Asolo Telebreeze: did anybody ski a pair? review?

[teleclub]

These popped up on eBay. Not my size and no use for them myself but I had always wondered what they ski like, and what it would be like to tele without being the forefoot.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASOLO-3-Pin-75 ... 1438.l2649

I remember seeing Paul Parker skiing these in the photos that accompanied his articles and reviews, starting in maybe 1998. Around the time of the final tele showdown between leather and plastic, along comes this weird hybrid.

[Johnny]

Back when I got my first pair of Asolo leather boots, after a few seasons doing the tele thing, the boot I started dreaming about was the Telebreeze... They were quite easy to find at a decent price... But the reviews were ALL saying the same thing: No matter how you ski them, they would eventually break very easily... I'm pretty good at breaking things so I never pulled the trigger...

I still believe they are one of the most beautiful plastic boots ever created...

[phoenix]

Similar story here; I never skied 'em, but we had them in our shop at the time and sold some. Looked like the flex idea had some merit, but as Johnny said, they broke - often.

[fisheater]

When I wanted to start Telemarking, I was buying all my equipment from a mail order discount house out of Colorado, Ski Gear Direct. I called them up, they had three Telemark boots, the Telebreeze, the Merrill Supercomp, and a three buckle Garmont. I wanted a Scarpa Terminator, there were no ones or twos then, but the didn't stock Scarpa. I said that Garmont looks pretty close, but they said it was a cheap knock-off. They had never steered me wrong, selling Atomic skis that I was unfamiliar with, and Boulder Gear ski wear, that I still wear. They told me leather was wet and cold, skip the Merrill. They said the Telebreeze was the boot, they said a guy by the name of Paul Parker was involved in the design, and they came with his book for free.
Well, I skied that boot for about two years. We even brought the set up out to Utah for our annual trip, and my friends and I would swap taking a run or two with them. Now I was skiing steep terrain, because that is what I liked. I also skied moderate terrain, at my local hill, after teaching lessons, to try to get Telemark down. It just was never right.
It was on my last Utah trip (didn't know it then) in 2001, my legs were toasted from 6 days of hard charging. I decided I was going to rent some Telemark equipment. I would ski some blues and blacks and take it easy on rental Tele gear. I rented a three buckle Garmont boot, on a short to me 190 Solomon ski mounted with Superloops.
I head up a lift, forget which one, my buddies were skiing Gad II, it was at Snowbird. Told myself take it easy, just ski a blue. Well I got to the top, and there was a black there first. I said what the heck and jumped in, bent a knee and WOW! WHAT HAPPENED??? That turn was awesome!!! What was different? Turn two, awesome! Hey, these boots flex at the ball of my foot, not my big toe! Wow this is great! Let's snap some short turns, I'm loving it. I see a chute off to the right, heck with this groomed, my legs aren't tired anymore! Go to jump in, WTF, a rope? Pull this skis up, damn caught a tip, tumble. Straighten myself up, and Ski Patrol skis up acting like Buford T Pusser. He starts reading me the riot act. I apologized, told him the truth. My friends and I had been coming out for about 7 years, we never skied groomed unless we were traveling from place to place, always skied through the gates and it was an honest mistake. I also told him I realizes not only the rope, but the untouched snow had shown me the error of my ways. When I started telling him how awesome the Garmont boots were he sent me on my way, had enough patrollers trying to convert him.
I spent the rest of the day skiing with my buddies. Came home, and the first thing I did was throw Paul Parkers book in the trash, had no use for him or his boots. Never skied those boots again, but I still have them. I still might have a use for those roller eyelets, or that instep buckle. In my opinion it is the worst Telemark boot ever made.

[Dpell]

Trash. I’m amazed people are trying to sell them. My brother had a pair when they were introduced 20 years ago. Can’t recall where they broke but they failed immediately and the entire production run was recalled. Brother took the refund and that was the end of those boots as far as I remember

[lowangle al]

I have seen a boot that looked like that in an nnnbc version at a local consignment shop. I think it was an Asolo, beefiest nnnbc boot I ever saw.

[zonca]

Those were my first plastic boots and as I was learning and probably falling every turn I can't really say anything about the quality of the skiing experience. Mine and everyone else's I knew did fail at the bellows and one buddy even had the boot come apart at the hinge and take off with the ski. Can't recall whether the leash failed or wasn't attached. I do recall that the shop I bought mine from gave me a more than fair trade in on the then new Scarpa T1.