I know that on his Antarctic speed record recently Vincent Colliard used an Alfa combi boot (maybe the Combi Advance GTX?) and the Åsnes MR48. 50km a day for 22 days straight, so they must have been decently durable. Interview with Vincent Colliard at https://explorersweb.com/on-the-new-antarctic-sp...

Not cheap and only sold in skimo lengths, but I'm really curious about this new offering from Voile. Scales on a legit lightweight ski.
https://www.voile.com/sr61-bc-skis.html

I've thought before that some kind of long point-to-point across a national forest or wilderness area that started and ended at different trailheads and left trail decisions to the racers, but didn't have much in the way of dangerous avy terrain to worry about would work great for something like this.

He sounds like an interesting exception... Imagine what he could do with lighter gear! But that's the way it is; some people prefer gear that they know well. «Better a devil that you know...» If he was on a modern randonee setup then it's entirely possible that his gear was lighter than anything we...

In my eyes, one big step forward would be if Rottefella learned to play a bit nicer with others in regards to boot construction. Vibram outsoles for NNN BC boots would be great.

Skinning around on full AT gear on moderate inclines definitely strikes me as ridiculous.... but... some of that AT gear is ridiculously light. I want that lightness in my XCD setup. I have no interest in paying AT prices for XCD gear, but if this shockingly expensive AT binding can weight 51grams (...

I was thinking of something like the Amundsen Fram Waxless 194 or Fischer Traverse 78 Crown 189. They should not replace the Ingstads but rather complement them, when I do not have a heavy backpack, there is no deep snow, there is crust on the snow, or when I just want to go on lakes for fishing wh...

Alot of my time is now spent route finding and breaking trail in deep snow, gliding on breakable and hard wind crust, bushwacking and slashing through patches of dense forest as I follow game trails of small animals, stream crossings, topping out over steep high cliffs of icy snow mixed with deep b...

Lets see the boot you will be using, that will be the limiting factor. I wouldn't go much more than 70mm underfoot. Chances are you'll be controlling the ski with your feet only, with not enough stiffness in the cuff to use your ankles. Some of the combi boots are actually pretty stiff in the cuff ...

The limiting factor for me is the boot and binding itself. These are designed for gram conscious racers. The skinny rail on the binding and the plastic boots that are available are uncomfortable by the end of a long tour. That skinny contact point of the binding down the middle of your foot compoun...