Seeking advice on skis/boots

Hi all,

I just got back into skiing a couple of years ago and went enthusiastically into backcountry skiing. I bought gear that I figured I could use for both backcountry and lift-served with an emphasis on the former. Now I'm finding that I'm doing a decent bit of both and am wondering if maybe I would be better served to buy an additional setup devoted for lift skiing and preserve my b/c stuff from the pounding it gets while skiing the groomers. I'm skiing with Scarpa Laser boots and Fritchi Freeride bindings and have been told that a stiffer, 4-buckle boot can make a big difference for lift skiing. I'm also a little concerned that I may bust my binding as I'm getting more aggressive in downhill lift skiing and have seen others break their randonee bindings on a couple of occasions.

I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion on this? Will downhill gear make that much of a difference in performance and durability to justify their purchase?

Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom...

I think we all know a number of people who ski AT gear on both lift-served and BC. We also all know a number of people who have specific gear fro specific purposes, and several in-between. I like having a quiver, and 2 pairs of boots, thogh I suspect you'd have to be quite aggressive to damage your Fritschis. Boots onthe other hand will make a big difference.

I agree with oftpiste, couldn't have said it better myself.

You might consider the Garmont Axon as a boot choice. I haven't skied it (I have Garmont Adrenalines), but it looks good. It looks like the stiffest Dynafit compatible AT boot and one of the stiffest overall. You could use it in your AT gear now and if you ever get alpine gear it would still work. You could also use it if you ever replaced your freerides with Dynafit. If you have the coin to drop then getting a full alpine setup is a fine idea, but if not this might be an option. I have freerides and have not worried about hurting them. I have skied bumps and in the park without any issues.

Thanks much for the suggestions. I think I'll ski what I have this season and will keep an eye out for sales this spring...

You can also replace the tongue on your boots to stiffen them up. Zap has done this with his Matrix and said it worked very well ( much cheaper option than new boots) although I just replaced my Matrix with Spirit 4's and couldn't be happier.