Cross Country Boots and Bindings

Boots

    As in downhill skiing, a poorly fitting pair of boots can ruin your whole day. Backcountry boots are big and heavy in order to withstand the additional stresses placed on them. Most recreational track skiing boots look like low-cut lightweight hiking boots, while skating boots are a bit stiffer and come up above the ankle. Boots ought to have a stiff sole so that they transmit all of the forces the skier generates when trying to turn actually get to the skis, instead of just deforming the boots and making turning harder to do. In order to check this, grasp the heel of the boot in one hand and the toe of the boot in the other, and try to twist the boot around the heel-toe axis. If this is easy to do, the boot is probably too soft.

Trying on different brands of boots is a good idea, since boots of the same size from different vendors can fit some feet very differently. When trying on boots, make sure that you wear the same sort of socks (or combination of liner and socks) that you will wear when skiing. Otherwise, your boots may wind up too tight, and tight boots often lead to cold feet.

If you are interested in doing both track skiing and skating, but are discouraged by the thought of buying two sets of boots, you might look into a pair of combi boots, such as the Salomon 811. These are a bit heavier than most track boots, and not quite as rigid as most skating boots, but for recreational purposes they work quite well, and they are a lot less expensive than two pairs of boots.

Bindings

    The most obvious difference between downhill and recreational XC bindings (besides the price difference) is that XC bindings attach the feet to the skis only at the toe, instead of locking the heel down to the ski as well. The most important thing to remember is that the boots and bindings must be physically compatible, that is, they must have the same binding system. Older track skis and most past and current backcountry skis use 3-pin bindings that fit in 3 small holes in the toe of the boot. Some of the other major boot-binding systems are the SNS Profil system from Salomon, and the NNN / NNN2 (New Nordic Norm) systems supported by a variety of boot manufacturers. For most recreational skiing, choose your boots based on the type of skiing you want to do and how well they fit, and that will drive the choice of bindings.