Scrapa F1, Volkl Nobert Joos, Dynafits

[fear_and_greed]

For those of you still lugging around railway tie weight boards and clunky boots and getting tired of it, here is my lightweight rando setup.

My goal was to put together a package that was responsive in the PNW conditions and light to carry on my pack. Since the time spent touring and climbing far exceeds the time spent going downhill I let these conditions dictate the equipment. This year I got in about 30 ski days from December to June.

Scrapa F1 boots weigh about 2700 grams or about 1/2 kilo lighter than a pair of Matrixs or more than 1 kilo lighter than Denali TTs. I found the tele bellows made a huge difference in comfort. Touring and climbing are effortless as the boot now follows the natural bend of my foot. With only 2 buckles, adjustment is an easy task. Usually I just played with the power strap or flicked up the rear latch to get more flex. Walking and climbing is also very easy and you dont have a frankenstein like gait. The thermo liners are warm and the fit is snug.The boots are Dynafit only compatible which makes sense. Why ruin a light set up with a set of anything else.

The Dynafit Comfort binding weighs 384 grams without brakes, about 1/3 - 1/2 the weight of other popular ones. Entry is somewhat finicky until you get used to them. You need to line up the holes in the boots and this can be a pain in deep snow or on angled slopes. Once you get the hang of it it's less a of problem. Certainly the conventional bindings are much easier to get in. I removed the brakes and put on some leashes because snow buildup and boot movement would sometimes spin and lock down the heels. That was very annoying. The leashes are lighter than brakes anyway and solves this problem. Switching from touring to heel locked is easy, just spin the heels and step in. Switching back requires a little boot twist and turn of the heel riser, you don't need to exit the binding. The 2 position heel risers provided enough lift that most inclines were easy to climb. Since the Scarpa F1 boot has some flex in it I found when I had the risers in the top position my buddies had their Silvrettas or Fritchis in only the middle position though. A nice feature is that a simple flip up lever will lock the front release in to about a 12 DIN setting when you absolutely don't want to lose a ski.

Skis are Volkl Nobert Joos 163cm sidecut is 102-70-90, 2.05 kg a pair. Maybe a kilo lighter than a pair of K2 Shuksans. I am very impressed with how these boards performed in the conditions I used them in. In my opinion they are a great all around ski. This year I skiied everything from deep fresh fluffy powder to crusty chunky crud to ice to slush and I went where I wanted when I wanted. I didn't have a much flotation as a big, fat ski did, but I sure wasn't being left behind by anyone. Flex and edge hold is fantastic. Steep, narrow couloirs,tree dodging, black diamond bump runs or long turn cruising, these are the real deal.

I highly recommend this setup if you are contemplating skiing similiar conditions.

[iain]

This is what I like to see. Some good ol'fashioned freshiez talk. Suck it up rock wrestlers!

[cj001f]

The 75 year old euro steeze setup of choice!