.
Scarpa's TX-Pro NTN Boots
by Mitch Weber
August, 2008-- The irony is that while the NTN's all-in-one
package of advanced features (step-in with brakes, a touring
mode and a form of release) gets most of the attention, we now
know that by far the most promising aspect of the new system,
and the true breakthrough, is not a feature at all, rather it
is contained within the basic design of the NTN's attachment
from boot to ski. We included some thoughts on this last summer
in our "100
Days on the NTN" report of our experiences with the
"demo version" boots and bindings:
"... we believe that the TX
will likely turn out to be just the first of what could be an
entirely new kind of telemark boot, one that offers the torsional
rigidity of the current crop of big boots, while taking us back
to a time when tele boots typically had a smoother and easier
forward flex at the bellows. Will this be the beginning of another
round of evolution in tele style as skiers find that they don't
have to sit so hard on their back foot?... We also like the idea
that smaller sized tele skiers, including children and teenagers,
may finally be able to find the stoke of the turn in boots that
even the lightest of the lightweights can break at the bellows,
and while maintaining a high level of performance and control...
Yes, it may just be that the boots turn out to be the most important
part of the NTN story, even beyond the advanced set of features
found in the NTN binding that will hit store shelves this fall.
That's saying a lot because we have been waiting a long time
for a step-in binding with brakes and a touring mode. Nevertheless,
when contemplating the implications of the NTN design on future
tele boot technology, it's easy to see that the journey may have
just begun."
As it turned out the journey had
just begun, but unfortunately Scarpa was about to take a hard
turn into the ditch.
The Back Story
With its unique under-the-forefoot
"second heel" attachment point, the NTN binding imparts
a considerable amount of torsional rigidity (lateral stiffness,
resistance to twist) to the forefoot area of the boot, giving
designers of boots for the NTN the opportunity to do something
that's never been done before: Combine the sweet and easy forefoot
flex of yesterday's leather boots with the torsional rigidity
and power steering of today's stiff plastic, tall cuff freeride
tele boots. With much of the system's lateral stability built
into the binding, the forefoot of NTN boots can be made to break
more easily at the bellows-- increasing that feeling of really
being able to drive the ball of the foot, the key to controlling
and harnessing the power of the rear ski in a modern, balanced
stance telemark turn. At its best, the NTN's "second heel"
design makes it possible for NTN boots to utilize a softer flexing
bellows without giving up anything anywhere else in regard to
performance.
Not only is this combination of
a softer bellows, a stiff upper and a torsionaly rigid sole an
ultra user-friendly way to build a new telemark boot/binding
interface, it turns out that with the reduced leverage of the
duckbill-less boots, and the minimal toe piece of the NTN binding,
it's the only way. An NTN boot with a too-stiff bellows
easily over powers the springs of an NTN binding, and when this
happens all of the NTN good stuff goes away. Important
good stuff, like "ball of the foot" pressure, rear
ski power, control, etc.
From the beginning, the demo version
Terminator Xs we skied during the 06/07 season (reviewed in our
"100
Days" report) were just soft enough in the bellows
to work with the NTN--- just soft enough in the bellows
for us to get a glimpse of the possibilities for the future.
Sadly, concerned with toe pinch issues (we never had any), Scarpa
made a late change to the formulation of the Pebax plastic in
the single-injected, production version TXs. Just like that,
the TXs made for the Fall 2007 public launch of the NTN were
suddenly much more stiff overall, everywhere, including the bellows.
It was a colossal blow of epic proportions
for the new system, and for everyone really, from the early adopters
who bought in at the start, on up the chain, all the way to the
NTN manufacturers, and some might say, even for the sport itself.
And it was made worse by the fact that the TX had been regarded
as the NTN's best/only hope for the boot portion of the system,
the only other NTN compatible boot model available having long
since been deemed by most everybody we talked to (including privately
by some connected to the development of the binding itself) as
also being much too stiff in the bellows. Stunningly, the result
was that in the year of the NTN's long awaited public debut,
there would be no NTN boots with an out-of-the-box bellows flex
even close to optimal for working within the parameters of the
NTN's unique design. Not exactly what I had in mind the summer
before when I wrote "it may just be that the boots turn
out to be the most important part of the NTN story," but
darkly prophetic nonetheless.
So now what? How would Scarpa and
the NTN get back on track?
The answer came relatively quickly
in the form of a mid-December annnouncment here on Telemarktips:
Scarpa was already prototyping a triple-injected version of the
three buckle Terminator X. Further demonstrating its commitment
to the NTN at this critical juncture, Scarpa also announced that
for 07/08 it would produce a four buckle, triple-injected model
to be called the TX-Pro. The triple-injection process, it was
explained, would allow Scarpa to change the stiffness in specific
places, making it possible for the bellows to flex "ideally
for telemarking, while (keeping) the boot as rigid as possible
elsewhere." This was unexpected, but very good news, ski
industry manufacturers don't normally announce the following
season's new and re-worked models in mid-December of the current
season. Message received, it seemed.
