Plastic boots for splitboarding/AT skiing

[valleydude]

I need to get on board with the whole one pair of boots thing. Right now I hike/climb in LS Trangos and carry the typical snowboarder boots for skinning and riding the voile. Does anyone have recommendations for randonee boots? Any experience boarding or skiing in Koflachs? It seems there would be a trade off between hiking comfort/weight and downhill performance. Thoughts?

[jshamster]

I used to use Koflachs (yellow ones) for my split board. It worked ok as long as I remembered to crank down the laces for the ride down.

Now I actually ride in my Trango S boots unless skinning from the car. Then I just use my snowboard boots.

Riding in the Trango's takes some getting used to, but it's fine in powder, and that's what the splitty is for, right?

To reduce the rubbing on my calves from the highbacks of my bindings I cut the calf portion off of an old wetsuit and wear these when skinning long distances.

 

Hope that helps.

Jimbo

[lI1|1!]

this is discussed extensively at splitboard.com. check old posts in the "boots" forum. consensus seems to be:

 

regular snowboard boots can be lightened by using thermoflex or similar heat molded liners. lighter strap bindings can also be found.

 

some people swear by pmb's in strap bindings. finding a taller pmb like discontinued koflach oxygen will bring them above highback. or rig something up. putting a tall liner from a big AT or tele boot into a pmb shell will give you high padding. somebody even put a highback on a plate binding that looked pretty sweet.

 

the lightest, flexiest AT boot you can find. older dynafit tlt2's and tlt3's can be found in used gear shops. the lace up MLT is also popular. a fair number of people seem happy with tlt4's or even scarpa lasers. keep the top buckles loose.

 

experiment and find something new and then tell us about it. there's no right or wrong answer it's what works for you.

 

[snodger]

Hey dude,

I don't know what size your feet are but about two weeks ago I took a pair of size 8 ( I think?) oxygens into Next Adventure. I originally used them for rando skiing and I think I climbed in them a bit. They were a bit small for me and sucked for skiing so I didn't use them and finally got around to getting them out of the gear closet. If you're interested you should give them a call. If you're not familiar with these boots, they're basically a koflach lace up with a taller upper, made for boarding.

 

oh yeah, don't pay too much, they only gave me $5 credit for them.