Denali - Ski Boot help
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Hello, |
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My brother and I did that (used boots a size larger) and it was awful to ski in. He actually fell and tweaked his knee skiing, which he attributed completely to the boot being too big. Due to weather we didn't make it past 14k, so I can't comment on the swelling, but when we go back we will be taking our regular ski boots. If you do get boots a size up definitely use them a lot before your trip so you get a feel for how they ski! (Stupidly we did not...) |
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I have the spectre and I’ve climbed Denali three times. I’ve never used my ski boots, but I live in Alaska and think those are warm enough for Denali. I would recommend fitting a Forty Below overboot on your boots for summit day, just to be safe. I wouldn’t oversize, but I might recommend taking the boot to a special boot fitter and getting the toe box stretched out to make sure your toes aren’t too constrained. That may also allow you to wear a thicker sock if needed. |
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You don't want your boots to be so tight that you cut off circulation to your toes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you need to go a full size up. If your boots are too loose you'll compromise your skiing, and you may get blisters on the uphill. |
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Awesome guys! Thanks everyone for the great advice. I'll go with my regular boot size in the Spectre. Will get some overboots or supergators. My feet do run cold so I will plan to upgrade to liners to intuition. |
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I used my regular boots and didn’t notice them fitting any tighter on summit day or any other part of the trip. Obviously it’s an individual thing but if I did have swelling of my feet it wasn’t enough to notice or I’m not that observant. I was glad to have overboots though! |
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We skied from the summit in early June of 2017 and I wore my regular fitting ski boots and intuition pro liners. Others in my crew had slightly roomier fitting boots and commented that they were no problem. Most importantly, we all tested out our Denali setups by ski touring in -20 temps several times the previous winter. Of course on summit day it was 15 above and our feet were totally fine. |
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I have owned the Spectres (orig version, black and yellow) and also the Sideral 2.0 and more recently got the Spitfire 2.1. I have not been to Denali but toured a lot in these boots. |
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Thanks Linnaeus, it looks like the Spitfire and Sideral are being discontinued. Which model do you recommend instead? The Sytron? |
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For what it's worth, the AT boots with the best reputations in this area for mountaineering and long tours are the Dynafit TLT6 and TLT7, the Scarpa Maestrale and F1 Evo, and the Atomic Backland Carbons. I can't vouch for them personally because they don't fit my feet, but all are supposedly lightweight, warm and have the biggest range of motion in walk mode compared to other boots. |
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Hi Sandrock, |
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I would highly recommend Scarpa F1,Tecnica Zero G and probably the LS Skorpius (but the Skorpius is a first generation boot, so taking some chance with that) I would not go with the Sytron, that boots is too complicated and I have already seen issues with walk mode/top latch.The Backland has a great walk mode, but does not ski great and the liner is on the thin side. I would not go with the TLT8 due to the lack of a toe welt and complex buckle system that can also break, consider the Expedition over the Carbonio due to liner thickness if you do go with TLTs. It does really boil down to what fits your foot though, try to get with a competent fitter for a trip as important as Denali. Give Skimoco a call or email, there's at least 2 guys there that have Denali skiing experience and love talking boots. |
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i did fine in my run of the mill, normal sized dynafit radicals. would agree on the overboot suggestion, though careful with those and crampons - the crampons don't lock down as well as you think due to the neoprene and seem to pop fairly often. |