I had a problem. My fresh new pair of Dynafit TLT5 didn’t have my lean-lock mod for lesser knee abuse, and I didn’t have time to retrofit. What to do to avoid that tippy-toe 1960s forward lean weirdness? Yeah, I’ll admit that some of that is caused by my aftermarket liners with thick foam behind the calf (though you get less of that effect than appears at first glance, since your heel is also farther forward in the boot.) So, to get rid of any excessive thickness in the cuff, spot molding was in order.
Hot water molding Intuition liner. Not quite hot enough for super gushy molding, but works for spot adjustments.
You can spot mold liners by torching with a heat gun, but I’ve never liked that method because it heats just the outside of one area imprecisely. Dipping the offending area in boiling water seemed like it might work, though salted water at our altitude only boils at around 200 degrees, and you need more like 225 degrees for the nice gooey molding effect.
Nonetheless, it worked. I dipped just the upper rear of the cuff in the salty soup for about three minutes, shoved back in the boots, buckled tight, and thus thinned out the liner cuff about 4 millimeters or so. That’s quite a bit when multiplied to reduced forward lean.
In case you’re wondering, I added quite a bit of salt to the water and it only brought the boiling temperature up a half degree or so. Hot oil would have worked better, but that seemed a bit problematic (the understatement of the month for WildSnow.com). As it is, I spent five minutes under the kitchen faucet washing out as much salt as possible so the rats in some hut wouldn’t dine on my boot liner cuffs.
I’d still rather combine this with a reduced angle lean lock, but it’ll work for the upcoming enjoyment of the massive Alps snowpack we’re seeking. Oh, and yes I’m sure some of you will ask, I’ve not gotten definitive word on availability of Dynafit’s own lean adjustment add-on for the TLT5s. I wish they’d speak. Perhaps I can find out something about this when I’m in Munich. If so, I’ll add info to this post and so forth.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
