Thanks! I really must be old if anything that comes out of my mouth resembles wisdom;)

Danny out of nowhere on the next video "I'm running solo today as Christof suffered an unfortunate accident after he ran into my crowbar while walking his kids to school..."

I sure as heck don't have time to edit videos and I think Danny would implode in a fit of rage if I asked him to do it for me:)

Hopefully they ski half as good as I've been fantasizing but they may live out their life in the gear room if we don't get some serious snow like NOW! We're dying out here.

​@@cnuila I can attest they are very nice! We are filling up fast here in Washington state.

Yeah that F1 LT punches above it’s weight for sure. ALMOST good enough for me to ditch my F1, but not quite. For a two boot quiver you have the perfect setup IMHO. Why can’t they make a new F1 that weighs and walks like the LT, and skis like a Zero G and just be done with it😄!

@@cnuila Do you think F1LTs would be appropriate for DPS Pagoda Tour 100 RP? I currently have Dynafit Mercury boots, but I find them too stiff for what I do.

@@mcousineau you could definitely pair the LTs with that ski but for me personally the sweet spot would be a boot like the regular F1 (something in the 1250gm range) The Pagoda Tour 100 isn’t the lightest of the 100mm waisted touring skis (but skis like a dream), and going from a Vulcan at 1600gms to a F1 LT just over 1000gm is quite the radical move. It will feel very very different. Not even sure it would be that much softer as there’s so much carbon in the LT, just you’d lose a lot of mass, so you’d really need to be on your A game technique wise especially if your not a technically advanced skilled skier (but maybe your are). You would definitely gain some walkability though. Again I can only speak to my style and preferences but unless your objective is really dropping some serious weight I think something in the middle would give you softer flex and still perform in a way that would be a good match for the ski setup. Just my .02.

@@cnuila Thanks! I will look into the regular F1 then!

Some great points in there. I’d only say that you give (many) great examples of how far down the rabbit hole we all can (and do) go down when we start touring a lot. In the 40 minute one-take shot of this video I even talked about most of what you just wrote. At the end of the day Danny and I decided it’s just too much and we had to distill it down to something digestible and useful to someone getting into the activity. And that is, think about what kind of skiing you are likely to do MOST of the time and choose gear that makes sense to tackle that objective and go ski. A lot. And then it will become apparent what niches you want to fill or what adjustments you want to make, or what light boot/fat ski or mid ski/heavy boot combo is your jam. I would argue a little about the 500 grams though! That’s over a pound per foot! If we’re not trying to fall within a certain category of backcountry skiing (race, speed, backcountry touring, free ride) and just buying what fits then why not take home a four buckle Atomic resort boot with a walk mode? Don’t obsess about 20 grams within a category, but make sure you are looking at a boot that will meet your needs. A 1000 gram boot and a 1300 g boot are pretty different in feel and categories of performance/application. Lucky for us there’s plenty of options in each to find the one that fits our foot, which should go without saying is the critical detail.

@Christof Nuila For me, walkability and fit trumps grams every time. Hence probably why we both like the radical pro. The changes made since the original hoji enable it to walk like a boot that weighs way less. Depending on my liner, my radical pro has less resistance through the rom of the cuff than the skorpius which obviously weighs less. Because of this I'd probably end up taking the radical pro almost always because I know that personally I will notice the lack of friction in the cuff before the 300g. A variable that I think isn't nerded out about enough is the actual "skimo stride" which is why I think we have differing opinions. When you watch pros (skimo pros) tour, their skis very rarely leave the ground which has a huge impact on the relation of weight. When you watch Cody Townsend tour, he lifts his entire boot binding and ski every step off of the snow. When you watch Killian or remi bonnet, the whole interface is being slid along the snow rather than lifted off of it. Because it remains on the ground they are not getting the full weight of the boot/binding/ski. So by having a boot with excellent frictionless rom-you can stride better and keep more of the weight on the actual snow. This is why a radical pro feels better than a Tecnica zero G. The zero g weighs less, but tours terrible because it's a 4 buckle with loads of friction. So to directly respond to your point, the "walkability" factor is probably a largest difference a mortal will notice before grams imo. Comparing a 1500g 4 buckle to a 1000g boot used to be a huge deal-absolutely no doubt about that, because of what you described-heavy used to also mean walked terribly-but my point is that that was because of the design of the cuff and boot-not the actual grams. But comparing a modern "heavyweight" like the radical pro? It walks better than 1000g boots of a few years ago and even some current ones and skis leagues better. It also transitions faster than most because of the single mechanism for walk ski. Like you said, we live in a great time for options. But can we both agree to ask who tf the scarpa F1 lt is fitted too? A heinously narrow toebox that can't be punched without voiding warranty and a massive over ankle volume that you have to worry about breaking the boa with how much you need to use to get decent pressure, and a medium to narrow calf width? This means it was fitted for a person who has narrow pointy feet, cankles, and skinny calf's. Scarpa nails quality and stiffness to weight but their fit is bonkers. Anyway fun nerding out with other nerds.

