Name : Garmont Endorphin Mg g-fit Men’s 06/07
Manufacturer Web site : http://www.garmont.com/
Weight: 4kg/pair size 27.5 MP
Sizes: 25-30.5 MP
This boot is Garmont’s latest offering for the expanding hybrid touring / alpine market. It’s aimed at a similar audience to their Adrenaline which are around 200g lighter than the Endorphins.
To reduce weight the cuff and lower shell are reinforced with carbon fibre in key areas while keeping strength. The Endorphin has the new lightweight Magnesium buckles and the upper buckles have the Garmont extra clip to aid walking.
Like the Adrenaline the Endorphin comes with interchangeable soles, an ISO alpine norm which will pair with any standard alpine binding and a vibram sole for mountaineering use which is compatible with bindings like the Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus. The boot has three forward lean settings, two are ski modes at 20′ and 25′ and the third a free or walking mode.
The boot is available with the G-Fit 3 thermoform liners or the pad-lock liners which are not thermo formable but have a sole suitable for hut use. I have the pad-lock liners.
I’ve now been using these boots for a few weeks and I’m really happy with them. The fit straight out of the box was pretty good but I’ve had the lower buckles replaced with longer ones to prevent them pinching. So far, I’ve only used them with the mountaineering soles on them with my Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus binding and Stöckli Stormriders. The longest climb I’ve done so far has been a couple of hours and I’ve found them extremely comfortable for that.
We’re a couple of hundred meters from the lift in Zinal so I walk up and down and ride the cable car each time I ski and I’ve find the Endorphin’s extremely comfortable to walk around in. It’s hardly why I bought the boot but it’s a really nice feature that it’s so easy to walk around in the snow and ice and the sole grip is fantastic.
Actually skiing the boot performs fantastically, Garmont really aim them at the sort of set-up I have and it works well. The snow at the moment is pretty hard pack and some edge control is required, the Endorphins are more than able to drive my skis at speed on that surface.
I’ve noticed a couple of things though, first, that I can’t ski with the boot on maximum forward lean which really surprised me and it’s also quite awkward to engage that most forward mode. You need to flex the boot as far forward as possible and pull the lock, there’s not so much positive location feedback that I can actually tell immediately if it’s engaged. I had more success sat indoors engaging this mode. The other thing I notice is that the power strap is utterly brutal, if you over-tighten it and suddenly load forward into the boot when skiing it feels like you’re about to break your shin! In fact, I suspect many people over-tighten power-straps it’s just it’s more dire in the Endorphin than usual.
I want to try the ISO sole sometime on my slalom skis and see how that works, I find it awkward to change boots on different days so I would prefer to use the same ones. This presents a dilemma though, the slalom skis need the ISO sole of course which would work with the Freerides so I could leave the ISO sole on all the time. But, I really like the practicality of the mountaineering sole just for walking about.
The real question is whether the boot lives up the Garmont hype that it’s viable replacement for a pair of pure alpine boots and my verdict so far is that the Garmont are delivering on the hype. The only note of caution I’d sound is that the boot is really quite stiff, surprisingly so really and it’s worth considering the Adrenaline seriously as it’s got a little more flex.
Taking the whole combination together, the Endorphins, freerides and stormriders I’d say I’m pretty happy with the one reservation I’d expressed about the freerides, namely that there’s a lack of the damping effect you get with normal alpine bindings and the feedback can be harsh from the ski sometimes. Here in Zinal right now it’s pretty hard pack and there’s frozen rutted sections, hitting those at speed won’t throw the skis but there’s an incredible amount of vibration thrown back into the legs. A stiff boot like the Endorphin doesn’t help this so again it’s worth seriously considering the Adrenaline if you expect to be hitting hard surfaces regularly.
As always there’s bags of information on PisteHors.com about these boots and this market segment.
Update : June 2007
Although at the end of the season I got some Garmont Mega Rides the Endorphins have been my main boot all season. I’ve used them for the mix of piste, freeride and touring that they’re intended and I’ve been really happy with them.
I use them pretty much exclusively with the Vibram mountaineering sole, this is due to a combination of factors. First is laziness, I really can’t be bothered to keep taking the sole on and off; there’s 11 or 12 screws on each sole and it’s not a quick task to swap the soles. Second, although we only live a couple of hundred meters from the cable car at Zinal it’s just easier to walk around with the mountaineering sole on snow and ice, this is even more the case for those times off-piste you need to scramble over some rocks to access a line or take a short walk at the end of a line. Third, I just tend to use my Stormriders most of the time anyway which have Fritschi bindings on them.
I’ve now made a number of tours using these boots and found the uphill performance just fine, it’s true that these are a much heavier boot than classic ski mountaineering boots at around 4200g per pair with the padlock inner (as a comparison my Mega Ride boots are 3200g with G-fit inners), but, they’re still reasonable for day tours with climbs of 2 or 3 hours.
I’ve been really, really happy with the fit of these boots, they’re the first I’ve had for a long time that just fit out of the box. Initially I needed a slightly longer buckle near the mid-step but I think the inner has packed sufficiently now that the stock buckles would be OK, in fact I’ve “borrowed” the longer buckles for my Mega Rides right now.
I have had an impression that the fit of the Endorphin is great but just not quite perfect for me and I’d been thinking about getting some new liners for next season just to get to that perfect fit. My Mega Rides came with G-Fit inners which are thermoformed, the fit of these boots just feels perfect and I think this mostly due to the G-Fit liners which have the most effective thermoforming process I’ve ever come across. As a result I’ll be swapping my pad-lock liners for G-fit next season and getting a 250g weight saving at the same time.
I’d advise anyone buying the Endorphin to go for the G-Fit liner, the fit will be better and it’s lighter so it’s a win-win really, the only downside is that while the padlock liner can be used as a hut boot the G-Fit cannot.
My guess is that next season I may use the Endorphins more with the ISO Alpine soles on them and use the Mega Rides as a pure touring boot both with the StormRider XL’s and my StormRider PIT Light touring skis.
Update : Feb 2008
I’m surprised to say I’m using these boots slightly less right now than I expected, I recently got some Black Diamond Voodoos and I’ve been using them with my Garmont MegaRides. What I found was that the Endorphin is just too stiff for that ski, this isn’t really surprising though, it’s a very stiff boot and needs matching with a stiff boot, in fact as a rule I’d suggest that you would only pair the Endorphin with an Alpine type ski, ie good for a Havoc ski, bad for the Voodoo. This is no reflection on the quality of the Endorphin, it’s just a personal choice that I made for better uphill performance and reduced weight.
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