These boots look rad, there is no doubt about it! Although a friend of mine was sad the strip of colored leather on the side is missing, compared to the Guide Expedition BC version
I cannot speak for the BC-sizing, but the Xplore at least is HUGE. They have a wool liner inside, with two loops to pull it out. No loops to pull the tongue open on inner or outer. No loop on the back of outer to help push the foot in/pull foot out. The two inner loops help with pushing the foot in. However, the ankle area is tight. It is tough to push your foot in, it requires great force. I can imagine this becoming easier in the long run as boots are broken in, but still, this can be annoying when trying to have socks/vbl stay how you like them. They should have extended the tongue sides a little to allow more room. Feels like a hockey skate.
The boot laces are barely long enough - you cannot leave the laces loose one bit, or it becomes impossible to tie a knot while using all lace hooks. Regardless, 20cm more length to the laces would help, currently these are too short for use in the field in cold weather. You cannot take long fiddling with lacing, and especially if using a glove, these laces are near impossible to tie. Can be replaced of course.
A regular Joe like me could not find good size tables on the website, at least on mobile, so I went with my regular Alfa-boot size as they have been roomy enough for me. I took an EU41, but the Mondo size for that seems to be 279mm. I should have gone for 40 or even 39. I have emailed them about this and a few things to find me the better size. I did wear a liner, vbl, and a medium thick wool sock.
The boots weigh in at 1030 grams per boot, including the liner at 170g a piece. Compared to the 900g in catalogue. Maybe those weights were without the liner although it is required to be able to use the boot comfortably.
Abisku Expedition Xplore are a stiff boot. Can be compared to other double leathers. I can imagine these boots giving unbeaten control on the downhill, in cold weather as they are very warm boots. The shaft is high but not too high. The flex zone is a little further back than on Alaska XP (of which 41 would be best for downhill, 42 for long distances, and 43 in very cold weather to fit in more sock). But, compared to the Alpina, I think flexing the frontfoot and compressing it to a telemark stance is a lot easier. It likes to stay down better. Probably as when the stiff boot flexes, it also requires a bit of momentum to spring back. This is because the flex point is a bit further back - you can lever more force on it.
My experience is, that the BC version was the most durable out of all BC-boots I have seen or tried on, and Lundhags' warranty is killer. I hope to see these boots live up to the Swedish brand's reputation
There is a thinner, lighter option, the Abisku Xplore boot. It is not as high-rising, and it seems smaller on the outside yet it still has a removable liner. I have skied along testers of these and they could not tell anything bad about them after 1300km of nordic ski touring. For now, I am looking to replace the Expedition boots with a correct size.
I have not skied these yet, nor have I yet mounted my skis with Xplore. The first pair will probably be the Åsnes FT62 Xplore, but do not expect much from me in regards of telemark capability rundown, since I have very little pure telemark experience. But I can imagine these boots to be easier to start with, than the considerably less supporting Alaska XP.
A disclaimer: although these boots cost me next to nothing, I am not paid to test these boots, nor am I getting these boots cheap for testing. I combined a discount code from skiing Vita Bandet in Sweden last winter, and a credit from testing a Lundhags backpack which is released the coming spring. So no sponsorship no nothing, 100% my choice of what to get and what to do with it
