First Look: Scarpa TX Comp Telemark Boots

First looks can be dangerous. They invite speculation and projection, along with a sense of unearned (in the long term) success. The Scarpa TX Comp has not taken me anywhere yet beyond some early-season knee-dropping vision quests. For now, the boots have only been hefted, flexed, switched in and out of walk mode, and stared at far longer than is reasonable.

Scarpa introduced the newly redesigned TX Pro last year to mixed reviews. Telemark traditionalists complained that the new boot was too stiff and too close to an alpine boot, especially when paired with stiff NTN bindings. Others welcomed it as something close to a rebirth, the first truly new tele-boot in a quarter century and a sign that tele is not quite dead yet. The TX Pro delivered impressive weight for a tele-boot, a notable range of motion, and strong tourability for knee-dropping heathens who want to earn their turns without suffering quite as much along the way.

Which brings us to the TX Comp, released this season as the beefed-up alternative to the TX Pro’s svelteness. It is (supposedly) stiffer and only marginally heavier (~30g). The question for me is whether the TX Comp is the answer to the backcountry tele freerider’s dream I seek, or whether these Italian-knee-drop slippers will further divide an already fractured telemark world. Do we need another iteration of the new school boot, or should Scarpa have gone in a completely different direction, perhaps toward something like an F1 LT class tele-boot? Let’s go skiing and find out.