Ready to mod. New life for the old fives.
I like stiff soled boots for up-and-down ski touring. Dynafit TLT5, on the other hand, is my favorite footwear for flatter slogs as the slight metatarsal flex helps me with some of my ankle and knee problems. They don’t make TLT5 anymore, but tens of thousands of the things are floating around the universe. In the case of the “P” version with carbon cuff, chances are the cuff pivots are worn due to the abrasive nature of the carbon composite. Solution: you can stick some of Bill Bollinger’s Ultimate Cuff Pivots in there to perform a resurrection. If the cuff pivots are super trashed you may not achieve perfect results, but the boots will be functional. In my case the boots had a fairly intact pivot system, so a UCP kit (lightweight version) popped in there like they were made for it. They are. If you want to do your own resurection, check out our previous UCP posts and hop on over to Bill’s website. All our BD pivots are on long-term-loan for durability testing. I’ve got some others in play as well and they simply don’t seem to wear out — but if they get sloppy you can easily pull apart and renew the plastic bushings.
FYI, I installed the UCP in my TLT6-P a short time after I began using them, several seasons ago. I must have more than 200 days on them by now and they’re holding up nicely.
Completed, ready for slog nation.
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.