In mid-January the word was passed
that if I could fit my feet into the standard prototype size
(Mondo 27), Scarpa would have a sample pair of TX-Pros available
for testing later that month at the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow
on-snow demo at Snowbasin, UT. This was more good news, and once
again reading between the lines, it appeared that Scarpa was
confident they had a solution, and that they were already quite
far along in the developmental process.
A few days later, driving north
and east through an empty and desolate northern Nevada, the sun
was setting on our left as we made our way out to Utah and the
OR show from our old place in Mammoth. Looking forward to trying
the new boots and talking quietly about the NTN fiasco, I asked
Big Tim an interesting question: If we didn't still have our
old, "just soft enough bellows" demo version boots
to fall back on, and all we had were the too stiff in the bellows
production boots, would we still be skiing the NTN?
Without missing a beat Tim replied:
"Of course we would. We would find a way to make the new
boots work, or we would adapt, or maybe a little of both. Can
you see yourself ever going back to messing with cables and safety
straps all day while riding the gondola? Or skinning without
a touring mode? Or giving up any of the other NTN stuff...?"
"No, I can't,"
Skiing the TX-Pros
With all of the above in mind, we
pulled into the parking lot at Snow Basin on a very cold bluebird
morning last January knowing full well just how important it
was to find out of Scarpa had got it right this time with the
new 4 buckle TX-pro and in the reworking of the lower in the
3-buckle Terminator-X. Nearly two feet of fresh powder had fallen
the night before, coating the mountain above the demo area. We
were looking forward to getting some turns, but first we had
work to do, having pre-scheduled a couple of video interviews,
the first of which was our hook-up with Scarpa-North America
CEO Kim
Miller.
|
Walking up to the Scarpa tent, Tim
and I were greeted by Andrea Parisotto, President of Scarpa-NA
and a member of the family which has owned and operates Scarpa
in Italy for several decades. Andrea got right to the point,
beaming, he had us watch as he flexed the pair of TX-Pros on
his feet.
The bellows flexed smoothly and
without apparent effort, even though we were just standing there.
The boot wasn't even in a binding, and yet this big, new four-buckle
tele boot was flexing at the bellows like a well broken-in touring
boot.
Instantly, I knew that Scarpa had
absolutely nailed what needed to be done, it was that obvious,
even just to the eye. The difference in the bellows flex was
actually startling, much softer and sweeter than even our old,
demo version T-X boots. I could hardly wait to get up on the
mountain and take the TX-Pros for a spin. |
 |
Eventually we finished up our video
work and went tele skiing. I put on a pair of prototype TX-Pros
and after successfully begging to keep them at the end of the
day, I did not take them off until the middle of summer. Okay,
that's a bit of an exaggeration of course, I didn't wear them
to bed or around town, but I skied many, many days after that
trip to OR, attempting to reconnect with exactly what it is that
I love about all of this after a very difficult first third of
last season... and I'm here to tell ya, I have never had as much
fun making telemark turns as I had this past season in these
new TX-Pros and the NTN binding.
Tele skiing has often been described
through the years as a "series of linked recoveries,"
and that definitely described what was going on back in the days
of floppy leather boots. The situation improved dramatically
with the introduction of torsionally rigid plastic boots, but
staying centered remained challenging, even as tele technique
evolved and free-heel skiers adapted to the new gear. The old,
spread out, "doggy leg" tele stance so common in the
leather era didn't work anymore in the new boots with their stiff
plastic bellows. Tele skiers adjusted, some dropped lower, some
moved their hips back, all of us closed up our stance to get
more weight and power onto the back foot in order to break the
bellows and drive the rear ski through the ball of the foot.
The situation was much improved, but fore and aft balance remained
critical, with little margin for error. Stay centered over a
closed up stance, with lots of weight on the rear foot, and things
would begin to click, get thrown forward even slightly and feel
things begin to fall apart. Not many of us are able to tele effectively
without breaking the rear boot at the bellows and getting the
pressure off of our toes onto the pall of the fool, so while
big plastic boots, solid bindings and modern skis give us lots
of edging and cranking power, recovering between turns and staying
precisely centered, front to back over the skis, has been as
as important as ever.
