoot bellows that is an undoubtedly worse design, but leaves the boot clear to get punched out where I need it. It's a sad story, but I live with it.

My other favorite long touring boot is a pair of vintage Asolo Extreme (not the "Pro"), which I wear a bit oversized. Back in the day, a lot of people couldn't wear that boot because of the pebax reinforced ankle area. Fortunately, I don't have that problem with it.

I did an 18 mile out and back on rolling terrain a few years ago, in perfect conditions in the central Adirondacks, with those boots on my ca. 2005 Rebounds. (Vintage, right?) That was a tour that would have felt ponderous on my Annum-Switchback-CXP setup, although I could have done it on that too. But the long tours are more fun with the leather boots. The Extreme's forefoot flex is so free and easy. It encourages me to use a straight-up Nordic classic kick & glide, with my poles set longer. Like you mentioned, I can't do that in the plastic boots. But I can't ski much in the way of steep stuff with the heavy leathers. I'm not that good at old school slice 'n dice telemark skiing (Teleman-style).

Everything is a compromise. The trick is to find the best compromise for your kind of fun.

I think there's a style difference between NE US and Quebec XCD skiers and others around the world. I tend to mate heavier boots with lighter skis, and I see that a lot in the Adirondacks and Vermont backcountry. I never see anyone sticking with NNN-BC boots/bindings on Annums, for instance, even though that's how Madshus sold the ski in its promo materials. I was talking to a southern Adirondack local the other day, a long-time bc skier, whose favored rig is a pair of T4 on Madshus Epoch with Rottefella Super Telemark binders. I think it's our variable conditions and tight forests that push us to favor bigger boots for lighter skis. We have to be ready for anything, conditions-wise.

Thanks for the tip on sizing up the T4. I'm going to try that, the next time I'm in a shop that actually has those in stock.

[lowangle al]

I hope they work for ya. With the low cuff I have the same ROM of my leather boots. It's a more natural feel when your ankles aren't restrained in a typical alpine oriented ski boot. They hold an edge like a plastic boot but with less leverage than a taller boot. Unfortunately it's the only thing like it on the market. Except maybe that explore stuff, hmmm.

I remember back in the eighties in the High Peaks seeing people skiing ski skinny Epokes with telemark weight leather boots. It probably was related to conditions.

[jalp]

The CXT's bellows flex is noticeably hinge-y, the opposite of a 'progressive' flex. It starts out stiff and then when you generate enough leverage to it, the bellows suddenly bends for you. Like a hinge.

That's a perfect description of what my CXP bellows flex feels like. Very different from any other plastic or leather boot that I've tried. It was weird at first to get used to but I kinda like it now.

I could not imagine touring in the CXA's with pins. Too stiff.

That would be even worse in the CXP's. That's why I ski them with Switchbacks.

Yup, I toured once in the CXPs on pins and never again. Took a few weeks for the blisters to heal. SB X2's from now on.