The most supportive leather 75mm boots commonly available now?

[CwmRaider]

The Alicos are still in transit (a bit slower than usual).
If they do not fit, I can probably sell them at little loss; I have fitted Crispi Bre 75mm in a local shop, they have my size and are very comfortable.

I have made the decision:
My Nansens are at the ski shop for mounting with the Voilé 3 pin cable bindings.
The shop mentioned that they usually have also the Rottefella Super Telemark with Cable but paused selling them for now as they had some reliability (teething?) issues.

If I get Falketind 62s later in the year (I held them today in the shop, but decided to go one step at a time) I will certainly want them in 75mm with cable, and I like the idea of using the same boots on different skis.

I suppose I may miss a bit of K&G performance going from NNN-BC to 75mm; I hope to gain some stability with the heavier duty boots.

Some background is that I noticed recently that the toe bar in one of my NNN-BC Crispi Stetinds has developed a bit of play and the plastic around has cracked. This is due to 6 years of hard use by a heavy skiier while I learned to XC ski from scratch in these boots and attempted at first to do telemarking on the tips of the toes, undoubtedly resulting in excess wear and tear. Neither my partner's Stetinds, nor her old Alfa Quest Core boots, nor my brother's Alfa Quest Advance have such cracks or play. I do not expect the Stetinds to fail catastrophically, as the toe bar appears to be much bigger than just the visible part. Nevertheless I would probably have been looking at getting new NNN-BC boots in the near future if I would have kept the Nansens in NNN-BC.

I'll post pictures and impressions when the Alico Ski March arrive.

[CwmRaider]

So, the Alico Ski March boots arrived.
Pictures below after removing the laces for a round of Hydrobloc:

First, the facts (IE numbers):
They cost 18.99 GBP on Ebay. Shipping and customs were slightly more than the purchase price. Fair enough, still very cheap in total.
I bought size 12 UK = 13 US; the Euro sizing is not indicated, but probably around 46.5 or so. Some people mention having wide or regular, these just say "12". I imagine that means regular...
The boots weigh 1325g each, (2650/pair). This is somewhat better than I expected. Reviews of 75mm boots in size 47 on utemagasinet give 1180g for Fischer BCX675 and Crispi Svartisen which are much less toughly built.

My old Crispi Stetinds, size 46 (11.5 UK / 12.5 US) in NNN-BC are about 950 g each, from my reading the NNN-BC variants of one model boots are always lighter than the 75mm variants

The boots come with two insoles. One completely felt, one with some plasticky layer underneath.

The Alico Ski March review thread had me somewhat worried that they would be too big not fit, however I am now rather confident that they will do great! The boots stiffness will need some getting used to though. With one insole it may be slightly spacy (with one pair of knitted woolen socks). With both insoles (if that is the idea) they fit pretty tightly.

Comparing the insole (gray in the picture below) to my size 46 Stetinds (orange one lying below), the Alico insole is narrower, and 0.5 cm longer. I wouldnt say that they are too narrow, they feel pretty snug. Im

I havents skied them yet. I may go for a tour this weekend if the weather permits and if I can find some snow in a day trip distance.

[CwmRaider]

Well, as mentioned here https://telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php? ... 377#p32377 the Alico Ski March boots are delaminating after one outing, and although I will attempt to fix them, I have decided to get Crispi Bre boots (good thing these are easy to find here).
Here they are:

2360g / pair, size 46.
They also fit like slippers and I really like the lacing system with the many lace loops.
They are definitely less supportive and more flexible than the Alico Ski March, but also more comfortable around the top of the boot where I found the Ski March to pressure my leg a bit too much. I suspect that they wont require quite as much breaking in and will be better for longer distance tours.

[bgregoire]

R, you just got yourself "la crème de la crème". Good on you.

[CwmRaider]

Where did you get them?

Crispi Bre? In the sports department of the "Coop" in Norway. It's a big brand which has everything from supermarkets to do it yourself.
But they are easy to find here in lots of online shops as well as specialized ski shops

[Woodserson]

How is the Bre different from the Antarctic?

I have badly placed toe-bend on my Antarctics. They bend and dig right into the top of my big toe knuckle. Just a pain. Am I screwed or is there anyway to soften them up? This is the thing that sours me to these kind of leather boots.

[fgd135]

Sierra Trading Post, in wonderful Wyoming, occasionally has various Alico Boots on closeout, always worth checking:
https://www.sierra.com/alico-made-in-it ... s~alico%2F

[Stephen]

How is the Bre different from the Antarctic?

I have badly placed toe-bend on my Antarctics. They bend and dig right into the top of my big toe knuckle. Just a pain. Am I screwed or is there anyway to soften them up? This is the thing that sours me to these kind of leather boots.

I forget if you are LVF or not, but I am and had similar, but less severe, problem with Alfa Guard.
It seemed to resolve when I filled up the boot volume with more insoles and thick socks.

If I was you, I would try something like:
Dampen the leather in the toe box;
Jamb, stuff, really cram a bunch of soft material inside the boot (rags, paper, whatever);
Lace it up;
Maybe put it in the ski binding;
Bend the toe area, and make sure the new crease falls where you want it;
Leave it there for a while.

Also, @Tom M addressed this in the 5th post on this page:
http://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.p ... 8ea#p35707