The Best Telemark Boots of the Year, According to Our Ski Testers

At long last, telemark boots have finally entered the modern fold, Exhibit A being Scarpa’s completely overhauled TX Pro, released last fall. But while the boot was a revelatory step from Scarpa, and brought to the fore features many telemark skiers had long pined for–including touring specs comparable to mid-range AT options–the boot wasn’t quite for everyone. Some found the model skied off-balance with a constrictively rigid cuff and soft bellows before what could be a lengthy break-in period. And after that, the boot still skis with a torsional rigidity not present in earlier models.

But for those underwhelmed by the new TX Pro, Scarpa’s next boot in their modern NTN line may be the model that brings things together: the retooled and now available TX Comp. While the boot only differs slightly from the TX Pro, sharing the same mold, weight, cuff-height, and touring-first design, the new model is constructed with higher durometer plastics at all injection points. That includes the bellows, which is much stiffer than the Pro’s, contributing to a more symbiotic flex throughout the boot. And skied with the modern crop of telemark bindings–whether the aggressive NTN resort Bandit from 22 Designs, or the touring-oriented TTS Transit from Voile–the boot rips.

The torsional rigidity felt in the TX Pro is also present on the TX Comp, but with a stronger symbiosis between the flex zones of the boot, the Comp brings to market a more balanced boot, and hopefully marks just the beginning of the new guard in telemark footwear.

Best Unashamed Charger: Crispi EVO World Cup

As the brand that arguably instigated the modern telemark movement in 1992 with the release of the Terminator, the sport’s first all-plastic boot, Scarpa has earned the title of the leading bootmaker in telemark skiing. And they’ve subsequently carried the torch through over thirty years of evolution, continuing to anchor the sport. But that hardly means they are the only brand making telemark boots.

Enter Crispi, itself long in the telemark game, and long in Scarpa’s shadow. But as Scarpa has put their chips all-in on the rigid, turn-earning paradigm, retooling their originally beefy TX Pro and TX Comp toward bonafide touring boots, an opening has emerged for the crowning of a new uberboot in the telemark world.

Turns out that boot has long been here in Crispi’s EVO World Cup (long marketed as the EVO WC), a model with a decent touring mode and tech fittings at the toe–and heel–but that is first and foremost an unashamedly beefy descender. Heavier and stouter than most any boot currently available in telemark, the EVO WC moves forward as the ultimate skier in the modern telemark world, with many a hard charger–and world cup racer–sporting the boot.

What’s more is the boot offers more ankle flexion and torsional flexibility than the new TX Pro and TX Comp from Scarpa, giving not only a beefier option for those looking for it, but one with more flexibility, too.

Best Boot You Can’t Buy At Retail: Scarpa F3

While granting best-of status to a boot that isn’t available at retail–nor hasn’t been since the George W. Bush administration–is purposefully cheeky and provocative, it also speaks to the challenges the skier faces in the modern telemark gear paradigm, especially in boots.

And telemark skiers who are of both a modern touring mindset and prefer softer flexing boots have few options. Thus enter Scarpa’s F3, a nearly twenty-year-old alpine touring model that employs bellows not for flex in a telemark turn, but for ergonomics in the alpine touring stride. Nonetheless, free-heel skiers using tech-toe touring setups like the cable/cartridge telemark tech system have long taken to this model (and the related original F1s, itself bellowed) to complete their backcountry rigs. And at a weight of roughly 1500g in a mondo size 28, the boot has for years delivered a reasonably weighted option for earning turns in a telemark world that has long been dominated by stout models.

But what may be more operative is how the F3 skis. With a scafo based on the eminent T2, Scarpa’s classic flexing duckbilled option, the boot has become the darling of telemark skiers not only on the bleeding edge of DIY touring options, but those also looking for a flex-forward option in a telemark world ever preoccupied with (and perhaps distracted by) parity with alpine touring boots. It shows how a boot can still ski with a supple flex and also focus on touring specs.