Crispi info

[Dostie]

So whaddya know about Crispi? Who, besides the nurse, has owned a pair that can comment about them? I'm delighted the Fey Bros., a company dedicated to promoting telemark, is handling the sales of Crispi in the US. It is not a huge presence, but at least they're maintaining a toe-hold on the US market.

Last I remember, Crispi was pretty roomy in the toe-box, which I liked. The instep buckle held my low instep in place pretty well. At the time, they had the hingy bellows that collapsed too easily. It was easy to just crank 'em past the hinge point and then they held well. The key was collapsing them at the beginning of the turn. It favored stepping back into a turn, rather than stepping forward. At the time I was forward tilting 2-stepper. I wasn't impressed with their ski performance, but I did like their fit.

What say you?

[Matt J]

I don't have a lot of personal experience, but I used to ski around with a local telemark pro when I got the chance. He skied in the first couple of generations of NTN Crispi's exclusively. He performed things on those boots that most will never perform so I'd have to say they WILL perform.

[cesare]

Wide but low volume. As I recall, they were pretty nice boots that were right in line with the best performing tele boots.

[stinkymonday]

I have a pair of the original orange NTN Crispi EVOs. They fit me pretty well standing and walking (coming after Garmon EnerGs), but they are quite stiff and the low volume does strange things to my toes after cranking a couple of days of turns back to back. They are incredibly powerful, and allow an edge hold that I've never got with any other tele setup. The toe issues eventually got to the point where I had to move on - now on TX Pros which are a lot lighter and more comfortable, if less powerful. It's a good compromise for me. If I was a racer I'd find a way to make those EVOs fit better.

[3PinGrin]

I have been skiing the early version of the Crispi Shiver (cream and brown) for three seasons. Plenty powerful for me and the fit is good coming from Syner-g. I don't get toe pinch but can feel the boot touching the top of my toes, not enough to cause any issues. My biggest gripe is the liners which stay damp for a long time and are a bit heavy. The drying time isn't a big deal for one day jaunts but can be a pain for overnighters. Other than that I'm quite happy with them and they could be had dirt cheap for a while ~ $250. There was a thread on TTips about water seeping in around the base of the tongue, but I built a gasket out of a bike tire tube (Nurse Ben suggested fix I think) as a preventative measure and have had no problems. I keep thinking some Intuition liners would be a great addition and shave quite a bit of weight, but just don't want to spring for them while these liners are still functional.

[Nurse Ben]

So does that mean I shouldn't comment? Yeah, whatever, that hasn't stopped me yet

I have skied the orange and green Evos, fit was old Scarpa (three buckle T1), narrow heel and low volume forefoot, orange has a stiffer bellows than green, but green still has stiffer bellows than the Comp.

I skied the first edition four buckle Shiver (brown and white), the fit was similar to new Scarpa (TX), bellows were similar to Evo green.

I picked up a pair of the Shiver Randos last year from Alpina, didn't ski them as they were ~1/2 size too small, but I was able to wear them and do some carpet testing. As far as I could tell, the last and flex were unchanged from the four buckle, they are now outfitted with three buckles and a power strap.

I just ordered a pair of each (Evo and Shiver Randos), should be able to carpet test them this coming week, no snow yet, but I will have a few days in them by this time next month. I'm aiming for the Shivers as they will be replacing my TX, but it'll be tempting to get another pair of Evos as they were my fav boot.

When I spoke to Erik yesterday, he was not sure about difference in fit and flex, but he suggested that the lowers were the same for both boots, so just like Scarpa TX and TX Pro.

Personally, I prefer a stiffer bellows for TTS, a soft bellows tends to crumple when skied low.

The only downside to Crispi boots is their liners, they stink. So, I use Intuition tongue style liners or Scarpa thermo wrap liners, both work fine and are waaay more comfy. You can find NIB Scarpa thermo wrap liners at places like Gear X in VT.

Telemarkdown is offering sale prices on the Shiver Rando ($475) and Evo Rando ($525), so if you need boots, the deals are screaming good! Not to mention, Erik and Martin are great guys to work with

[Matt J]

Looks like Telemarkdown has a model or two, but when you pull up their euro catalog they're making a lot of boots (some in a couple of colors too). Amazing to me as it looks like a ton of overlap. All are three and four buckles with weights within a couple hundred grams of each other. Their rando line-up looks a lot more interesting, but maybe that's my bias

[TheWheel]

Until last season I was a Crispi diehard for over 10 seasons. 2 CXR's, 1 CXU, 2 XR's and the Evo. I broke every pair except the Evo's. Duckbill pulling way from the toe box on one and cracking on another with the bellows separating from the shell on the rest. Alpina Sports was awesome with warranty so basically I got a new pair every other season. Due to fit issues I moved on from the Evo to TX Comps. The CXR was the only one that had the hingy bellows Dostie spoke of but I was on G3's at the time so I didn't know any better. All the others, at least for me, had a progressive flex with tons of power. The liner comment rings true so I ran Zip-Fits in all of them.

