Ultimate alpine TOURING boot?

I was one of the people on the Couloir thread who noticed a definite lack of security booting up steeps in the F1 due to the bellows flex (had just booted up the Slot w/o crampons on rain crust) but they fit step-in crampons fine and feel quite secure when the crampon is fitted properly (Grivel G10L). As far as hiking . . . they are easier to hike in than my G-Rides, but are by no means fun to walk in; I still take trail runners if there is much dirt to deal with (more than a couple of miles).

I'm not so sure the bellows are really worth it. No doubt they will be of benefit for walking and scrambling while the boot is not in the ski. So if this aspect is very important than they may be worth it.<br><br>However they probably don't contribute much if any benefit for touring. They present some small problems of sagging while descending (fixed with a retrofit shim). Also from my experience with tele boots will eventually wear through from ski edges and produce a troublesome leak.

For sure it is a "six of one" situation . . . as Jan says, the soft plastic of the bellows is a weak spot, and a pain for bootfitters if your bone spurs happen to be right on the border of the bellows and the harder plastic (need to shield the bellows with foil while heating the green part).<br><br>OTOH, probable energy loss or no, the flexibility makes it possible to use the middle heel level to tour in pretty much all the time and seems to offer a better "feel" when skinning grip is marginal. The range of motion with the F1 cuff is exceptional as well.

I'm shopping for a pair of Dynafit compatible boots for a light-weight touring setup.  What would you folks recommend?  F1's?  MLT4's? something larger?  What do you ski on?

<br><br>Matt, I have the Garmont MegaRides which are a 4 buckle Dynafit compatible boot. I like them a lot and I've probably ascended over 90,000vft feet with them on my feet (40k this season already). In my opinion, with the exception of the TLT4Race, unless you're counting every ounce and drilling holes in your toothbrush (something I may start doing soon), there's not really a huge weight difference between the light Dynafit compatible boots (Scarpa F1s, Dynafit TLT4Pros) and the heavier Dynafit compatible boots (Garmont MegaRides, Scarpa Matrixes). Although I've only tried the light boots on in shops, there does seem to be a substantial skiing performance difference between the light and heavier Dynafit boots. For me--for standard use--the performance difference outweighs the weight penalty.<br><br>F1s would only save me .9lb per pair over my MegaRides, this may be worth it in a very specific application (like a randonnée rally), but for general Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer use I want my MegaRides for the snow and my tennyrunners for the hikes.<br><br>Here's a table from one of my excel spreadsheets with weights of rando boots, all of these are dynafit compatible except for the last 3:<br>

<br>BOOT...........................WEIGHT........SOURCE...........CATEGORY <br>

 <br>Garmont MegaRides sz 26.5......6.856.........My scale.........Ski well <br>Scarpa Matrixs, sz 26..........6.625.........bdel.com.........Ski well <br>Dynafit Aeros, sz?.............6.393.........life-link.com....Ski well<br>Scarpa F1s, sz 26..............5.937.........bdel.com.........Light <br>Dynafit TLT4Pros, sz?..........6.000.........bdel.com.........Light <br>Dynafit TLT4 RACE sz?..........4.761.........life-link.com....ABSURDLY LIGHT <br>Garmont Adrenalins, sz 25......7.350.........My scale.........SKI VERY WELL<br>Scarpa Denali TT 05, sz 26.....7.500.........bdel.com.........Ask Paul <br>Scarpa T1s, sz 26..............8.562.........bdel.com.........So heavy it's laughable 

<br><br>Sorry for the thread drift, Lowell. And apologies if I'm one of the reasons your boot will never be made. Thanks for starting a neat topic, though I see no appeal in your boot unless they'd be absurdly light (under 3lbs/pair) and hike as well as my tennnyrunners. My tennyrunners hike great, my MegaRides skin and ski great and I don't mind the extra weight (maybe in 25 years I'll feel different).

The T1/Race weighs a POUND more than the Denali?? Wow, I thought they were comparable, weight-wise. <br><br>I really really really want a TT with Dynafit compatibility. Maybe I can do it a la Lou's page. Anyone got some trashed dynafit boots to donate to the cause?

The T1/Race weighs a POUND more than the Denali??

<br><br>Yeah, though that's if you believe bdel.com's weights. I've found a number of discrepancies between what the manufacture lists as the weight, what the vendor lists, what the actual weight is determine by my .1 of ounce precision scale and then what the magazines list. This is why I keep a scale with me at all times in the back of my car, as well as maintain my own spreadsheet with the data. I imagine some of the discrepancies are caused by weighing different boot sizes then they're listing--at least I hope that's the cause. In general though the #s are pretty close and I'm sure the T1/TRaces are heavier then the Denalis, &lt;insert your favorite randonnee is vastly superior to tele line here &gt;.