Love my Alpina Alaskas!

[Baaahb]

Ok, posting here cause, well, it's not a SKI review.

I got some Alpina Alaska 75 mm boots from Santa Claus. I know they're REALLY from Santa Claus cause they're his color.

So, 3 days on them and I LOVE this boot. It fits neatly between my Alico leather 3-pins and my Garmont Excursions, but is much more comfortable and, preliminary indications suggest, warmer than either of them.

They appear to give as much edge control as the Excursions, though limited by the binding interface. I generally ski the Excursions with a lite dog binding, that requires a firm 3-pin type connection as they have no cable. It appears I cannot use the Alaskas with this binding as the duckbill is one or two cm's thinner than a plastic duckbill. Has anyone developed a good and easy workaround for this problem? I would never have yearned to get my alicos into a lite dog binding, but the Alaskas have enough ankle support that this seems very much worth trying.

Oh, yeah, did I mention they're red? Everything red skis faster. Just ask Ill Mitch.

[fisheater]

Perhaps Smile Plates would help? Berg’s in Washington State had some in stock during the summer.
I mounted a new pair of skis 75 mm this year. I mounted with Rottefella Super Telemark just to fit my Alaska 75 better than Voile. I’m impressed with the ST binding. That’s just a comment, not a suggestion to change out

[lilcliffy]

I am thinking the @phoenix may be the one to help with the Alaska 75 and Lite Dog binding?

Perhaps @connyro as well?

[phoenix]

Baaahb, good to hear from you! Missed this post 'till I saw a notification (thanks, Lilcliffy!).

I have both the Excursion and the Alaska's, skied on Spike Bulldogs (? - the regular 3-pin) and the Lite Dogs. Got the bindings based on fitting the Alaska's. Louis, who designed and owns BMD, lives in my same town, and I knew him a bit, so I had the fortunate opportunity to go to his house and check it all out in his basement shop. We both knew it would be iffy; trie'd em on some skis he had mounted, and they looked good... or I wouldn't have tried 'em. Had a great first season with them. Sometime in the 2nd season, I started feeling some lateral slop, wasn't sure at first but I checked the pins, and lo and sadly behold, they were badly chewed. Both boots. Had a local shop install smile plates, as he has a Dremel and I didn't at the time. Honestly, I forget why at this moment, but I still wasn't confident with them after the plates.

I had though seriously about gluing a very thin (3mm or so) shim on the top of the duckbill on the Alaska's... pretty good chance that would work, but a commitment to mod 'em. If you install Smile plates, you'd want to mount them on the surface of the sole, rather than recess them as is the design intent; I could foresee issues going that route, but it's a possibility.

Now, about the Excursions. First, I have found them to be in another league than the Alaska's in less than nice snow, and anything steeper. With a few seasons on them, I really find the Alaska's to be a warm, comfy, cozy "general touring boot"... perhaps an antiquated term... less supportive in support than I had guessed, with decent torsional rigidity in the sole. The uppers get pretty soft pretty quick. Back to the Excursions. Again, they worked fine in the Dogz, much more confident than the Alaska's, seemed all good. After finding the wear on the Alaska's, I checked the Excursions, and to my surprise they show pinhole stress, though not terminal.

Went on to try some T1's, T2's, Alico leathers, Merrill leathers, along with the Excursions and Alaska's. Each pair fit differently. Left and right boots of the same pair fit differently. Conclusion? It ain't the binding, I really really like the binding. The issue is in consistency in 75mm duckbills.

I'm out of beer and gotta load the stove, feel free to offer questions, I'm glad to help.

[Baaahb]

Perhaps Smile Plates would help? Berg’s in Washington State had some in stock during the summer.
I mounted a new pair of skis 75 mm this year. I mounted with Rottefella Super Telemark just to fit my Alaska 75 better than Voile. I’m impressed with the ST binding. That’s just a comment, not a suggestion to change out

I have some smiley plates......

Is the ST any better than standard voile 3-pin?

I will continue to use the Alpina's with standard 3-pin ....and continue to use the lite dogs with plastic 75 mm, so this needs to be a temporary mod

[Baaahb]

Now, about the Excursions. First, I have found them to be in another league than the Alaska's in less than nice snow, and anything steeper.

The Excursions give good support and do ski well but for some reason it seems like a clunky oversize boot.

It seems odd that the difference in thickness between plastic and leather 75mm doesn't get more attention; IMO it is consistent across all types of boots and a significant difference. I know some peeps jam their plastic 75mm into standard 3-pin bindings but I've never been comfortable with that.

Is there much difference in standard 3-pin bindings (ie three pin with a horeshoe that clamps down on the tip of the boot? I've always figured they were pretty much the same........(other than the flimsy plastic ones)

[fisheater]

There is a big difference in how the Voile 3-pins clamp and how the Rotte ST clamps. The Rotte clamps down to a smaller thickness, but it also fits the sole so much better. I’m on my first set of Rotte ST, I’ve been on Voile for 30 years. I bought the Rotte ST because I read here it fit boots like the Alaska much better. It does fit much better. It still fits my thicker soled Alico Ski March, which is what I turn to when I need more boot. I have a T-4 as well, I only use that for my widest ski which is 86 mm underfoot.

[phoenix]

The excursions are certainly oversized for me, both in volume and shell bulk. The flex is so nice (for me), they're warm and plush and cozy. I ski better when my feet are happy. And am less grumpy. Also skied 'em on my Wayback 88's up at Jay, and they were quite capable. YMMV.

Differences in sole thickness has always varied when comparing different categories of boot. It's to be expected. All plastic boots are pretty close, in my experience Vibram sole leather boots, not so much. Down to molded soles (as with the Alaska's), there are subcategories. As folks have already said, the ST's favor somewhat thinner soles, Voile's more the thicker (15mm) standard).

There is also the fact that the taper of the duckbill (sides) is also a variable to a degree. This shows in how the duckbill mates wit the binding's sidewalls, and thus can affect things.