Scarpa Rush Backcountry Skiing Boots – Long Term Report
It’s safe to say my summer missions spent searching for that 200 foot patch of Colorado slush snow are a done deal. Visions of waist deep untracked powder have faded almost completely as I find my bike shorts covered in mud instead of my trusty Scarpa Rush boots exhibiting signs of snow starvation. My Landcruiser has transitioned from transporting hunks of P-Tex to greasy bike gear, battered helmets, and countless worn out tires.
Sadly I have not found that Aspen cougar to fund my summer ski trip to Chile and Lou’s fiscal budget is locked in to supply his daily intake of Beluga caviar and imported Austrian beer. The ski stuff is packed away till winter. Maybe I can make it a year round ski year next year…
Scarpa’s 3-buckle boot offering, the Rush, in California-ticket-me-for-speeding-yellow had become a trusty boot for my escapades this past winter. I had fifty-plus days in them from chasing caffeine fueled groms whilst teaching skiing at the resorts (in & out of walk-mode) to making thousands of up and down vert in the White River National Forest.
The Scarpa Rush offered me a lightweight, moderately stiff, comfortable, and dependable boot day after day this season. Lee previously reviewed them and broke down the tech side here on Wildsnow.com, but this is our first “long term” report. Thus, I’ll skip the technical details and focus on what I loved about the boots, and what I didn’t.
Best place to ensure your boots stay fresh for next winter is right between the bratwurst and elk meat. According to Sir Dawson.
Fit
Scarpa backcountry ski boots come with thermo liners made by Intuition. These are good liners, but for some reason It takes me two tries to get any thermo liner totally right. I wanted a performance fit, so we cranked down the shell buckles while molding to reduce volume.
I don’t necessarily have an Asian small volume flat foot similar to Lee’s but a narrow larger foot (30.0) (far from the golden gear tester size (27.5)). Having no arch whatsoever I found I had to pull out all stops possible, in order to snug up to where I felt confident getting a fit good enough for charging.
Uphill/Tour Mode
When the time came to tour or simply dial things way down (for the kiddies) the walk/tour mode activated, buckles set to their loosest, the feeling was sublime. Spending a majority of time running around after kids whilst having the ski train behind me fall apart in the occasional adolescent yard-sale I got to treasure my ability to sprint uphill in a hurry. If I could get to that wreck quicker without melting through my uniform, in gallons of sweat, I considered it a win. My heel stayed planted within the boot and lightweight nirvana took over. As Lee likes to say you can finally reach “samadhi” after touring with the Rush’s. I’d include grommet chasing in that equation.
Tread wear was minimal surrounding the tech binding interface and the flip away hinge worked flawlessly. It was easy to remove the Scarpa supplied Intuition liner all season long.
Downhill
I used these boots on everything from Black Diamond Megawatt’s to La Sportiva Hi-5′s to my 189 Praxis alpine mounted powder skis all the way down to my 140 K2′s for teaching “Never Ever’s.” Overpowering them would be an understatement on a few occasions. Sometimes I felt like I could have pressed my knees to my toes in wet, bumpy, or crusty snow. But the Rush backcountry skiing boots still functioned, and once the snow was more on the normal side they excelled.
Issues
No buckle issues with the Rush. I did notice wear on the liner from buckle fasteners. As well as a slight squeak developed in the tour bar (above the anodized linkage).
Abrasion was present in the fold of the liner. I tried the duct tape solution with limited results.
Summary
Influence is powerful when your wearing a name tag; something I noticed more and more as this winter progressed. When the season began, just a few of us instructors were using AT boots. By the end of the season, what was once a sea of 4-buckle Powerstrap wearing gurus of glisse had slowly transitioned over to lightweight setups. Noticeably I wasn’t the only California-yellow booted guy showing up at 7:30AM.
Yes, the Rush is not built for the resort hard charging skier who favors challenging terrain. They’re for the lightweight geared backcountry skier who seeks blower pow while exhibiting superior technique. Nonetheless, for the price, available stiffness, light weight, and incredible ankle motion the Rush backcountry skiing boot can’t be beat as a crossover.
