Yep, we both pulled the trigger last night and bought Alpine Touring boots from Backcountry.com.
I’ve been needing boots for a few seasons. It’s been torture cramming into my 5 year old Tecnicas with a performance fit. They are actually a full size too small, with huge blowouts in the toes to accommodate. They’ve been a great hard charging boot for powder days. But after about 3 hours in them my feet were screaming to be pulled out. Enough was enough of that foolishness. I’m getting too old for that type of boot fit…although I still like boots that are burly and stiff.
So which AT boot got the nod? I posted to the Advisors Alley category at AltaCam to find out what AT boot the Altafarians liked for firm and stiffness. It didn’t take long for Daddy and Powhound to chime in. I went with the Black Diamond Factor boots because I liked everything I saw and read on the web, and b/c they had a 26.5. (the Tecnica AT boots didn’t come in half sizes). Not to mention it’s time I take a longer, harder look at BD gear. After all they are right here in Utah.
BTW D got a killer deal on the She-Ride Garmont Touring Boots. It was the last pair they had in stock, and it was her size. Pretty much half off the retail price so we didn’t hesitate there.
We’ll report back to SBP and AltaCam in a couple of months, on what we think of our new boots.
