Alpine touring/randonée skiing - anyone?

[lph]

I'm going to the Alps in April and am on the verge of buying a lightweight AT set-up. It costs an arm and a leg, though, so I hope I manage to nail the right stuff on the first buy.

The hardest to buy are the boots. Weightwise I would love the Dynafit TLT5 boots but they felt like torture on my short, wide, high volume duck feet. I'm hoping maybe the Dynafit One will be a bit more forgiving. I've also got my eye on two boots from Scarpa, the Gea and the Blink. And people say that heat molding makes a lot of difference, but I'm sceptical.

Anyone have any experience with these boots, or AT touring in general? I'm a pretty crappy downhill skier to tell the truth, but I can get down almost anything without falling over or freaking out ;-)

[ridebikeme]

I don't have any experience with those particular boots, but I can tell you that I have molded several alpine boots with a moldable liner. They truly to help the fit, and quite often depending on the liner people will move the liner from shell to shell over a period of time. (if the shell of the boot starts to wear and needs to be replaced) Some of the liners can be remolded another time, although perhaps not to the orginal quality... so that might be a question that you could ask when looking at boots. Sorry I didn't have the info that you were looking for, but hope this helps a bit.

Good luck in your search!!

[Kimmyt]

I have the Geas and I love them. They are soooo comfortable and fit my foot like a glove. I mean, obviously it is whatever works best for your foot and any shop should do a shell fit to see how the boot fits but the moldable liners definitely help tweak the boot to fit your specific foot shape.

[lph]

Thanks! I got to try on the TLT5 in a half size too big, and the One and the Gea in the right size, and the liner makes a huge difference. The liner in the TLT is really thin to save weight. I don't think that will be a problem ie too cold, when it comes to touring, as I sweat like crazy all the time anyway, but there's less liner to mold, and I could really feel the "bones of the boot" through the liner. The One was a bit better, but the Gea was really cushy... :-) I was told the Geas have a more pre-shaped liner, so they often feel better in the store, while other liners need molding. There's not a huge difference in weight if I can't use theTLT's, which are radically lighter than everything else without involving carbon and an astronomical price tag, but the One is higher and gives better support for the same weight. That might be a good thing for my wimpy downhill skiing, so I don't get left way behind :-P

KimmyT, what skis do you use for touring? I need something forgiving that doesn't demand terrific skills on my part.

[lph]

Oooh, I just ordered a pair of fat skis :D

Well, nothing that a dedicated powder skier would call fat, but still the fattest skis that I've ever owned, Dynafit Manaslu. My dh and I will now have matching skis... :p

Now to learn the jargon. "These skis are rad when you're doing serious vert but not that terrific in the pow." Dude.

[Irulan]

Do you gals know of theskidiva.com?
It's a true women's only (no men allowed, period) forum that is very active. Members range from rank beginners to industry pros, all with a passion for snow sports. It's a great place to get real world gear info, share the sport and more. Sort of like this place!

[lph]

Thanks for the tip! I'll check it out.

[Irulan]

Oooh, I just ordered a pair of fat skis :D

Well, nothing that a dedicated powder skier would call fat, but still the fattest skis that I've ever owned, Dynafit Manaslu. My dh and I will now have matching skis... :p

Now to learn the jargon. "These skis are rad when you're doing serious vert but not that terrific in the pow." Dude.

Corrected: "These skis are rad when you're doing serious vert but they suck in the pow."

[lph]

Ah, right. Working on it ;)

[Kimmyt]

KimmyT, what skis do you use for touring? I need something forgiving that doesn't demand terrific skills on my part.

I am using an old pair of Volkl Auras for my touring. In combo with my bindings the setup is very lightweight, almost too much so. Luckily I don't do anything that crazy in the bc, mostly staying on mellow low angle stuff to avoid avalanche terrain. Anyway, I had the skis laying around so just used them for the touring setup so I didn't have to buy another pair.

[Irulan]

Must be nice to have some Auras laying around. I love mine, you'll only get them if you rip them out of my cold dead hands.:D

[Kimmyt]

Must be nice to have some Auras laying around. I love mine, you'll only get them if you rip them out of my cold dead hands.:D

I started using my Kikus as every day skis and haven't looked back since. :) Those chicas rip!

[Irulan]

Where (what region) are you skiing? I've always though of and had the kiku marketed as a dedicated powder ski, but you are the second person this week who has talked about it as a daily driver. The other gal was one who skis Kicking Horse/Rogers Pass area.

I'm not a backcountry skiers, can I still post to this thread?

[lph]

I'm not a backcountry skiers, can I still post to this thread?

Help yourself :D

[Sky King]

16021
Four Days at Grand Targhee!! Demo'd the Kiku's and was thrilled. They handled every condition I threw at them, powder, crude, bumps, groomed etc. I am sure they assisted in my knee holding up for some aggressive skiing. The photo is going OB and hiking to the top of Mary's Nipple on a beautiful sunny day.

[lph]

Just returned from eight days in the Alps, touring from Verbier to Zermatt, and on to Saas Fee. Fantabulously fantastic. If anybody had told me 5 years ago that I'd been skiing the Haute Route in any form or fashion I would've rolled my eyes and chortled.

