Side view of the Tecnica Zero G Peak cam buckle power strap with a G Hook, paired with a lightweight wire/ladder buckle. A no-Velcro closure system.
A front view of the same boot.
Meh on velcro—hear the gear editor out.
In my role as a pack maker, I said farewell to velcro years ago—velcro was cool technology in the 50s and 60s, but in 2024, I’m over it. My aversion to velcro started during my days as an XC skier, where pole straps and skate boots all used velcro and inevitably the velcro wore out before the rest of the strap/boot. Some of my early sewing explorations were replacing the velcro “loop” on my XC pole straps. All this goes to say, I’ve been building disdain for Velcro for 10+ years at this point.
In the ski touring boot world, it seems at least some manufacturers are on the same page as me, while others have yet to see the light. In the 2010s, we learned that a velcro strap is tough to get tight without some sort of mechanical advantage, enter the velcro strap-buckle seen on boots like the Scarpa F1 and Fischer Traverse. This design was awesome in 2018—light, simple, wide power strap, etc. but it has persisted without change (especially in the case of Scarpa) into more recent models like the F1LT, Salomon MTN Summit, Dynafit TLT X. In their stock form, we are talking about threading and adjusting not one, but two(!!!) velcro straps to don/doff the boots, in addition to adjusting both straps at every transition on the Scarpa. Compare this with the Tecnica Zero G Peak or other models that have moved on from velcro; a superlight cam buckle with a G Hook, paired with a lightweight wire/ladder buckle. The F1XT almost gets it right, with a ladder buckle, but they throw in a skimpy velcro power strap that ought to be removed/replaced before one uses the boots.
The Scarpa F1 XT also moves in the no-Velcro direction. Photo: Scarpa
The Salomon S/LAB MTN Summit boasts a relatively quick adjusting upper cuff closure system…but 2x the Velcro. Photo: Salomon
In this funny world where light/mid-weight boots are trending away from BOA in favor of Z buckles and resort/hybrid boots are trending toward BOA, I think it is about time that we start trending away from velcro on lightweight touring boots. A power strap is one thing, some resort boots may come with a velcro power strap too. This is easy enough to remove or replace (Tecnica sells their Zero G power strap here). Conversely, on many of the boots mentioned above, you are stuck with the velcro strap, and when it wears out and stops sticking, the best option is another velcro strap.
At this point, my farewell is more of a hope than a reality, given that new velcro-laden models such as the Dynafit Ridge (which looks great) are still being released for next season. In the meantime, we have smart people out there finding solutions to the madness, as exemplified by this thread over at the TGR forum.
Agreed. Let’s also not forget velcro catches on everything. That parts site Tecnica has is amazing. That Zero G Peak parts kit is amazing. What’s the liner you’re using in your Zero G Peak?
Hey Travis, I’ve got an intuition pro tour LV in there. Good beta on the parts kit, I hadn’t noticed that
What did you notice changed the most adding that liner? fit, performance, both? Liner looks like it stands a bit higher than stock, does that check out? Also, how long do stock liners last?
The big thing for me with adding the intuition was fit – the peak is a bit high volume for my low instep and skinny feet. The pro tour added some heel hold as well as a taking up a bit of volume. Bonus, the intuitions do add a bit of stiffness/support for skiing performance.
The stock liners didn’t work well for me, but I skied them for a while in my Dynafit DNA’s, I’d say fit plays a bigger role than total liner breakdown, but I’d guess depending on who you ask the answer is anywhere from “throw away immediately” to 50+ days of hard use before they are packed out or developing holes..
I have the Salmon MTN Summit boot because it fits my foot really well but the Velcro is annoying> Has any one replaced the top strap with the Cam strap style like the Tecnica? Is velcro just cheaper and lighter for production?
Hey Ethan, I too often default to the Salomon MTN Summit. Good combo of stiffness and lightweight. I think you could easily replace the top skinny velcro strap with a skinny cam lock power strap: skimo.co has a selection of Dynafit options that might work. I’ve used these on both the TLT X and Blacklights to good effect.