[FixedGearHead]

I have skied on CXRs 3 generations for the last 10 years or so. They just fit me so well. I like a wide toe box but otherwise normal fit. If you find the Scarpas a little tight at the metatarsal heads you might like the Crispi fit.
As far the the performance they are very stiff laterally but pretty easy to flex at the bellows with very little break in. Yes I am still not on NTNs I ski the traditional duck bills.
They are a little loose at the ankle as far as I'm concerned and I agree about the liner, its tough to cinch down at the ankle and winds up digging into my shin but I will take it for the forefoot fit!!

[Nurse Ben]

I ordered a two shell size range of Evos and Shivers for my fitting, so I was able to compare fit, weight, and flex between the boots in mondo 29 & 30. I'll do a proper review once I get some snow time.

The lowers on the Evo and Shiver Rando fit the same, BECAUSE they share the same lowers as the Shiver NTN, but with tech fittings. So think new Scarpa fit, wider in the heel, more volume over the instep, and a bigger toe box. The Scarpa still has a slightly wider toe box than the Crispi Randos, but not by much.

The uppers are where the Shiver and Evo Rando stand apart. The Evos have the same high cuff four buckle upper as the orange and green Evo NTN, the addition of a small spoiler at the top of the tongue makes pressing the cuff a little more effective.

The Shiver Rando, sadly, has the same three buckle cuff as the second gen Shiver Rando, so it's a little too low in the front for big ski use, resulting in some mid shin pinching where the cuff presses into the liner. I suppose you could add a spoiler as they did with the Evo, but as it sits the Shiver Rando is a heavy boot with a short tongue.

I terms of flex, the Rando bellows are nice and firm, thankfully stiffer than my 2013 TX, about on par with the Shiver NTN and the Evo NTN Green boots. So in order of bellows stiffness (stiffest to softest):
Scarpa TX first gen
Evo NTN orange
Evo NTN green
Evo/Shiver Rando
Scarpa Comp
Scarpa TX Pro/ TX

The tech fittings are what separate the Crispi NTN from the Crispi NTN Rando boots. The tech fittings appear to be well done, the boots fit fine in two sets of Dynafit tech toes, I didn't have to trim back the sole rubber for arm clearance, so far so good!

I hemmed and hawed over which boot to choose, I really wanted to like the Shiver for the lower weight and reduced cuff bulk, but without a burlier tongue and cuff, it is just not enough boot, as well, the single buckle uppers just didn't keep my heel secure, so I went with the Evo Rando

I found the best fit with a Scarpa Intuiton tongue liner, mine came from a pair of Scarpa TX. I'm going to try and fit the Evo liners, but my previous experiences with Crispi liners were not so good, so I don't have faith that they'll fit.

At $475 for the Shiver Rando and $525 for the Evo Rando, you can't go wrong!

[Dostie]

In terms of flex, the Rando bellows are nice and firm, thankfully stiffer than my 2013 TX, about on par with the Shiver NTN and the Evo NTN Green boots. So in order of bellows stiffness:
Scarpa TX first gen
Evo NTN orange
Evo NTN green
Evo/Shiver Rando
Scarpa Comp
Scarpa TX Pro/ TX

Stiffest to softest, right? Interesting comparo.

[Nurse Ben]

Yes

I edited the stiffness, so now it makes more sense.

The one thing I didn't add was "toe crunch". All boots have a different bellows "crunch", in many cases it is not an issue, but if you ski low, have a fat foot, or ski TTS (ie limited binding ROM), well then you may end up crunching your toes, OUCH!

I'd like to see boots with more bellows travel, but I think we got about as much as we're gonna get, so I'm leaning toward getting boots with more flexibilility in the ankle.

I skied a pair of TX first gen (the stiffy) for a couple years until they were getting really rockered, at which point I modified them for use as a split board boot. What I did was cut a notch connecting the ski/walk mode holes (extended them a little), so instead of distinct stops I had a single range of motion (20-25mm). This worked really well with that boot because the cuff was stiff enough that even with no solid "stop", the flex was still plenty firm and it increased the ankle flex a whole bunch! I'm thinking of doing this to my new Evo Randos

So now you're thinking, why not just ski the boots unlocked? Well, if you do that it can damage the ski/walk mode, the mode can go onto ski mode unintentionally, and there's no control over rearward flex. But yeah, it could be done "old school".

[Tomahawk]

Maybe a little off topic, but does anyone know if there's a way to get a hold of some of Crispi's other boots? Specifically, I'm interested in either the BC Tiur or Top Expedition. Just don't know if I can order them and have the safeguard of being able to return if they're not a good fit.

[Nurse Ben]

No idea, but you're probably going to need to order from Europe, which sorta answers your return question

[Tomahawk]

The guys at Telemarkdown have been pretty helpful and it looks like they can get me what I need. Going with the Svartisen BC. Hopefully it blows my mind.