Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Hoping i can get some beta on whats going on here. Been on teles for 15 years, resort off piste, challenging terrain. Just got a pair of crispi xrs to replace my scott voodoos, which replaced my garmont energys. All 75mm. Had my first day on the new boots and couldn’t get out of the back seat and ate it a few times on pretty mellow stuff. I don’t seem to have any trouble flexing the boot but feel super unstable and in the back. Any insight that could get me out of buyers remorse mode would be awesome. Thanks!

I don’t have much relevant experience, so the first thing that comes to mind is mechanics and feel.
How does your stance feel, comparatively, in the old and new boots?
Is the footbed angle different?
Are the leg flex angles any different?
I guess bottom line, how do the new boots feel in relation to the old boots and is there any difference that would explain the “backseat” problem?
And if there is / are differences, can the boots be adjusted, or can you adjust your technique to compensate?

It seems not unusual for the to be some adjustment period when making an equipment change.

The voodoo and ener-g boots are made from pretty soft and flexible plastic. From what I understand about those crispi boots is that they are pretty stiff plastic and a pretty aggressive forward stance. Was the snow grabbed or warm today? maybe the boots are fine but the snow conditions were slow and frictiony? In my experience, new boots take a couple runs to adjust, not an entire day so my thought is the snow was weird that day

New boots are the hardest new gear item to figure out, especially if they are stiffer. When I got some 4 buckle crispis years ago I did a lot of low angle touring to get used to them. You need to refind your centered balanced stance.

Al is right, as usual. Try skiing a few easy runs, make lots of turns, with the top buckle and power strap loosened up, and with the cuff forward lean latch at the walk position. Will help find your center of balance.

Feel your pain, I’m super sensitive to fore aft balance.

IIRC the older Crispis had really aggressive forward lean, which ironically can put you backseat. They may have more than 1 forward lean setting. See if you can adjust the cuff to be more upright. If not, I recommend trying to ski them unlocked. If that fixes the problem but makes the boot too soft, you can pull the mechanism apart and drill new holes in it to make the boot more upright.

You could also try a heel lift. If you have limited ankle dorsiflexion, heel lifts will help. If you have excessive ankle motion, shimming under the ball of the foot inside the boot will (3mm max) will help

The last variable is binding heel/toe height difference. This is affected by body proportions above the ankle.. Some people do better with less heel height, some do better with more.

The external heel of the Crispi could be higher or lower than the heel of your other boots. To fix this try using different height heel pieces.

I think many telemark bindings have really high heels and see a lot of people that look overflexed, either do to this or excessive forward lean of the boots.