Yay me! Yay AT skis! :-D

[Catrin]

Just returned from eight days in the Alps, touring from Verbier to Zermatt, and on to Saas Fee. Fantabulously fantastic. If anybody had told me 5 years ago that I'd been skiing the Haute Route in any form or fashion I would've rolled my eyes and chortled.

Yay me! Yay AT skis! :-D

Sounds like a lot of fun!!!! Pictures???

[lph]

A bunch of photos taken by our "guide" are here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/100597801724832959176/2013HauteRoute

I'm the one clowning around in blue sunglasses and cowboy hat ;-)

[Crankin]

That looks awesome. Of course, I don't know how to alpine ski or telemark, and the equipment looks formidable, but I think I would like this.
DH took a look at the pictures and said "no way." Trying to convince him to do a hut to hut nordic tour of the Maine Woods. The sticking point is having to go outside to use the rest room in the middle of the night, when it's 0 degrees F.

[Catrin]

Thanks for the pictures link! Crankin, I am with your DH on that one. I HATE going to an outhouse at night below a certain temp... guess I am just a temp weenie :o

[ridebikeme]

I'm highjacking the thread here, but can tell you that the hut experince is great and I'd definitely do it again. The restrooms are just in another building, so there aren't any outhouses.:)

[lph]

It depends on which huts you stay at, at ours most of the restrooms were in the same building. Even the infamous Vignettes-restroom has now been moved from its precarious perch over the glacier to indoors. But at one hut, the Schönbielhütte, there was a classic outhouse outside, down a short icy slope and with a jaw-dropping view of the Matterhorn. I wasn't too pleased about slipping and sliding down there at night until I realized that not only did the hut supply Crocs for everyone for indoor use, they also supplied going-to-the-restroom shoes, low rubber boots with a good sturdy rubber sole. How's that for service!

PS to your dh, Crankin: in my experience, once there's more than a few metres between the dorm and the restroom most of the guys just find a quiet corner... judging from the yellow snow. Maybe not quite polite, but at 3 in the morning in a cold wind norms tend to slip for the best of us ;-)

[Crankin]

Well, we stayed at Little Lyford (AMC) camp in the summer. There is a bath house with an indoor bathroom, but there are also outhouses behind each cabin. Some of the cabins are pretty far from the bath house. Sure, guys can pee outside, which I believe he did, as he didn't want to walk to the out house, but I went out there. Not sure if I would want to do this in the winter.
I still want to do this trip.

[Catrin]

A bunch of photos taken by our "guide" are here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/100597801724832959176/2013HauteRoute

I'm the one clowning around in blue sunglasses and cowboy hat ;-)

Woah! I finally got the chance to sit down and really look through the wonderful photos. You rock LPH! It looks like a lot of fun was greatly had by all :)

[indysteel]

Woah is right! Wow, lph. What a trip! It looks like you had a blast.

I have never skied. Ever. So, your trip is such an alien concept to me (an extremely cool alien concept). Minus my phobia of driving in snow and ice, I wish I lived someplace that lent itself to some form of a snow or ice sport. You all just make it look so fun.

[lph]

Thanks folks :-) We didn't enjoy every step, of course, there were a lot of hot and exhausting uphills, and downhills hard enough for me to start whimpering a little to myself, but we stopped enough at every photo op to get our breath back, regroup, chat and feel happy again. And our "guide" (not an official guide, a friend and colleague who knows the area very well) would natter on in pseudo-German, pseudo-French, pseudo Mid-Norwegian dialects or pseudo-American at the drop of a hat... hilarious. And since you end up with only the photos and fading memories - you might as well make'em good :-)

[antimony]

That looks awesome. Of course, I don't know how to alpine ski or telemark, and the equipment looks formidable, but I think I would like this.
DH took a look at the pictures and said "no way." Trying to convince him to do a hut to hut nordic tour of the Maine Woods. The sticking point is having to go outside to use the rest room in the middle of the night, when it's 0 degrees F.

If you're looking at Maine Huts and Trails, while you do have to go outside, it's a short and generally well-kept path (and on the newer huts it's actually a boardwalk between them, raised off the ground). The bathrooms aren't outhouses -- they are composting toilets but real sinks, and real showers with a short time limit. The food is really great, the trails are well-maintained, and the only bad thing about the trip was that I chose poorly in one new pair of socks and had horrible blisters.

[Crankin]

Thanks, Antimony. We were (are) looking at the AMC hut to hut x country ski trip, that is led by a guide and they haul your gear on a snowmobile. So, different huts and facilities. As I said in the above post, at Little Lyford there were outhouses behind each cabin and a bathhouse in the middle of the compound. The food was great, and we really want to support AMC, as we are bike trip leaders for them. We know we can do the skiing. But in August, it was 40 degrees at night, so I can imagine going out there to pee in February.
Sorry about your blister experience. I had that snow shoeing at Von Trapp a few years ago and it put an end to any more outdoor activity for the remainder of th trip. It was too warm to x country ski, the snow was mushy, and 3/4 of us ended up with blisters that day. It was horrible.