Fresh and clean and snowy: the Tecnica ZGTP is a all-around boot that can tour and push a ski…in total control.
Several of us at The High Route are on the Tecnica Zero G Tour Pro boot this season: three at last count. We’ll have a final review soon. In short, we’re admirers.
The Goods:
Tecnica Zero G Tour Pro with stock liners in size 25.5, no heat molding.
Paired primarily with Fat-ypus M5 Flat Tail, ATK Kuluar bindings.
So far in these boots I’ve skied deep, soft snow, deep, heavy, wet snow, heavy, sticky snow, tight trees, open glades, one tight couloir, a few minor jumps, and one luge-like hard-glazed exit track.
These boots are precise. There are a few things I attribute this sensation to. One is fit / sizing down: there is no slop, the fit is equally snug toe through the cuff. All foot/ankle/leg movements immediately and precisely direct the boot. Second, a short design. The boot/binding attachment points are closer to the ends of my feet. My toes are at the front of the boot, not quite exactly over the toe-inserts but close, and similarly my heels are at the back—not quite over the heel-inserts but again close. In this way there is direct input / feedback. I point my feet and that is where the ski goes. Even climbing I feel like my kick-turns just whip into place. That sounds a little over the top, but it really feels, yeah, precise.
Fit and feet. I have very high insteps and very high arches. I am unable to wear cowboy boots (not that I need to) because I cannot get my insteps past the turn in the boot. In a similar way it is hard to get my feet into any ski boot and especially these boots. I could do it with cold boots, but I am sure it would hurt and be an ugly ordeal. They won’t work for me if I’m sleeping out on a ski trip—maybe if I bring hand warmers to stick in the boot at the crux spot. When they are warm it isn’t too bad, and if I put them directly in front of the car’s feet heater for the drive up (passenger side, yo!) they’re actually pretty easy to get on. Getting them off requires that the liner comes out with my foot, which is no problem. Overall this isn’t a big deal, and given how well they perform, its an easy trade off.
Pete is excited for his new toys. Yes, he downsized.
Buckles pushed back and locked in for touring on the Tecnica ZGTP.
The ski/walk lever, once you get the feel, is easy to engage and disengage.
Other boots. My most recent boot was a Scott Superguide Carbon. This is a very comfortable boot. I got them because how easy going they are for me and my instep/arch. They ski really well. Their ROM is straight up not good. Bad ROM! The Superguide boots replaced a pair of Atomic Hawx that I used for 3 seasons both inbounds and touring. The Atomics were also quite comfortable though not as easy to get in and out of as the Superguides. Both Atomic and Superguides ski really well. The Atomics had much better ROM than the superguides. The Tecnicas however ski and climb considerably better than both. I wonder, though, if that would be the case if I sized down in the Superguides and Atomics too? I’m not sure that my foot would have fit, but in the future I will always try this when looking for boots
My other boots are an old pair of Hoji Pro Tours. These are the boots with no toe lug at all. Prior to the Tecnicas I would consider them my favorite boots, especially for spring skiing. They ski very well, they walk great, I really like the Hoji cramp-in (crampon), and they’re really comfortable for my feet unless I really crank them down—which I only do in extremis, and that tends to lead to some pain by the run’s end. I use an Intuition Pro tour liner in them but only because the original liners were totally beat and torn up after a few seasons.
Comfort. Other than getting in and out, the Tecnicas have been pretty easy for my feet to adjust to. In all other boots I’ve worn a 26.5 and now I’m in a 25.5. I would never have even tried that without a prompt to do so by Jason.
Whereas the Superguides were amazingly comfortable right away and all day, my feet have had some slight growing pains with the Tecnicas. I felt a little discomfort climbing, once in one instep and in one heel. I just loosened them up a notch, my feet relaxed and all pain went away. I’ve had no discomfort in ski mode. They’re perfectly, evenly snug all the way up. I don’t know if this is just how they are with my feet and legs, or if they’re just really easy to adjust with the buckles or what. I wouldn’t say I crank them down, but I do ski them pretty tight. I could make them tighter, but don’t feel the need to. With the Hoji’s I sometimes feel like I am really ready to loosen them up at the bottom of a run, but not so much with these. So far. Maybe I’ll crank them down if I feel more scared on something later this spring.
Transitions. Four buckle boots, plus a power-strap, with a flip up-walk/down-ski lever. It is simple and quick and very solid from my perspective; I’m no ski-mo racer. Easy to adjust the buckles. I never could get the Hoji mechanism to work on the Hoji’s. So, relative to all the boots I’ve used, these are at least equal. One thing that is nice about the Tecnicas is with the top buckles open for uphilling there is a friction point that makes them stay wide open and forward against the boot. So your buckles are loose, but the actual buckle is tight against the boot so they aren’t poking out to catch things and my pant cuffs easily fit over them.
Overall, I’m really happy with these boots.
Jealous on the successful downsize.
Question: If you unbuckle the cuff buckles completely (this significantly improves the ROM and friction) do you contact the front of the shell with your big toe/toes in a big stride?
I paid attention to that today to see, and yes, my toes do contact the front of the liner. But really only with the buckles really loose and really only on flat terrain – of which there isn’t much. I could notice that they were against the front of the liner now and again, but not in an uncomfortable way. Going uphill I noticed this less, and with a little tighter, but not tight buckle-up it was even less noticeable. I hope that is some help.
Thanks a lot peter, another question for you, have you kicked any steps in them yet? How does the big toe fair in that situation?
Good question. I have not! I’ll try soon, this weekend at least.
Update. Longer lines (I think the longest was consistent and over 2000ft/610m)), toes did feel the fronts a bit and felt cramped. I didn’t notice until the bottom of the runs, but then I was glad to unbuckle. My feet recovered quickly climbing. I also noticed a bit of pain in one ankle bone. It could be that a heat molding would settle them into my feet a bit more quickly. We did do a short boot pack, but I wasn’t kicking steps because I was following. I think if I were kicking steps in harder snow and/or for a longer time it would start to hurt. I’ll update on that though. I do think there could be a penalty for the tighter fit, but also a benefit that I am really enjoying.
Thanks Peter! Sounds like these fitting pretty successfully for you. Comfort on the up is what matters the most, I can deal with some cramping on the way down.
On the step kicking I seemed to mitigate some pain by buckling the instep buckle tighter than I would for regular skinning, helps keep the heel back.
I’m going to see if I can get some more length in mine with the hydraulic press.
For this version of the ZGPT, I found that the liner tongue would shift around while touring and end up cattywampus for the descent. For the first time ever with a touring boot, I’ve started using the liner laces and with a world cup entry, that has vastly improved the problem of the tongue moving around and adds even more of the precision mentioned in this review. I find the transitions with these are fiddly but a worthwhile trade off for all of the upsides mentioned above.
Similar to Jeremiah’s experience I have noticed the tongue shifting around a bit in my ZGTP, but for me at least lacing the liner takes away from the unbelievable ROM in tour mode. With cuff buckles completely undone and liner not laced I can move my knee forward just about as far as my shin can travel, which is a significant improvement from the prior versions of the Zero G Tour and one of the main strengths of this boot. This might sound crazy but I sometimes have a hard time discerning a difference in forward ROM between my Tour Pros and my Peak Carbons, it’s really quite excellent for a true four buckle boot. The latter are much lighter and have better overall ROM/comfort but for most of my daily skiing I’ve been really happy with how the Tour Pros walk, and they ski great as well.
Can’t abide a cattywampus tongue! I haven’t had this issue, but the boots did come with laces so maybe it is fairly common? Enjoy the skiing!