Ski Europe Now

Garmont Endorphin Ski Boot Review: Update 2.

After skiing my old Endorphins a few times, I remember why I like them despite the softer flex, tight toebox, and the need to clamp them down to get a good feel for my skis:  they are light, ski well (once dialed in and tightened properly), walk well, are warm, and the liners are easy to take out of the shells to dry.  I have been perusing the Garmont website and they have a new AT boot out with a vibram sole, a walk function, and 130 flex:  the Deliriums.  Need to check them out.

Tired of Waiting...

for technology to catch up with my desires.  I really want an alpine touring boot with a walk mode, rocker sole, and vibram sole in a 130 or larger stiffness.  Is that too much to ask?  Apparently.  I have been looking at the Nordica Hell & Back Hike Pro AT style boots but the sole is no different from my Fire Arrow F1s and the flex is softer.  Yes, the Hell & Backs have a walk mode but not much else to get my attention.  Maybe Nordica will come out with a better boot next year.  It does have the second buckle to pull your foot into the heel cup, a feature which I love on the F1s.  Dangit.

Garmont Endorphin Ski Boot Review: Update.

I have been using my old Garmon Endorphin AT ski boots lately so I can swap out using them one day and my Fire Arrows another day (I started to work on a race Friday and work every day through Tuesday).  This allows each pair to dry completely before I have to use them again.  It is quite a difference in the Garmonts and the Nordicas.  The Garmonts are not as stiff, the plastic flexes quite a lot more, I find myself not flexing my knees as much and standing more upright, and my thigh muscles feel the skiing much more.  I guess since I will be taking the Garmonts to Europe I need to ski them a lot more and strengthen my legs.  Leg squats anyone?  I have also noticed that my toes are a bit more cramped in the Endorphins but I think that was because it was the first day in a long time using them.

Salomon Quest 12 Review: Another Person's Imput.

My friend Philthy was in town with his clan for a week in Jackson and he bought my Quest 12s.  He loves them and finds them extremely comfortable, plenty stiff, and great to ski.  I always found them comfortable but just not stiff enough.  I am glad he loves them and for an average skier they would be a good boot.  For the clydesdale set, look elsewhere otherwise you will hate them (like I did.)

Nordica Fire Arrow F1 Ski Boot Review Continued (Part 6).

The weather has calmed down here in Jackson and after Snow King got 35 inches of new snow over four days, I feel now I can write a review of the F1s as they handled powder.  I skied with them on Friday in a variety of conditions but mostly powder and cut up powder, and as the day got warmer, true crud and mank (even sandpaper and glue).  I didn't feel like I needed to crank down on the boots to get the control needed to handle a pair of Nordica Enforcers (size 177) in the knee to waist deep powder, and even after six fast bomber runs in 90 minutes, no cramps, sore spots, foot fatigue, or other common problems.  A damn near perfect pair of boots and the only things that prevent me from marrying these boots in a public ceremony are a lack of a walk mode and replaceable Vibram or AT soles.  If Nordica could figure out a way to do this with these boots, they would be a perfect 100.  As it stands, I give them a 95 out of 100.

Standing at top of Upper Elk just before first run of the day.

Nordica Fire Arrow F1 Ski Boot Review Continued (Part 5).

I think this may be the last post of my review of the F1s for a while.  So far I have been very happy with them and aside from a lack of AT soles, I have no complaints.  I was wearing them Friday when I noticed that I had some condensation inside the shells and thought, "Hmm.  Better pull the liners and let them dry completely."  With the three buckle design, pulling the liners out was fairly easy and I was glad I did:  I had a paper towel pretty wet from wiping out the inside of the shells.  My feet never got cold or felt wet but I could easily see why pulling your liners out on a regular basis is a good idea to completely dry them and dry out the shells.  Keeping your liners dry will also help reduce stinkiness in the long run.  I know a lot of boot fitters argue pulling your liners out a lot can increase the wear and tear on them so I normally don't pull my liners but every week or so; otherwise I stuff newspaper down into the liner and the newspaper pulls moisture out of my liners (toss the newspaper the next day), or I use a commercial boot drier.  Both are good options but regardless of what you do, it is noticeably easier to pull the liners out of the Nordica Fire Arrow F1s than any other alpine boot I have owned.  Only a true AT boot with a tongue that moves forward is easier to remove liners.

Nordica Fire Arrow F1 Ski Boots Review Continued (Part 4).

Been skiing the new F1s for about a month now and I am really pleased with them: warm, fairly stiff, responsive, and easy to get on and off.  They ski quite well and make the skis go in the proper direction.  A good boot for someone looking for a good race quality boot without the race boot discomfort.  I really like the ankle buckle for pulling my heel back into the heel cup, and the boot skis like a four buckle boot with only three buckles.  Something else I found out today is the top buckle has a slot in it to allow the bale to slide about a cm as you are buckling the top buckle but this slot still allows the buckle to fully tighten (sort of a cam action).  I will have to take a couple photos to show on the blog.  This configuration allows the top buckle to buckle in the morning without any loss of tightness around the calf.  The shell color does remind me of a green apple charms blowpop lollipop.  A great boot thus for.  9.0 out of 10.  I would give the boots a perfect ten if they came with a vibram/at sole that you could swap out. Got that Nordica designers?

Nordica Fire Arrow F1 Ski Boots Review Continued.

