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The cold world of skimo & alpine climbing

The cold world of skimo & alpine climbing

Friday, May 6, 2011

Dynafit's TLT 5 Boot?

Dynafit's Dy.N.A race boot--old 950g and below, the new Evo @ sub 700g / 24.7oz.!
The lightest alpine ice boot I use is a La Sportiva Trango Evo Extreme GTX @ 2#3oz (35oz) / 992g








photo courtesy of Jared @ http://slc-samurai.blogspot.com/





And yes, they are climbing in Dynafit boots...the upper pair in this picture is the Dy.N.A. and  the lightest commercial ski boot in the world.







I saw these boots at OR in Jan of 2011.  And choked on the $750 and $1000 retail.  Let alone the $1500 retail for the race boots.  But a couple of months in the alps and skiing a lot with a pair of the newest BD Primes (retail is $570.00) makes the obvious advantages of a boot you can climb and ski in exceptionally  attractive.  At that point two pair of  boots (adding up to the $1000/1500 range) seems less attractive.
I've never been a big fan of AT boots for technical climbing.  Too heavy and too bulky let alone the other major disadvantages like they generally sucked as real ski boots as well.

I am slow to the party but have been playing with the TLT 5 Mountain, in the both the TF-X and the surprising TF version and the TLT 5 Peformance.  A more detailed review coming asap.

Until then think....skiing and climbing in ONE pair of boots when it is beneficial.  

La Sportiva Spantik 3#.05oz / 1362g
La Sportiva Batura 1st gen. 2#7oz / 1106g
La Sportiva Nepal Evo 2#10.5oz / 1205g

Scarpa Phantom Guide new 2010 model 2#7.5oz / 1120g
Scarpa Phantom 6000 new 2010 model 2#10oz  / 1190g

TLT 5 Mountain TF 42.5oz./ 1200g (no tongue) 1290g with
TLT 5 Mountain TFX 48oz/1360g - 50.5/1440g

Black Diamond Prime 28.5 mono 62.5oz/1720 (Palau liner dropped 100g)


TLT 5 Performance TF  42.5oz./ 1200g (no tongue)  which is a stiffer boot than the Prime which  has a over lapping  tongue.  Or 1290g with the tongue.

No compromise ski boots (REALLY, as all three skis better than the Prime) and a decent (not perfect mind you but decent)  ice climbing boot at the same weight but warmer than a pair of Nepal Evos!  AT boots will "likely" never completely replace climbing boots but there is some amazing technology here that could be used to create a better climbing boot that also skis exceptionally well.

I have thought for a while now that a Spantik with a Dynafit binding system in them would be a godsend.  Now I am thinking with  a little tweaking on the TLT design and we might well have a better all around climbing boot. 

More details and how they ski and most importantly CLIMB coming asap.  I'd love to hear from anyone intentionally climbing technical ground  in the Dynafits and your experience, pros and cons.


    Photo courtesy of Colin Haley http://colinhaley.blogspot.com/





Photo courtesy of Andy Sherpa http://slcsherpa.blogspot.com/

  If these boots interest you...take a look around to see what the Internet pricing currently is.  You might well be surprised and most retailers will match pricing.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

These boots have not-so-rigid toe (so-called 5mm kick flex), so i wonder how they go with various rigid crampons. BTW, how do You find TF liner vs. TF-X liner?

Dane said...

5mm is optimistic I suspect for the flex. But no question they do flex. For crampons like the Dart/Dartwin or the Cyborg I don't think it will be an issue. I wouldn't use a Saber or Serac as there have been failures on the front end of those crampons.

The FX liner is the weight save over the Mountain verses the Performance. It isn't the carbon cuff. I get a much better fit from the heat molded TX liner. YMMV depending on your foot.

Ian said...

Very interesting concept. I f@cking hate snow shoes and after killing myself last weekend on an approach (with snowshoes) I have decided I'll be back on skis next year. While I'm not crazy about the price the Dynafit boots they still cost lest than ski boots plus tech mountain boots. I've decided, I'm in for a pair of TFT5P for next season.

By the way, I gave your ski write-up the ol' "yeah yeah yeah" when I first read it. After what should have been an easy approach turned into blistering slog with sh!t-shoes wagging off the back of my pack I re-read your post.