On 01/02/2011 05:29 PM, lal_truckee wrote:
On 1/2/11 1:39 PM, VtSkier wrote:
On 01/02/2011 11:53 AM, Richard Henry wrote:
On Jan 2, 5:44 am, wrote:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babba...ge_hits_slopes

The guy writing this is apparently a snowboarder.

One point: I have driven a VW Bug wearing ski boots.

When I owned a VW Bug, my ski boots were soft
enough to drive it. And I did so too.

did your leathers have an instep strap? lace-up inners? fancy boot press
to flatten the sole?

Shoot, my first ones had square toes. Those had an
instep strap and no inner bootee. The soles didn't
stick out far enough in front to be able to get it
into the boot press. These had the original
"rocker soles". If the sole hadn't been smooth
leather they would have worked well as hiking boots.

Later on, the square toes went away along with the
instep strap and an inner bootee was added. These
were from Bass as I remember.

Then came the early 60's and the first buckle boots.
Still leather soles which needed the boot press and
back to a single shell (no booties). The first
Koflach's I had were revolutionary as they had
buckles AND a lace-up inner boot. I also had Molitor
buckle boots with those quirky cable buckles that
your Raichle's have.

I had Lange buckle boots (5, no lace inner boot) as
early as 1966. I regularly broke buckles on
them and so replaced all the buckles with Raichle
buckles which were a better design, stronger and
with a micro-adjustment. So Lange boots with
Raichle buckles.

These boots caused me great pain when I had a mid-
air collision with two other people (a really long
story) and fell into a great heap. The other two
skied away. I had one of my boots break a hinge
and thereby breaking every bone in my foot.

I resurrected these boots, repaired the hinge and
securely riveted the cuff to the lower portion. The
hinge on these things was a single large rivet. I
used hollow rivets, maybe 8 per boot between cuff
and lower. The boot was relatively soft, at least
by today's standards and really didn't need a hinge
as it bent nicely and I raked the boots as far
forward as I could get them.

These lasted until the early mid 70's when I got
a pair of Hansen Riva Soft rear entry boots.
The bladder disintegrated after 15 or so years. I
replaced the bladder with one from a pair of Raichle
rear entry boots and kept going for another 5 years.

Then a pair of red Nordica rear entrys. Not bad. Dial-
a-pain fit adjuster. Probably the same plastic as
what we knew as "exploding Nordicas". I had heard
rumors and sold them after 2 years. First pair of
4 buckle full wrap ski boots from Rossi in the mid-
90's. Then a succession of Technica and Salomon
4 buckle designs. Then I discovered the ultimate
comfort of AT boots. A pair of Scarpa AT's were first
complete with rocker sole. Probably wouldn't have
worked very will with my bindings.

Scarpa Tornados followed which I still have and use
for working at the mountain. I also have a pair
of Dalbello Kryptons for when I'm having fun and
want a bit more performance. Both of these have
intuition liner. Those or something like them are
the only thing I will ever ski on again.


those things were like modern hiking boots.
you could dance in them, if there was a girl your age at the apre ski
party.

of course you could drive in them; except I didn't have a car.