Mounatineering Boots and Tech Fittings

Any one around here have any thought's, ideas or experiences with franken-booting a mountaineering boot with a tech fitting? I've been thinking about taking a pair of the replaceable BD or Garmont ski boot soles with tech fittings and rigging it to a pair of Baruntse boots.

Mtn. Boot-Tech

It's a great idea! I'm sure a lot of people would love something like this. Too bad the boot manufacturers won't do it for us but the liability of having shitty ankle support while skiing in mountaineering boots wouldn't be worth it for manufacturers.
If you figure out a way to do this be sure to post something on the process and performance. Bet some Inverno's or Omega's would be a good boot to beta-construct these on...

Taylor-B. wrote:'ve been thinking about taking a pair of the replaceable BD or Garmont ski boot soles with tech fittings and rigging it to a pair of Baruntse boots.

This is a great idea.

I've been planning to take a band saw to my Scarpas after I milk this one last spring out of them and then rigging them with some old crampon parts as a removable tech binding system. I didn't think about just buying a pair of replacement soles.

Please post here if you are successful with this.

Interested in hearing updates if you try this out!

I found some Garmont tech ski boot soles that have Vibram rubber and they seem lighter than the BD replacement soles. I was going to have Extreme Foot Works in Idaho Springs do the modification; they have a very impressive work shop there and the owner is a DPM. I was also thinking about having the Doc break the shank for some toe bend, since this might happen any way from the toes being pinned.

Garmont Vibram tech soles

The toes on the Baruntse boots and the Garmont soles do not match in size, but the metal tech fitting can be removed and it has two screw holes. The other problem I see is that all the ski boots have the tech fitting mounted in plasstic and the Baruntses seem to have a softer type of plastic.

The white dot marks the spot for the tech piece.

And the heel?

Heel Pieces

I'm hesitant to rip apart my boots and appropriate the feedback!
Here is a link to some info.

coldthistle.blogspot.com/20…

I'm really surprised that the folks at Scarpa and Sportiva haven't done this already.

Yes, it's a liability nightmare here in the U.S., but their big markets are in Europe, where products liability isn't quite so insane.

I'd love to have tech fittings (even just the toe ones) in my mountain boots.

+1 on toes. I'm far from a good enough skier to want to ski anything in Nepals, but it'd be awesome for the approach. One of these day's I'll probably buy a cheap pair of boots and make up some rough inserts for them (or just drill into the toe and line with epoxy).

Interesting comment in the coldthistle link comments

ColdThistleBlogComments wrote:"I sawed off the sole of some old ski boots and drilled holes for crampon wire bails to it. This way, I have a dynafit compatable system, but I didn't have to alter my climbing boots, as they clip into the "bindings" just like a crampon."

Also tempting would be to fab up an aluminum plate with "inserts" that mounts with a crampon style system.

PatCleary wrote:Also tempting would be to fab up an aluminum plate with "inserts" that mounts with a crampon style system.

Ya, that does seem like a good option and you could probably make them a tad lighter than Silvrettas. Bomber might beable to fabricate a custom plate, they also might be able to fab a tech heel piece that is more easily inserted in a mtn boot compared to the replaceable soles. Next stop, the Bomber factory in Silverthorn. Does any one know of any boot smiths down on the front range?

Taylor-B. wrote: Ya, that does seem like a good option and you could probably make them a tad lighter than Silvrettas. Bomber might beable to fabricate a custom plate, they also might be able to fab a tech heel piece that is more easily inserted in a mtn boot compared to the replaceable soles. Next stop, the Bomber factory in Silverthorn. Does any one know of any boot smiths down on the front range?

http://www.backcountryaccess.com/product/trekker/

Ray Pinpillage wrote: backcountryaccess.com/produ…

Damn. I never thought about trying trekkers with mountaineering boots... Might work to skin in but I don't think they have any way to lock down for a mild descent? Then again I guess anything mild enough for climbing boots might be mild enough to do freeheel in trekkers...

MarktheCPA wrote: Damn. I never thought about trying trekkers with mountaineering boots... Might work to skin in but I don't think they have any way to lock down for a mild descent? Then again I guess anything mild enough for climbing boots might be mild enough to do freeheel in trekkers...

Still a poor idea. Tech inserts in a soft boot is a dead end concept.

PatCleary wrote:Also tempting would be to fab up an aluminum plate with "inserts" that mounts with a crampon style system.

Does anyone have any specs for the size, depth, location, shapes of tech binding features? I've got a crap ton of machining equipment at work and could probably whip something up over a weekend.

I am thinking of basically a featureless crampon with tech hardpoints.

Also ran across this photo on some military equipment site. Can anyone tell if it actually has tech points?

