A little more to say about the Sportiva Spectres after more use, along w/ the Dynafit Cho Oyu skis! http://www.montanaescapades.com/2013/12/camas-peak-area-tour-star-of-show.html
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I missed out joining Dave and Matt on their trip to Storm Lake in the Pintlers-Anaconda Wilderness the previous weekend (waiting on my pre-ordered boots), which included some sweet powdery turns down Rainbow Mountain, and Mount Tiny. Dave's epic write-up of that trip is located here: http://getoutridehard.blogspot.com/2013/10/crazy-early-season-turns-anaconda.html
After seeing that post, and having my new AT boots arrive the following Tuesday, I knew I had to make it the next weekend, even though the weather had obviously lowered the quality of snow there..
Anyways, the new boots I had pre-ordered, La Sportiva Spectres, took their time getting over the pond from Italy. All is well though, as I'm pretty sure CrippleCreekBC.com, an exclusive backcountry shop in Colorado, was the very first to get these boots. WELL worth the wait, and the owner, Doug, is phenomenal.
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| La Sportiva Spectre (size 28.5mondo) |
I knew I was going to be in love with the Spectre's 60 degrees of ankle liberating movement over my previous Dynafit Ultralight Titans, but was this true love? I wanted a four-buckle touring/freeride oriented boot, but was having my feet molested by the narrow build of the Titans. The Spectres fit the bill perfectly, in fact I'm positive these boots are a couple years before their time.
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| These bad ma-ma jammas comes in at 3lb 4.2ounces (1479.85grams) for size 28.5 per boot as according to the household kitchen scale. |
One can go from tour to ski mode in less than a few seconds thanks to their very unique buckling system. Unlock the four buckles in their entirety and still be free from annoying buckles flopping about. Brilliant, I suspect it's ingenuity like this that makes Italy excel at things like sports cars.
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| Mounted to a set of Dynafit FT Radicals |
The base is rockered quite heavily. This makes them exceptionally easy to walk on the bare ground, could even run in them without too much effort I imagine. The yellow tongue piece flips open all the way once you unlatch the buckle pieces, to which have a bit of a learning curve by themselves. I'm not much of a gear reviewer, but these boots certainly deserved a mention.
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| My wife Merete seconds after stepping into her first touring setup. |
Last year, I spent time as a bad salesman trying to convince my wife she needed to join me in the winter outings. The pictures/videos resulting from every outing I think aided her interest. This year it worked, got her some Dynafit Ones, Marker Barons, and a pair of EP Pro Shorty's and she's well on her way. After confirmation of her enjoyment of touring, we'll step her up into some Dynafit bindings.
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| Storm Lake - Pintlers |
Starting off with an easy tour to break in our new gear, she found it quite enjoyable, with the exception of the obvious need to have her liner molded due to some hot spots developing on her feet during the trip. She's a full blooded Norwegian, so by trade she was born to do this sorta thing. :)
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| Yep, that is a basset hound hot on her tracks! |
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Since Dave and Matt had their epic tour, the snow had gone through a few melt/freeze sessions and was pretty well crusted out and we were debating on continuing up, to try and get some turns. Our doubts about continuing up onto Mount Tiny were confirmed when Marshall (our basset) began having troubles after falling through the crusty snow for the last 2 hours. We had lunch at the base of Tiny and turned around, all and all, a very fun early season tour to break in our new equipment!
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| The road, 4wd trucks and SUVs could do it, but I doubt anything w/ less ground clearance could make it (with everything attached...) |
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| Marshall super proud with his efforts! |
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| Can't wait to really put these through some hard winter work. |
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| Pack it up! |
-Miles Granger
Way to get out there, even if it's just to break in equipment. It's still October! :)
ReplyDeleteLove to hear more about the new boots when you get more time on them. How much do they weigh in at?
Hi Mike, thanks for the comment. Little sad I can't get out again until the second weekend of November, but I shouldn't complain! Anyways I can't believe I didn't mention what the actual weight was for these Spectres. I've added another picture; these come in at 3lb 4.2ounces (1479.85grams) according to the trusty kitchen scale. Thanks!
DeleteHi Miles, thanks for the post. I am considering either the Spectre or the Scarpa Freedom SL. My concern is that the Spectre will struggle with a stiff ski. I see from the other posts that you guys ski some good stuff - what skis do you use?
ReplyDeleteAlso, whilst I live in Chamonix, France my parents live in Philipsberg and I will be there for a month over Christmas and was planning to buy my boots over there. Can you recommend a good boot fitter in Missoula or somewhere close? Many thanks, Dominic
Hi Dominic, I love seeing comments like yours, makes me think I should give a more gear review angle to my writing. I assume you've seen the latest couple posts? I drive 185cm Armada JJs at the moment, which are mildly stiff. (overall rated 6.5 between 1-10 w/ 10 being the stiffest) I do have the luck of skiing (for the most part) good Montana snow. Although the face of North Lolo peak had some hard wind-effected snow, and during this portion the boots performance did not come into question, nor have they ever for the last four tours I've been on.
DeleteThe Scarpa Freedom SL looks like a very worthy contender. I'm not sure what your looking for in a boot. However, I did see a few differences from the Spectre, for me personally, that would eliminate this boot from purchase.
1.) The buckling system of the Spectre keeps any latches from flopping about as you walk or tear through brush or post-holing. Along with providing super easy transition from ski to tour (vice versa) once you dial in the micro adjustments.
2.) The Spectre has a heavily rockered sole which makes walking exceptionally comfortable and natural feeling even when compared to boots with similar cuff rotation.
3.) Cuff rotation is a fitting segue into the final reason I, myself, would not choose the Scarpas. Spectre is boasting 60 degrees of rotation in a four buckle, meanwhile Scarpa will treat you to 27 degrees.
With that said, if you do not/will not use these boots for extensive tours, and will serve as a resort/slack country w/ a few backcountry tours here and there, I believe the Scarpa WILL be a great choice, as the design and materials used to build those seem to have a more established record of reliability. On this front, the Spectre is using a new lighter/thinner shell. If you are planning to use it as your second pair for [near] exclusive alpine touring, no doubt in my mind you would do yourself a favor w/ the Spectres.
It's fantastic you're coming here from France, my wife is from Norway and her family along with herself always end up buying stuff here as well! (too bad you can't purchase gasoline to take back with you right? :) ) Be aware you will probably not find the Spectres here in Missoula. I had to go to http://www.CrippleCreekBC.com/ to get them. Which has an even a better deal than Backcountry.com if you use the online subscription discount code. ($549.99 I think my final price was) Otherwise, boot fitter I use is REI, or the Trail Head has a very good reputation.
Sorry for the lengthy reply! :)
Hello and thanks for the blog post. I have a request. I have purchased a pair of these boots in size 28.5. I am trying to find out what length the soles are in size 28.5. I am away from home at the moment and want to find out if the Grivel Tech light crampons with standard central bars will fit my boots. The problem I am having is I am away from home at the moment. I arrive back on a Saturday night and head off on a 4 day ski tour on Sunday morning. If I can find out the sole length of size 28.5 then I can work out if I need to order via the internet the longer bars. Odd request I know but if you know the sole lenght that would be of great help for me. Thanks a million. Dee.
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for the request! Sitting here with boot and measuring tape in hand; for size 28.5, they come in at 315mm.
DeleteI just bought my first pair of Hunter boots off Piper line when I saw your post about it with the discount codes. I got a size 6 red women's tour. The ankle area is quite spacious, but my pants don't tuck in very well. With leggings, it's fine, but I wonder if I'll be able to wear only leggings in the winter. best work boots for men and women
ReplyDelete