@@thicccboyztv thank you for calling out CT's godawful stepping. It bugs the hell out of me. On scarpa fit: the tlt6 to alien rs/f1 lt pipeline is well established. For those people (incl me) it's very welcome

@@zachwong7324 The problem in the ski industry is mainly that your fit type is what is catered to which when you talk to most ski shops is not actually anatomically the most common fit. Almost everyone you hear complains about two narrow of toe boxes and sloppy heels. I am glad you were able to make those boots work, though I'm just asking that a wider pun intended. Variety of foot shapes are accounted for in ski boot manufacturing

@@thicccboyztv now I feel like I should throw my F1 Scarpa to trash and go buy radiacl pro :(

I always hesitate to name a specific brand or model because I’m afraid someone will think I’m either endorsing it as the best or bagging on it completely 😬. Up til recently I had a pair of skis with Kingpins on them as well. Awesome binding if it fits your purpose, or your budget.

just the individual ski and individual boot, no binding

@@cnuila I see! Thank you for clarifying!

I always tell people that apart from being a solid advanced skier, you need to feel absolutely comfortable skiing off piste, meaning off the groomed runs in variable conditions. Being able to ski mach 5 down a steep run isn't as important as just being able to manage your skiing through powder, chop, ice, trees, etc. So I'd say when you're skiing around the local resort look for any chance to leave the groomers and explore the mountain. And the best way to improve is 1. Spend lots of money on GOOD instruction or 2. find someone that's better than you and ski with them as much as you can

@@cnuila How do I know a ski instructor is good? I planned to go the first way, as I don't know anyone that is a very good skier.

@@Skulltech75 Pick a good hill, ask around, try 'em out.

I have a couple of thoughts. One is that you highlight an issue and that’s using very light boots with heavy skis. Light boots can be great with wide skis, but I feel the skis still need to be light or else there’s just not enough power transferred to the ski to make it do what you want, so it feels like it takes twice the effort to get them to come around and you will not feel confident. Also, I think you’re spot on in that the lighter and softer a touring boot, the more skill/fitness/balance is needed to ski them well. A nice four buckle beef boot can mask or make up for a lot of deficiencies that are magnified in a minimal boot. Tend to ski in the backseat? It will be amplified ten fold in a Scarpa Alien. The TLT6 is a beloved boot by many because it punches above its weight, but in your case it’s weight was just too far from what your skis needed. Now, I also imagine if you had paired the TLT6 with a light mid-width touring ski it would have actually felt much more “normal” and skied a ton better. It’s like if you took the engine of a Honda Civic and threw it in a Dodge Ram, it’s just not going to do what you want it to. In a civic however, it can be a ton of fun. None of this is to suggest you aren’t a good skier. I’m sure you shred the gnar with the best of them. You are also undertaking one of the most difficult tasks in the modern world and that is having a one ski/boot setup for resort and backcountry. It can be done and we’re getting closer to the dream with all the options these days, but there’s still big trade-offs and you have to decide where you will sacrifice. The Cochise is a step in the right direction, and I think the creme of the crop of Backcountry Beef boots like the Lange XT3 Tour Pro, Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD, Dynafit Hoji Free 130 or Technica Zero G Tour Pro could offer even more of a weight savings, added efficiency and still have the cojones to drive some big sticks.

I have the Cochises. They ski great and I use them as my resort boot, but man touring with them is brutal. I’ve rented lightweight touring skis and paired them with my Cochises and I would echo what he said in the video…skiing ultralight skis/bindings sucks even in a beefy boot, and it kind of makes more sense to pair the Cochise with say a Shift setup and just accept that you’re probably not going to haul it up Rainier.

Go to a shop. None of what he is saying matters if the boots don't fit you. Bootfitters don't exist online.

Thanks, yeah I have figured that out by getting alpine boots before and having a bad fit. I’m mainly trying to find a budget minded one quiver type set up until I get some experience. I do have to me a decent amount of experience skiing resorts( 4-5 winter trips ) Would really just be buying the ski’s and bindings online for the deals. But watching another extra video maybe it was this one, Christof talked about selling his old equipment and I thought I would probably be able to find used gear for a much better deal than online ( I would think)

I honestly don't think you'd be disappointed. In the full review of the boot I kind of forgot to talk about one of the most important things, that is how does it ski? The short answer is that I've not skied a dedicated touring boot that skis more like an alpine boot than the Radical Pro. The ski mode has zero play and the flex is very progressive. I ski on a Nordica Dobermann 140 in the resort on my GS skis for comparison, and I love my Radicals. That's not to say the Radicals are a stiff World Cup race boot, just saying that they give me more than enough performance for the skiing I do in the backcountry. And always, it just depends on how fast, how big, and how sendy you get while touring. I rarely meet someone touring in the backcountry that is doing anything that warrants a four buckle alpine style ski boot. Usually those guys are getting out of helicopters, or starring in a MSP film.

Don’t read too much into it. I think it really only bears consideration if you’re putting together a dedicated light touring setup. A ski/boot/binding like yours really falls into the “resort setup that can tour if necessary” category. And I’m not being derogatory. It has it’s place and if it works for you that’s the best setup to have. If you were to ask me where to go from here to improve the backcountry touring experience, I’d say ditch that plate binding for ANYTHING that has pins (may require a new boot I know), and you’ll lose like a pound or more per ski and add so much efficiency it’ll be a whole different activity!

we've thought about it but we rarely have any kind of training plan or system other than "lets do stuff, whenever we can, as long or short as we have time for and whatever activity the conditions will provide maximum payoff" I think Danny actually gave somewhat of a training talk on one of the Patreon videos.