La Sportiva Spantiks as AT ski boot?

I was just curious if anyone here has used the La Sportiva Spantiks as an Alpine Touring ski boot. I have used the La Sportiva Trango Ice with Silvretta 500 bindings but they are way too floppy.

Any advice?

They ski plenty well enough to get you from A to B and back. I'm sure they ski way better then the Trango Ices. They even ski a little bit better then my old Scarpa Invernos, which I was kinda surprised by, since they are not as stiff.

Although the Spantiks are stiffer than most mountaineering boots I still do not feel they would be an adequate ski touring boot. They might be survival for use on approaches and short skis out. For a lightweight ski touring boot that you could likely still climb in the Scarpa F1 is ideal.

I'm with Scott. I can ski in my Spantiks (use Silvretta 500 bindings), but I definitely do not feel all that well supported in them. I don't think any ice boot will match up to an actual AT boot, in my opinion that's the price we pay for the technical climbing ability of an ice boot.

It sort of depends what you are used to. No ice climbing boot skis as well as an AT boot.
The Spantik is designed primarily for cold climbing and it will ski well enough in Silvretta 500
bindings and if a short, fat ski are used. You'll have to get used to the "LAG" factor. Every motion you make to turn the ski will be delayed for a couple of seconds because the boot isn't stiff enough to make turns. AND you are more upright on the ski.......

I've used the Spantik to good effect skiing down from Black Lake and have gotten pretty good at dodging trees. If you are using the boot to ski from the car to the climbing goal of the day or using it as an approach to climbs in AK or Canada it's fine. If you are thinking of using it in CO as an alternative to buying an AT boot I think you'll have more fun getting an AT boot.
I think Sportiva is releasing an AT boot this Fall that will be a great boot for both ice climbing and skiing and won't break the bank in the process....

Thank you guys! I definitely appreciate the advice and will also look up the Scarpas you mentioned. Jack when you refer to La Sportiva, were you talking about the Stratos AT boot?

Ali,

Not really. That boot is mainly available in Europe and I don't know if Sportiva will distribute such an expensive ($3000?) boot in NAmerica. There is another model that will be available in NAmerica that will be much less expensive and have a carbon cuff. Off hand I don't remember the name they have given it but I believe the retail price will be about $700 and it will be very light and suitable for climbing.

Hi Ali,

Just curious, when you used the Trango Ice with the Silvretta 500, do you latch the boot down? Or just use the boot/binding as cross country setup?

You should latch down the Silvretta 500s when descending or, sooner or later, you will rip out the front of the binding.

Bang,
I do latch em down. Since I posted this I did go ahead and buy a pair of Spantiks and they work super-well with Silvretta bindings.

I skied Raichle 80-degrees (similar to the Trango Ice) and Invernos in Silvretta 500s. I often left the heel un-locked for mild decents, but I always clamped it down when the going got steep.

I found that on smooth snow like wind slab, packed trails, or corn, I could ski fairly steep slopes with the soft boots in excellent control. It's easy to keep your balance centered on that kind of terrain.

When the snow got inconsistent, like breakable crust, chop, re-freeze, or grabby patches of sun-affected powder, I'd crash hard. It's very difficult to recover from unexpected changes of speed without a stiff cuff to lean into (or back on).

I've switched to TLT-5s now. AT boots won't french-technique, but these things climb better than Invernos when front-pointing, and ski like a real DH boot.

A more affordable option is the Scarpa F1. It won't ski downhill anything like the TLT-5, but it probably climbs almost as well and will still ski way better than any climbing boot.

One of the huge advantages is the weight I dropped going to Dynafit bindings. 500s are very heavy by comparison, and 300/400s are just boat anchors.

All that said - there's still a place for an approach setup with Silvrettas. Hyalite and other flattish slogs to steep ice is a perfect example, and approaches to tons of alpine climbs from Denali to Katahdin. I just realized that for me, it was becoming as much about the ski as the climb, or else the approach was so short I could posthole or snowshoe, or maybe carry ice boots.

Thanks for the input. Interestingly, when I am reading about the binding here ( wildsnow.com/backcountry-sk…), they recommended not to latch the heels down since the leather boots may not be strong enough to activate the safety release mechanism to avoid injury.

Auto-X Fil touched briefly on the subject of using Dynafit TLT 5 ski boots for climbing. Dane has a couple of blogs devoted to the subject.
coldthistle.blogspot.com/20…
coldthistle.blogspot.com/20…

The question you want to ask yourself is do you want to do a little bit of skiing (mostly for access) and lots of climbing, or do you want to do a lot of skiing with a little bit of climbing? A good pair of AT boots ski great and are good for a bit of climbing (ask the french) as well. Mountaineering boots have too much flex. Having said that I have the exact set up you do (silveretta 500's) and I use Nepal Tops which I use with a modified Telemark turn. You mostly bend at the anklebut your heel lifts. you can hold an edge very well as they are so rigid.
Bang, yes they may not release - but neither do my teles.

Does anyone know if the new La Sportiva AT line (Atmos, Spitfire and Sideral) are compatible with the Silvretta 500 bindings?

Ali Jaffri wrote:Does anyone know if the new La Sportiva AT line (Atmos, Spitfire and Sideral) are compatible with the Silvretta 500 bindings?

Yes. However, there are a lot better bindings on the market if you have AT compatible boots.

Check this out coldthistle.blogspot.com/20…

Here are some instructions on how to modify the La Sportiva Spantik for Dynafit touring compatibility. Results were quite successful!

Ali Jaffri wrote:Does anyone know if the new La Sportiva AT line (Atmos, Spitfire and Sideral) are compatible with the Silvretta 500 bindings?

Why would you use Silvrettas if you have actual AT boots? Virtually any pintech style AT binding will ski massively better, and walk at least as well. Also worth noting that if actual skiing is a concern, the performance dropoff using a mountaineering boot to ski is much higher than the performance dropoff using an appropriate AT boot to climb.

Nick Janssen wrote:Here are some instructions on how to modify the La Sportiva Spantik for Dynafit touring compatibility. Results were quite successful!

That is crazy. Super cool project, but crazy. I am definitely a gear mod geek, but man that's too far for me. Lots of opportunity to screw it up and destroy an expensive boot.

There are also some boots out there that fit right into the gap between a mountaineering and skiing boot. A few were named here, but worth mentioning the Proclines that Arc'teryx has teased.
wildsnow.com/18947/arcteryx…

I don't know anything on this subject but the few times I skied in to an ice route. I rocked a splitboard twice and wore my Nepal Evos. Recently I tele skiied and packed my Scarpa Rebels. I was in NY and AB Canada so not Alaska or anything. I just thought you might be interested.

Don't forget the skinny skins, or even wax, if you are skiing a ton of flat terrain. It makes a big difference in speed and efficiency:

wildsnow.com/5917/backcount…