The advantages of a downhill boot are obvious when you ski down hill in anything but perfect snow. The flexibility in a touring boot makes them much more comfortable going up hill; your stride is longer so you can get a better rhythm. The Rubber sole on the base of a touring boot makes it much more secure when moving round the mountains and they are also significantly lighter.

It is worth pointing out that downhill boots fit into touring bindings no problem but you cannot use touring boots in downhill bindings unless they have interchangeable soles. The rubber sole on the boot means that the binding will not release properly. There have been a number of serious accidents which have occurred as a result of this mistake.

Most touring boots come with the option of a heat mouldable inner boot, these are definitely worth the money being lighter, warmer and giving more control.

There are three main manufacturers of ski touring boots that are readily available. Scarpa, Garmont and Dynafit. They range in stiffness from boots that are almost akin to down hill boots with a rubber sole to super lightweight flexible racing boots. The easiest way to look at what’s available is to look at the boots from the stiffest to the softest. There are a number fo new boots on the market for 08-09.

Stiffest Ski Touring boots The Garmont Endorphin is one of the stiffest of the touring boots giving awesome down hill performance they are fine for short tours they are much lighter for this season at 4kg a pair the Axom is the same boot with a dynafit system. The Xena is a womens fit version of the same boot. The Scarpa Typhoon has similar downhill performance and fit but is a bit lighter at 3.8kg. A boot that is a little bit softer but still gives great performance is the Garmont Adrenalin which is a bit lighter again at 3.8kg and is a great all round boot. With all these boots you can change the soles so they can be used with downhill bindings.Black Diamond have entered the touring market, the Factor is there stiff hard skiing model but we haven't managed to try a pair yet.

The last boot worth looking at in this category is the Dynafit Aero Free touring boot. This is the only stiff, downhill performance related boot that can use the Dynafit binding system, which is a great advantage if you only want one boot to use with different skis. They will power big fat boards but also clip into your lightweight set up for an haute route. They arent very light though at about 4kg a pair; they come in a ladys model as well which is a bit lighter.

Medium stiffness ski touring boots This is what I would call a classic touring boot, comfortable to climb in, not too heavy and enough downhill performance where it counts. I have been using the Scarpa Spirit 3 (3.37kg) for over a year now and it is great used with Fritschi bindings on a pair of Apache Reccons with Dynafit bindings. There is a 4 buckle version, 3.7kg, available the spirit 4 which is stiffer. Other boots that would fit into this category which all accept the Dynafit system are the Garmont Mega Ride, 3.33kg, which has a ladies version too. The Mega Ride has 4 buckles and bags of performance. Scarpa have also Launched the Skookum which is quite stiff but has dynafit bindings. Garmont have lauched the Radium for this winter which looks fantastic not to heavy 3.7kg but flexible enough to go uphill and the performabce to cope with steep challenging terrain. This could be become the big news this season.

Softest stiffness ski touring boots In this category I would put the Scarpa Matrix, 3.26kg, which is a great all rounder and really light. I would also include the Scarpa Magic Lady, 2.55kg, which is a women specific boot, which you can stiffen easily by changing the tongue for a stiffer model which is well worth doing if you are an aggressive skier. With the new designs in boots coming in this catagory is beginning to become the realm of the ski touring racer where boots are getting lighter and lighter. The Scarpa F1 has been designed for ski mountaineering racing, it flexes at the toe for a more comfortable stride and has a clever high speed lever to close the boot for down hill mode. I wouldn't bother considering this model unless all you want to do is go up hill quickly though scarpa have produced a slightly more skier friendly version the F3 which might be worth a look for all you lightweight nuts who don't want to go all the way to an F1.