If you are still with me, try now
to imagine a telemark boot and binding combo with the torsional
rigidity of big plastic boots for edge control and power, but
with a softer bellows which significantly reduces the amount
of pressure needed to drive the ball of the foot onto the rear
ski. Suddenly, the margin for error in fore and aft balance increases
dramatically. The pressing need to recover and re-center precisely
between turns mostly disappears as the "sweet spot"
now feels as though it has become big enough to drive a truck
through, and telemark skiing becomes easier. And as we have found
each and every time tele gear has improved and technique has
evolved, when telemark skiing becomes easier, so does finding
and staying in the groove-- that seductive, addictive feeling
one gets when telemark turns
begin to feel effortless, where the up and down and in and out
feel like nothing less than an expression of the rhythm of the
soul.
This is the real breakthrough in
the design of the NTN system. After all, it is the promise of
the NTN to make telemark skiing more fun than ever before, and
when all is said and done, it is the extent to which this promise
is fully realized that will make or break the new system. With
the new TX-Pro, along with the reworked, triple-injected lower
of the 08/09 TX, Scarpa has taken a huge, huge step forward,
creating boots that red line the stoke meter while unlocking
the performance potential of the NTN.
Details and Additional Observations
Much has been made of the NTN supposedly
being a resort-only system at this point, and yet on our digital
scale my pair of size 27 TX-Pros weigh 7 lbs. 6 ozs., more than
a pound and a half lighter than the true weight of my 4-buckle
T1s (Scarpa lifted the TX-Pro cuff directly from the T1, making
the two models similar in some aspects of their performance).
Putting it another way, and again using our scale, with the NTN
binding included my TX-Pros weigh a few ounces less than
my T2s when paired with the currently best selling, touring mode-equipped
standard tele binding.
The take away here is that if you
are hitting the backcountry in T2s and currently using a touring
mode binding, you may find that with the NTN you can actually
gain T1 type performance (and beyond) while enjoying the convenience
of a step-in, along with brakes which can keep your skis from
heading down from the top of that backcountry run without you,
as well as a form of release, all with no weight penalty.
Above and top
photo by Neil Weber..
|
Credit the softer bellows for making
the TX-Pros even more user-friendly for dry trail hiking and
rock-hopping than our old demo-version TXs, and we raved about
the hikability of those boots in the "100 Days" review.
I never thought it was a problem
way back when, but with two NTN boot spring and summer hiking
seasons now under my belt I can confirm that getting rid of the
duckbill definitely makes hiking and scrambling in tele boots
much easier.
So far the durability of the TX-Pros
has been excellent. The "second heel" ledge has been
improved and seems to have taken less of a beating than that
of the demo-version boots. Despite the heavy use they have received,
my TX-Pros are 100% intact with no missing buckles or other parts,
and with their retro, yellow and black bumblebee color scheme,
they still look good too. |
 |
While much softer than last
year's boots, the bellows in these new models still provides
a healthy amount of resistance when flexed, helping the skier
pressure the tip of the rear ski early in the turn and building
energy for quick and smooth transitions. With the NTN there appears
to be a fine line between too much and too little bellows stiffness.
Based on dozens upon dozens of days skiing the TX-Pros over the
course of the last six months, I will say that Scarpa seems to
have gotten it right in these new boots.
And finally, it should be noted
here again that Scarpa-NA stepped up to the plate last March,
announcing a rebuild
program for owners of last year's TX boots. Send in your
07/08 TX boots this summer and for free Scarpa will replace the
lower portion of the shell with the new triple-injected version
found in the TX-Pros and this year's TX. Scarpa reportedly poured
a lot of time, effort and money into developing the triple-injected
lower shells of the new boots-- according to one account, we
heard that the Italians shot the lower shell mold with various
mixtures of Pebax plastic nearly two dozen times before settling
on a formula which gave the boots the desired bellows flex--
and given our experience with the TX-Pros, we expect that once
the snow has begun to fly, it shouldn't take much more than one
run for this lemons into lemonade rebuild program to bring big
smiles to the faces of many an unhappy 07/08 TX owner.
The Bottom Line Review
Skiing the TX-Pros has been nothing
less than a full-on revelation. Along with the binding, they
represent a true breakthrough, the kind of thing we used to dream
out loud about around the campfire in the heady days right after
the introduction of the first plastic tele boots, back when anything
and everything seemed possible...even probable.
I have been telemark skiing for
decades, and it is my life. I met my ski patroller wife when
she passed word through mutual friends at the hill that she'd
like to learn to tele. All of my best and lifelong friends are
also my longtime ski partners... and as mentioned above, I have
never had more fun with the turn.
If Scarpa wants these test boots
back, well, of course they can have them, ... oh yeah, definitely,
no problem... they can have 'em right after they pry 'em off
of my cold dead feet.
.
Next up: An exclusive report on
our mid-summer test of final production versions of three telemark
boot models in Black Diamond's new line, set to debut in stores
this fall.
|