Dynafit TLT 5s as a winter climbing boot?

[Dane]

I started asking here:

 

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1013727/Questions_comments_or_thoughts#Post1013727

 

Not a lot of comments on using the TLT for climbing which is what I was really interested in.

 

This is the 2nd part of a 2 part review for the TLT boots.

 

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/06/part-2.html

 

Krister Jonsson photo

[NotMessner]

Is it possible to add the tech binding receptor cups to existing climbing boots? For example, could a shop remove the front four inches from the climbing boot sole and substitute the front four inches from a tech-compatible ski boot's sole, assuming you didn't need heel-lock-down? Or, replace the entire sole, to get heel lock down. (Some situations will surely be too cold to use the TLT, no?)

Edited June 15, 2011 by NotMessner

[Dane]

No expert on the subject so just a guess here. I would think the boots would have to be made and more importantly designed to have the inserts built in. Pretty difficult add on I would think as no one has done it that I know of.

 

As far as TLT and how warm they are? I think most are looking at the TLT as a ski boot and rightfully so. If that reference ethe TLT may not be as warm as some heavier ski boots. But then sitting on a chair lift half the day or more isn't climbing.

 

In the context of climbing boots the TLT 5s with the foam liners TLT 5 Performance or TLT 5 Mountain TF (both with the same Palau foam liners) fit in nicely between the Batura/Guide and the dbl boots like the Spantik or 6000 for warmth in my opinion.

 

Over the next year I suspect you'll see all sorts of mods being made to the TLT5 to make them easier to climb in. They certainly ski better than most expected.

[counterfeitfake]

Is it possible to add the tech binding receptor cups to existing climbing boots?

 

It's been done before, it's not easy, if you google it you will find some good results.

[Dane]

Now I know someone has done it to ski boots. Thanks CF.

Couldn't find any reference to climbing boots.

 

"They Said It Couldn't Be Done

Installing Dynafit Binding Fittings in Scarpa Denali Boot"

 

http://www.wildsnow.com/articles/denali_dynafit_retrofit/denali_dynafit_retrofit.html

 

http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=584144&sid=eb0560f16b6b4fc7271c2481adc66bae

 

these are likely useful as well.

 

http://www.splitboard.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=4709

 

http://www.123mountain.com/Slide-Dynafit-Adapter-Plate-Scarpa/en

 

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php/63827-WTB-dynafit-boot-fittings

 

http://www.splitboard.com/talk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4708&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

 

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/probe/index.php?PHPSESSID=42f7e8cb84aa91cf800a5d8733076c2b&topic=2202.0

[counterfeitfake]

Sorry, I didn't really notice the "climbing boot" specification there, but that stuff might help anyway. I've usually heard of this mod in the context of serious skiers doing a hack job on their favorite pair of downhill boots, so they can tour without giving up downhill performance.

 

Maybe you could work the fittings into a plastic climbing boot, at least. I think it's one of those "anything is possible" kind of goals- how much time and/or money do you have?

 

On the other hand, with the newest generation of dynafit boots, I feel like the gap is getting smaller and smaller, and there is less of a need. The TLT5 felt like a high-top sneaker to me, in walk mode, and the BD Quadrant was almost as nimble.

[Dane]

The TLT5 felt like a high-top sneaker to me, in walk mode, and the BD Quadrant was almost as nimble.

 

Having skied most of the winter in the Prime (a softer version of the Quadrant) I might disagree. TLT5 does have a great walk mode. BD isn't as comforatable. Better to believe the BD mantra of "its all about the down" if you are looking for someting easier to climb in. You'll drop a pound per boot as well and gve up little or nothing on the down.

[NotMessner]

Imagine carbon-fiber cuffs with ski boot buckles that you can attach to and detach from a pair of Baruntses. After climbing a 1,000 meter frozen waterfall (this is a daydream), you remove your crampons and attach the cuffs. The side-to-side flexibility that was so useful while climbing the frozen waterfall is gone, replaced with the extreme rigidity of carbon fiber. The cuffs give your Baruntses the forward lean and control of a top-of-the-line Salomon downhill ski boot.

Cuffs are not new. There are still some old graybeard skiers alive on this planet (my beard is gray, but only because of premature graying), that claim that in pre-history ski boots used to be short and wimpy, like climbing boots. Some of those ancient relics threw together booster ski cuffs, and some may have been made by commercial manufacturers.

Your Baruntses have Dynafit / tech ski fittings, either retro-fitted, or installed at the factory by La Sportiva. You clip into your light skis and make jump turns down a 50 degree section of hard snow. When the slope eases to 40 degrees, you segue into long, arcing Giant Slalom turns, trying to make the exact moves of Lindsey Vonn whom you picture skiing in front of you dressed in tight, tight ski pants, then you take a header because your mind drifted but you reach ABC before your climbing partners have even begun their return. So sue me for dreaming.