Comments on: Speed Holes in Backcountry Skiing Boots

By: brian harder

brian harder — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:11:28 +0000

If you do take the arch down to the plastic you can add some Seam Grip to the textured plastic to reestablish some traction in the rocks.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:53:49 +0000

one suggestion is to use a wire brush disk instead of a standard grinding disk to remove rubber from the sole. Quicker, easier to clean up & no toxic smoke + it leaves a bit of a texture which can provide limited traction.

I took ~.4 lbs. of rubber off a pair of T2s (same size boot as the F1), leaving enough of the sole to still work in tele bindings
(I did not grind the front 3″-4″ nor the back 2″ of the heel, only thre arch of the boot). Be careful of removing all the rubber down to the hard plastic, while traverising an exposed slope last July 4th I slipped on a rock, the hard plastic does nothing for grip. It’s a good idea to leave a thin layer of rubber on the boot for that reason.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:48:14 +0000

You making many rando racers nervous Lou…

…especially the night before a BIG race!

By: Craig

Craig — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 22:18:49 +0000

Hey wolfy, do the shells up right and use them in place of pumpkins on Halloween!!!

By: Lou

Lou — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 18:46:09 +0000

Chris, I’d recommend evaluating how your boot performs while you ski it, then experiment with holes in areas that don’t need to provide as much support. For example, the holes shown above are bored on the top of the cuff, outside, as that area has less stress than others while skiing. Nonetheless this is PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I’ve experimented with this quite a bit and a boot that’s used for moderate touring or racing can take a lot more drilling than you’d think, but if you buckle down tight or ski hard, the shell could crack if it’s drilled.