Pick up the Rush at Backcountry.com expect the price to drop in coming months.
Comments
13 Responses to “Scarpa Rush Backcountry Skiing Boots – Long Term Report”
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I’ve dealt with the occasional hinge squeak on my boots, including my current Garmont Shoguns, originally with molybdenum disulfide powder, and now, more effectively, teflon spray.
I spray the teflon into a small cup, and let the solvent evaporate, and then apply with a Q-tip. This seems to work for a while.
I’ve dealt with the occasional hinge squeak on my boots, including my current Garmont Shoguns, originally with molybdenum disulfide powder, and now, more effectively, teflon spray.
I spray the teflon into a small cup, and let the solvent evaporate, and then apply with a Q-tip. This seems to work for a while.
Mmmmm, Boulder Sausage and elk meat. Maybe we need some elk recipes on a post soon to help get us through these late summer doldrums. Bow season is only a few weeks away!
@ralph I’m a big fan of White Lithium. Works great and sticks to the area in need of lubricant without the drip.
@pierce funny you mention the elk recipies they are in the works!
I’d imagine G3 binding lube is an excellent solution for that as well.
Another great option from Scarpa. Might have to demo some myself this fall.
Having your buckles tight for a performance fit sounds counter intuitive to me. Leave the buckles loose and the foam will expand more. Then you will have a thicker liner to work with.
Kevin, the idea is to have thinner liner, so it’s not so soft and is more responsive due to the foot not pressing against a thick cushion of foam. Enhancing this by tightening the buckles during the mold isn’t always the best thing, but that’s what was done in this case and apparently Joe likes the result. Lou
These are my first skiing boots that fits 100 % perfectly. Heck, I even didn’t bake the liners. I only added custom food beds and they were good to go. I’m absolutely happy with them. No pain, no hot spots, no blisters, no cold feet, no rush to take them off on parking lot, not even after a long day. My Scarpa Aliens and Dynafit Zzeus haven’t seen much snow after I got the Rush.
My studies showed that only other boot in this sub 3000g category is new Garmont Orbit. (and older ZZero 3s) I doubt that actual weight of Cosmos is less than 3000g pair in size 27-28. Correct me if I’m wrong. Going lighter requires step to more race oriented boot like F1, TLT5, Aliens, new LaSportivas etc. So if you prefer more beef, more progressive flex, more durability (and less budget) than those ultra-light boots: go Rush.
Now if Scarpa could make similar boot with shorter Tech soles only and maybe with F1-Aline type of upper buckle. That could be new winner for me.
Some of this year’s new offers are appealing, but I won’t change the winning team. Long live Rush
Hi, I have just bought the women version of the scarpa rush, the scarpa blink. Am happy with the boot, however it is getting very humid/wet inside, causing cold feet. I have not so far experienced with my other skiing boots from scarpa. Anyone has any experience with this, are there any other liners that would fit the shell and might be better? Thanks a lot
Hi, I have just bought the women version of the scarpa rush, the scarpa blink. Am happy with the boot, however it is getting very humid/wet inside, causing cold feet.The liners have not been baked yet. I have not so far experienced with my other skiing boots from scarpa. Anyone has any experience with this, are there any other liners that would fit the shell and might be better? Thanks a lot
Catrine, they all do that. If they’re properly fit sometimes you’ll get a bit more venting since you may not have to buckle them so tight, but the difference is minimal. Non breathing liners have been a problem for 30 years, good example of how truly archaic most ski boot design still is.
Key tricks:
1. Dry at home with a boot dryer.
2. Use boot and foot powder.
3. If necessary change socks once during the day.
4. If you have severe problem seek medical treatment for excessive sweating.
5. If the boots are properly fit your feet will usually stay warmer.
Lou
Thanks a lot for your reply, LouI I guess an extra pair of socks to bring along is the solution then. I was actually just a bit surprised since I have not had this problem with my scarpa t2 telemark boots.