Ray Pinpillage wrote: Still a poor idea. Tech inserts in a soft boot is a dead end concept.

I could see the homemade tech-Mtn. boot being a bad idea due to durability issues in the field. But imagine a tech-Mtn. boot that is professionally made with some toe bend and a light weight rando-race set up to approach and climb the far far gnar gnar that are miles and miles away.

The TLT type ski boots climb great up to a certain technical grade and the Silvrettas are very heavy by modern day binding standards.

It's a simple concept of speed=safety and lighter gear=less energy and the ability to carry more food. And I'm a firm believer that skiing in leather boots is an essential big mountain skill (AND A LOST SKILL) that takes a lot of practice so you don't blow your knee out 20 miles from the TH.

DannyUncanny wrote: Does anyone have any specs for the size, depth, location, shapes of tech binding features? I've got a crap ton of machining equipment at work and could probably whip something up over a weekend.

No (that is, nobody has specs). There isn't a tech binding standard. The fittings are either bought from Dynafit or reverse-engineered. You can look on wildsnow.com for the article on the Garmont Cosmos boot tech fitting problems for why this isn't simple.

I'd think that starting with the tech sole pieces off an interchangeable sole boot, as above, and mounting them to an underfoot plate with bails to attach your mountaineering boot, would be an easier way of achieving this than trying to machine tech fittings from scratch.

The other light and fast boot concept for long approaches that I've actually put to use using is the Nepal Evo and the -40 K2 Super Light over-boots. It works great for the summer season in Alaska where some of the approaches require miles and miles of walking on dry glaciers, rocky moraines, bush whacking and crossing rivers. Crossing rivers in double boots is like lashing bricks to your feet! Once you get up high or above the fern line the over boots come in handy and you can also wear them around camp to let your leather boots dry out. It can also help to have a vapor barrier sock to keep your boots dry. This set up with a tech fitting could open up some doors more easily.

Evo + -40

Taylor-B. wrote:It's a simple concept of speed=safety and lighter gear=less energy and the ability to carry more food. And I'm a firm believer that skiing in leather boots is an essential big mountain skill (AND A LOST SKILL) that takes a lot of practice so you don't blow your knee out 20 miles from the TH.

The sport evolved away from soft boots and skis. It's not a lost skill, people don't want to take the risk. Even you described the inherent danger. Nothing about that makes me think increased safety as you implied. Unfortunately that means you either carry a pair of climbing boots or climb in Rando boots.

All of that ignores durability. I don't think current soft boots will handle the stress placed on the shank by the tech inserts.

Taylor-B. wrote:The other light and fast boot concept for long approaches that I've actually put to use using is the Nepal Evo and the -40 K2 Super Light over-boots. It works great for the summer season in Alaska where some of the approaches require miles and miles of walking on dry glaciers, rocky moraines, bush whacking and crossing rivers. Crossing rivers in double boots is like lashing bricks to your feet! Once you get up high or above the fern line the over boots come in handy and you can also wear them around camp to let your leather boots dry out. It can also help to have a vapor barrier sock to keep your boots dry. This set up with a tech fitting could open up some doors more easily.

Bindings on overboots? That's crazy. You would have zero control.

DannyUncanny wrote: Bindings on overboots? That's crazy. You would have zero control.

Using overboots with fritschi bindings seems to work the best. In order to use overboots with a tech binding you have to cut out the spots for the tech pieces and this decreases the R-value and you have to do a buddy check to make sure the bindings are secured to the boot properly. In ski mountaineering it seems the overboots are most handy on the ascent due to moving slow because of altitude or moving slow due to technical terrain and for the descent you rip the overboots off. But, ripping the overboots off for the descent f*%^@! us over "one time" and we suffered bad frostbite. Either way, the -40 K2 overboots for skiing is one of my favorite pieces of equipment.

Thank you everyone for all the feed back and criticism, it helps to get the gears turning:)

Taylor-B. wrote: Using overboots with fritschi bindings seems to work the best. In order to use overboots with a tech binding you have to cut out the spots for the tech pieces and this decreases the R-value and you have to do a buddy check to make sure the bindings are secured to the boot properly. In ski mountaineering it seems the overboots are most handy on the ascent due to moving slow because of altitude or moving slow due to technical terrain and for the descent you rip the overboots off. But, ripping the overboots off for the descent f*%^@! us over "one time" and we suffered bad frostbite. Either way, the -40 K2 overboots for skiing is one of my favorite pieces of equipment. Thank you everyone for all the feed back and criticism, it helps to get the gears turning:)

Oh I thought you meant attaching a tech hardpoints to the overboots, and then connecting your self to the skis through that. You still haven't explain how you get tech bindings on your mountaineering boots in the first place, which is what this whole thread is about.