Lou Dawson's Backcountry Skiing Blog & Website -- Content Pages

Tips and Tricks from Lou and Friends

More Scarpa Laser Mods!

A. I hate the way my power straps always move around, so I riveted them in place (you can see the rivet showing in the side-view photo photos of the tongue mod on the previous page.)

B. After my flex was perfect, I had footbeds and custom Thermoflex liners installed. When molding the liners, I added extra material in front of my toes, so my toes wouldn't hit while kicking steps, and they'd stay warmer. Take care when picking liners that you use ones with dense foam. AT boots are softer than alpine boots, so too soft a liner will feel like skiing with your feet in plastic bags full of Jell-O...

C. After you adjust your cuff cant (if needed) apply thread locker (Locktite) to the cant screw threads. There have been reports of them coming loose..

Speaking of fit, be advised that the "anatomical" (for some people) shell of the Laser has a high arch, rather than the flat foot-ramp which most ski boots have. This arch caused me no end of angst while fitting my boots. I finally realized it was so high my foot was being suspended by the arch, no matter what I did with the footbed in my liner. Once I realized the problem the solution was simple: a 3/16 inch pad glued to the top of the heel pad that comes stock in the boot shell. Everyone's feet are different, but if the Laser feels funny to you, check the shell's built-in arch.

D. I like to keep my upper buckle loose for walk mode. When doing so, the buckles wouldn't stay latched, and kept catching on things and making it difficult to work my pant cuffs up and down when changing modes.

Solution: a bit of bungie cord, a boot-lace clip, a few rivets. Tip: As my goal is to ski peaks, I always fit and modify my boots first for downhill performance, then tweak for uphill comfort. The whole process takes weeks, as I ski the boots after each mod.

E. This one was fun. I hate having two settings for forward lean. I mean, who wants to be at the top of a 14,000-foot peak in the middle of winter, trying to guess which position you clicked into for your best ski performance? Not me. Being bold in mechanical things, I dismantled the Laser lean lock mechanism, welded one of the holes shut, then reassembled. Peace.

I hope you enjoyed reading about Laser boot mods, and perhaps tackling a few. Let me know how it goes (I check in at the Couloir Magazine discussion forums.)

Shalom...