Not sure if the picture link will work, but this shows where the Boa dial snapped off. I managed to hold it mostly together by snugging the broken dial to the two rivet “posts” with a few mini zip ties, and made it through 20+ miles of skinning and some sweet pow laps in the Adirondacks this past weekend. I’m working with Boa to try to find replacement parts without needing to send my boots back to Fischer first. Fingers crossed.

Sorry to hear your first impressions weren’t too great, NorwegianDan. I forgot to mention that I had some heel lift issues with the stock liners too, and ended up punching out a few extra holes in the liner so I could thread a lace down over my instep. That completely solved the heel-hold issue.

Norwegian Dan,
To elaborate on the elastic idea: So with the cuff reduced to a highback, you will lock it in for heelside support when riding. I found some 4″ elastic strap that is pretty strong. My thought is to have the multiple wraps of this band connect from the highback around the cuff of the boot to create a progressive forward lean that you can adjust be adding more wraps of the elastic. I haven’t made the strap holders yet, still imagining the hardware so they could be easily field adjustable.
elastic:
“4-Inch Wide Black Heavy Knit Stretch ELASTIC 3 Yards by Prolastic” (on amazon).

You know how the boot feels if you lock the highback and then adjust the upper strap so there is a bit of play (like 2 inches). Then as you lean forward you hit the strap and then have toe side support. I’m looking to get that feel with a bit more initial resistance and then progressive resistance as you go forward.

Also if you ride with the highback locked you might be able to add an ankle strap to the cuff with anchors just above and a little behind the cuff pivot rivets. If you could find a strap that could be narrowed enough it might stay clear of the boa dial.

Also with heel lift, you might have a low instep as I do. Are you having to dial the boa really tight so the two sides of plastic are meeting together? If so, the first solution to try is to lift your foot up to the top of the boot. Use a couple of 1/8″ bontex footboards (from ski shop) and also a thick footbed like a superfeet footbed. you can put them in your liner or below. If they work but are cut too short and slop back and forth put them in with a little spray adhesive or a drop or two of rubber cement here and there-not much.

As a quick test, take the footbed from one boot flip it upside down and put it under the footbed in your other boot or stack up some footbeds from other boots to feel the effect. Adding some thick winter sorel type winter boot footbeds can work too, but they compress over time.

Those are a lot nicer looking than the last version! I loved the non-carbons, but had a catastrophic failure at the very end of last season with the shell cracking near the front rivet of the tongue area. Fischer was awesome about the warranty, and I have a shiny new pair of bright yellow carbons waiting to try as soon as snow starts falling. I’m psyched about their even lower weight, but not necessarily about the extra stiffness from the carbon sole, and definitely not about rocking even fruitier fruit boots than usual. Oh well, free boots are free boots.

Quick update since my last post in October: I now have about 30 days on the yellow carbons after 2 full seasons on the non-carbons. Everything I loved about the original is just as good or better on the carbons (except the color). The Palau liners on carbons are noticeably better made, warmer, and more comfortable than the generic Fischer liners on the non-carbons, The carbon stiffener plate in the sole that I worried might be too stiff is completely unnoticeable to me. They ride great.

I was a pretty big fan of the K2 Ace 20 years ago, releasable highback, rigid sole, enough body to the uppers that you could ride w/o highbacks in good powder, BUT they weighed almost 5 lbs a boot.

So these boots that I have finally gotten around to are my attempt to make a lighter version. I have sized up and am using a pretty stiff older model of scarpa/intuition liner. This was one of the cheaper versions of the Fischer Boot. Its liners definitely let me feel where the edges of the shell and the top of the highback were. This might have been related to sizing up. With the more dense foam liner i have added a bit of weight, but no pressure spots.

I didn’t soften the lower cuffs of the main part of the boot since at this point I did not want to have to cut through the gaiter. The Scarpa liners do limit the rearward mobility, but there is still a much wider range than an average soft boot.

Following Jan’s lead last year I tried it with the XL size of Voile Strap. I attached them with aluminum screw together rivet things. I’m not sure the wider/thicker straps were necessary. Three tight straps is probably as stiff a forward lean as I would want. I did that on the front foot boot. The adjustability of flex and where you want the flex to start is very adjustable across three straps. For the back foot I used one low stretch wide velcro strap down low, that I will probably leave some play in, and a single voile strap on the upper cuff.

I’m pretty interested in trying them now. The boot is just a hair above 2.5 lbs. in a 29-29.5 shell. I’m dropping a pound per foot, more if you consider the binding in the pack on ascent.

It doesn’t seem obvious that I need an instep strap yet since the ski boot liner I used compressed pretty tight into the smaller volume shell.

I think this boot is a good affordable option if your feet are regular to narrow, the easy moldability of the Phantom/Backland or a different boot might be safer for wider feet.

I have plenty of the rivet type bolts for the straps if anyone is interested.

Nice to see your hard bottom, soft top idea come to fruition, Scooby. It looks elegant and functional.