Review: Scarpa TX Comp Telemark Boot

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It’s easy to forget that this moment–the release of not one, but now two models in Scarpa’s modern telemark boot line–long felt far from guaranteed. But we’re here now. Long leaked on social media, the Italian bootmaker is again bringing retail redemption to the genuflecting turn, following up last year’s release of the revamped TX Pro with the burlier TX Comp, slated for launch next fall.

While the release of two boots may seem moot to those outside of the free-heel scene, it is in fact immense for the sport. The moment at last marks the late-coming emergence of truly modern free-heel footwear, something that long seemed fraught. Telemark languished for years not only as an also-ran, cast off as superfluous and silly by many in the skiing public. It also suffered from protracted stagnation, especially in boot innovation. While under the radar telemark’s pulse was evident, over a decade the sport lost much more than it gained, en masse. Few new gear models came to market. And though a dedicated few kept the flame alive, film tours ceased, and figures core to the scene vanished. Talk then of telemark’s death didn’t seem like hyperbole.

But things have changed, and telemark’s mantle has been picked up anew. Major skiing publications have run telemark articles again. All the while a certain energy–albeit ever small–seems to be building in our subculture. And nowhere is telemark’s renewed vigor more evident than in Scarpa’s unveiling, nearly a decade in the making, of modern free-heel boots.

That continues with Scarpa’s next release, the overhauled TX Comp boot.

Scarpa TX Comp Specs:

• Stated Weight: 1,545 g per boot (27.0)
• Binding Compatibility: NTN, Tele-Tech
• Stated ROM: 62° (37° rearward)
• Forward Lean: 14° +/-2°
• Stated last width: 102mm
• Sizes Available: 24.5-31

Scarpa TX Comp Features:

Just like its predecessor (and close, mold-sharing cousin) in the new TX Pro, the fresh version of the TX Comp doesn’t so much mark a continuity with the legacy model it shares a name with as it is a rethinking of the boot in its entirety. Discontinued before this season, the previous version was a four-buckle, resort-oriented beast, weighing in at 1710g per boot in a size 27, and included Scarpa’s legacy touring mode that many felt better worked as a more flexible downhill option than a viable modern walk mode.

The new TX Comp takes a marked step away from its heavy resort roots toward pulling double-duty as a genuine touring boot. While shedding 165g per foot compared to the old model may not be earth-shattering, it puts the boot firmly in the camp of similarly weighted touring options long used by telemark skiers, namely the legacy Scarpa F3, which has been quoted at a nearly indistinguishable 1554g per boot in a size 28. Moreover, with an updated touring interface granting a range of motion of 62 degrees–and the incorporation of tech fittings at the toe, something the latest version of the Comp lacked–the efficiency of striding has reached new levels for the now three-buckle TX Comp. And it shows on the skin track. While the new boot may be a tad heavier than the TX Pro’s slightly svelter 1454g, it still does the work on the up. Just in a stouter package.

Sturdier as it is, the new TX Comp is certainly stiff, especially so out of the box. With the boot in my hands, I wasn’t able to manually flex the bellows on my tile floor at first.

With that in mind–and after a protracted experience breaking in the new TX Pro last season–I got to work, flexing the bellows and cuff at home over and over before taking the model out. And on the snow the boot wasn’t the conundrum I faced when first skiing the new TX Pro, whose soft bellows but unforgiving cuff left me at first sputtering my turns with an uphill ski that chattered, struggling to find its edge.

I found the Comp to have a similarly stiff feeling at the cuff, but seemed more pliable than the Pro. The Comp also has a much stiffer bellows than its close relative, creating what felt like a more balanced boot out of the gate. While the model undoubtedly felt stiffer than I would have liked on first turns, skiing it was more than doable, with much less of the off-balance sputtering I experienced with the Pro. (It begs reiterating that the TX Pro eventually broke-in for me into a supple, well-skiing model after some twenty days–more on breaking-in later).

But the TX Comp is indeed a stiff boot. “It’s always difficult to say the flex index, especially with a telemark boot with a bellow, but to have an idea we would say that the new TX Pro is 120 flex, the new TX Comp is 130 flex, just to have a comparison between the two styles,” Massimo Pellizzer, Scarpa brand manager says.

These ratings are far higher than the maker’s eminent T2–its dependable duckbill stand-by–for example, whose well-loved flex is listed at 95.

Aggressive, downhill-oriented telemark boots have moved away from that kind of softness, exhibit A being Scarpa’s new line. For its part, the new TX Comp uses the same Pebax Rnew plastic as the TX Pro, but with a blend of higher durometers on all points.

“We made the TX Comp stiffer across all the different components of the boot,” Pellizzer continues. “Not just on the tongue, not just on the cuff, but also on the shell. Also the bellows are stiffer than the TX Pro. And so is the toe, and also the heel part of the shell. So all five injected components are stiffer than the TX Pro.”

How Does the Scarpa TX Pro Perform On Snow?

I toured and skied on the TX Comp using Voile’s TTS Transit binding mounted to Voile’s 82mm underfoot Endeavor skis, and took the boot in-bounds on a 22 Designs’ Bandit binding mounted to Bishop Telemark’s Chedi skis, clocking in at 100mm at the waist.

I was worried that the boot would be overkill for the telemark tech system; a two-pin touring interface that grants more free flexing rotation on descent than a cage NTN binding does with far less springed resistance in the turn. And I worried that a ski like the Endeavor and its turn-earning construction would be the kind of plank a Comp may woefully pair with.

But I was pleasantly surprised by the new boot on the rig. The Comp toured efficiently, and skied well. I swapped my usual soft cartridges on the Transit for the stiffer regular ones, and on first turn the boot flexed powerfully but well situated to the binding, making poised turns using the TTS’s most neutral and middle pivot points. It skied firm but forgiving early-morning corduroy and choppy variable snow on the resort without that sputtering uphill ski I had experienced with the TX Pro. Much like the TX Pro, the TX Comp prefers to be skied in a more upright stance but seems to tolerate more weight on the uphill ski than the Pro did at first.

The Comp’s heavier weight gives the model a stiff if stout feeling compared to the Pro’s thin, rigid sensation out of the box, the newer model’s more substantive cuff seeming to have more to it and thus more give, granting a wider sweet spot at first than the Pro. That robustness coupled with a more balanced if stiff bellows seems to be what mostly abates the issue many (including myself) dealt with weighting the uphill ski when breaking in the Pro. Though any technique adaptation I used with the Pro may undoubtedly carry over to the Comp.

The new boot skis the modern vanguard of NTN bindings well too, taking to the Bandit as one would expect: very well. While that less flexible platform and its powerful nature shows the Comp’s might and ability for making strong turns, the fact that the boot can pair well with a TTS binding is notable. It’s thus easy to label the Comp with amongst the most cliche of gear descriptors in all of skiing: versatile.

Still, some breaking-in is at hand on the boot. Not unlike the TX Pro, I at first struggled in variable conditions until the boot wore in more, this time after about ten days before letting me take to more rugged terrain. And the boot certainly has more breaking in left to do.

Pros and Cons

The new TX Comp undoubtedly shares many of the strengths of the closely-related TX Pro, namely the superb touring specs and comfortable fit. The boot does also share a few drawbacks first brought to light on the TX Pro–the tread of the boot sole has a propensity to gather snow, at times making step-in and even turning challenging before clearing the blockage. And the break-in period–though seemingly quicker on the Comp–may give some skiers pushback at first. Other attributes the two share is the roughly 8 cm shorter sole length at each mondo compared to the older model. I found the boot to fit at my typical size, though some have opined the new models fit smaller than the legacy ones.