The new Typhoon freeride boot from Scarpa fills the gap between front country and backcountry. With a 110 Flex, it is built for skiing down the fall line, but the integrated walk mode will get up and away from the masses for some fresh turns all to yourself.
The Typhoon is the ideal boot for those who ski 50/50 in bounds and out of bounds. Built on the same last as Scarpa’s full alpine boot, the Hurricane, with the Tornado’s proven approach to all mountain boots, this boot fits the bill for patrollers, ski tourers who sweat it out to get to the big stuff and nomads. I skied this boot in the resort for a few days and in the backcountry for few more, before putting them on my travel companion Steve to ski while we are away in Japan and India for 2 months living the nomadic life. The Typhoon is great for skiing hard in bounds at the Japanese resorts, and with the tourability, warmth of the Intuition liner and relative lightweight for the added performance, will be in it’s element skiing and skinning the huge amount of vert on offer in Kashmir, which is where we are headed in early Feb. What’s more, is he wears them from 9am until 9pm. These are comfortable boots.
The Typhoon is made from dual density Pebax plastic with 4 buckles and a power strap to transfer your stoke to the ski. It comes with 2, easily interchangeable tongues to alter the stiffness of the boot depending on your objective. The ski tongue is rated at a flex of 110 and the obvious choice for skiing the resort or when you need to be on your game. I will say that the 110 flex is a soft 110, but the boots definitely skis stiffer than the other Scapra boots and say the Garmont Endorphin/Axon. The touring tongue has essentially a hinge at the ankle to allow an easier, and more efficient walk mode and drops the flex down to 90.
From both our experiences in the boot, it tours just fine with the stiffer tongue but the touring tongue would be great for those long days chasing lots of vert.
The Typhoon comes with an interchangeable DIN-standard Vibram Ride rubber sole so you are good to go with any regular step in alpine binding. The sole can also be replaced with a lugged Rally sole for greater traction and late spring missions where you might be carrying your skis as much as you ski them.
The Intuition liner speaks for itself- warm, comfortable, light and easy to mold. If you have a skinny calf like myself though, it can be a little difficult to get the boot cinched down tight enough. Rather than the wrap around style of the Speed liner found in the Tornado, the Speed Pro liner that comes in the Typhoon has a tongue configuration, and can make filling the space tough for stick legged people like me.
The "rubber wings" under the foot, between the toe and heel soles is meant to add traction in any terrain, but mine kind of got chewed standing on a snowmobile for 80kms. It’s doesn’t seem particularly useful, but doesn't compromise the boot at all. It is certainly better than plain plastic for traversing a rocky ridge.
This boot sits in the same category with perhaps the new Factor boot from Black Diamond, but they are still both very different boots. The Typhoon definitely leans more towards the touring boot that has been beefed up, rather than the alpine boot that has been dulled down. The big string in the Typhoons (1854gr) bow in comparison is that it is much lighter than the Factor (2065gr), yet yields a high level of performance and versatility. This is the boot for those want to venture deep into the backcountry, and don’t just want, but need the security and power of a beefier boot to shred the fall line they earned the hard way.
Check out the Typhoon and the rest of Scarpa's line at www.scarpa.com