I am still trying to get a feel for the Fire Arrows but thus far I am very happy with them.  The first day I used them I got in the back seat once and was surprised it happened at all, but I think is was mostly due to the fact I hadn't really tightened up the boots and I was still finding the sweet spot of the boots.  Once the boots are snug, there is no sloppiness and the boots can be flexed forward pretty aggressively.  These boots are not as stiff in a forward lean as say a full race boot but certainly stiff enough for most everyone.  I blogged in an earlier post about the new construction of these boots with additional material on the lateral sides of the boots to help tip skis on edge, but as of yet I don't know if this is a pure marketing ploy or if it really works.  I can't tell the difference between these boots and my old ski boots in initiating a turn.  Maybe if I had a very wide pair of skis and was on a groomer it would be more apparent, but why have a super-wide carver ski?  Doesn't make much sense.  Anyway, so far the boots are comfortable and are much stiffer and more responsive than the Salomon Quest 12s from last season.  The heels and toes of the soles are replaceable (although Nordica does not yet have the replacement soles on their website but they have the replacement heels and toes for several earlier boot models on their website) so don't get worked up about wearing them out.  I remember an article last year in SKI magazine that recommended taking your ski boots off if you had a longer walk from your lodging to the ski lifts because the walk would prematurely wear the heels and toes of your ski boots.  True, but it takes a lot of walking to do this, much more than the average skier will experience in 7 to 10 seasons (assuming 10 days skiing a season) and by that time the boot will need to be replaced anyway; and if the heels and toes wear down, simply replace them.  Easy peasy.

I also like the second buckle on the Fire Arrows which pulls your heel firmly into place.  According to several long-time boot fitters I know here in Jackson, getting your heel back into the heel cup is very important for a proper fit and getting the most benefit out of your ski boots.  The second buckle on the Fire Arrows does a great job of this, and I am surprised other ski boot manufacturers don't adopt this idea (although I know Scarpa has this feature in many of its AT boots.) The boot only has three buckles but they are more than enough to snug up the boot, and the buckles themselves are huge and easy to grab and manipulate with gloves on.  The power strap at the top of the boot is of the garden variety velcro type, and about an inch and a half wide, but it is more than adequate and does it's job much better than the strap on the Salomon Quest 12s.

So, the verdict is a much better boot than the Salomon Quest 12 ski boot with a much stiffer forward flex.  More thoughts on them as the season continues.

Nordica Fire Arrow F1 Ski Boots Review Continued.

I have been skiing in my old Technica Icons early this season thinking that I didn't want to trash my new Nordica Fire Arrows by walking around in dirt, rocks, and stumps early season.  It was a good idea but Jesus God my feet were in agony while skiing.  I could literally ski about ten turns and my feet would cramp and ache so bad I would have to stop.  After two weeks of this I finally had enough and used the Nordicas Tuesday and Wednesday.  What a revelation:  being able to ski an entire run without stopping and no foot pain.  I do have a small bit of discomfort in my right boot when I am not skiing and it is from my inside ankle bone hitting the boot shell.  I only notice it when sitting around or while riding the lift; once I am skiing I can't tell it is there.  The boots are easy to get on and off, and the shell tongue moves out of the was just enough to make boot entry/exit easy.  The boot is pretty wide and I don't feel cramped in them even with my flat feet. The boots area reasonably warm  (I did have to put on vapor barrier bags Tuesday afternoon but the daytime high was 8 degrees.) and ski well.  Nordica has made these boots to better take advantage of the radical sidecut of todays skis and be able to carve both skis at once with more shell material on the sides of the boots so lateral pressure can be applied to the skis.  Myself, I haven't felt a difference yet: turn initiation feels the same but I don't feel like I can really put a lot of forward pressure on these boots.  All my impressions are very brief as I haven't skied the Fire Arrows a lot yet.  Stay tuned for more updates.

Nordica Fire Arrow F1 Ski Boots Reviewed.

I bought some new ski boots a couple weeks ago to replace the Salomon Quest 12s I sent to a friend, the Nordica Fire Arrow F1s.  Another three buckle boot with a good sized booster strap at top, it was reasonably comforatable in the shop, even before I had put in my custom footbeds and cooked the liners.  After cooking the liners and putting in the footbeds, they were quite comfortable.  The upper is black plastic with one buckle and the lower is florescent lime green transparent plastic with two buckles (funny to see your toe wiggling in the liner through the boot).  The second buckle is positioned so it pulls your heel into the heel pocket at the back of the boot (nice feature - wish other boot makers did the same) so I imagine the slop factor will be smaller.  Another nice feature: there is a hard plastic flap covering the front of the boot (a tongue like many AT boots) which can be pulled up and forward a good distance from the boot, making entry and exit from the boots much easier.  There are canting and forward lean adjustments, a beefy metal stiffening rod in back to keep the boots from overflexing forward too much (this would have made all the difference in the world to the Salomon Quest 12s), replaceable boot soles with a harder, slicker plastic insert for the sliding surfaces of ski bindings and a softer rubber surrounding the plastic to give grip on a variety of surfaces (the rubber has some texture to it so these boots would probably be suitable for some mild sidecountry hikes), and a much stiffer boot sole insert to allow much more power to be delived to the ski edge.  I am looking forward to skiing on them and posting my reviews.  Stay tuned.

Front view.

side view.

Close up of huge buckles and see-through green plastic.

Detail of rear of boot with huge spoiler shown.

Detail of boot sole.  They are replaceable and the black is a softer rubber compound and the white is a harder slicker plastic which works well with normal alpine style bindings.

Sorry about the sideways photos; damn Typepad system allows for photos to be posted in the main part of the blog in one manner only.