SCARPA Alien 1.0 vs. Dynafit Dy.N.A EVO

Having skied a fair amount in both the SCARPA Alien 1.0 and the Dynafit EVO and having been asked by enough people which is better,  I feel a brief review might be useful.  To start, both boots are amazing.  The walk mode on both is light years ahead of the Dynafit TLT5.  Given that the TLT revolutionized the uphill game, this means something. They both almost feel like a running shoe.  The Elk Mountain Grand Traverse champions from last year actually ran about 10K in the Aliens and say they are running shoes.  I spent the last half of the 2012 season in the EVO and absolutely loved them and have half of this season in the Alien 1.0 and feel the same. So which is better?  Here's a brief side by side (all numbers are from a size 27.0).

Andy on White Baldy

Weight
Alien 1.0 shell:  610g  Liner: 111g   Total:  721g/boot  (1.58lbs)
EVO  shell:  566g  Liner:  124g  Total:  690g/boot  (1.52lbs)

Sole Length 
Alien 1.0: 287mm
EVO: 289mm

EVOs on a speed run up Mt. Rainier

Cuff Height
A picture is much better than a written description

Upper Buckle
Vertical throw vs horizontal throw.  Both work, some say the Dynafit is more reliable, other say the vertical Alien throw is faster.  I think they're both reliable and both fast.  It's really whatever you're used to.  Cutting a hole in a pair up pants is a bit easier for the Alien though.

Lower Buckle
I suppose the BOA gives you a more uniform fit but nothing too superior over the standard buckle on the EVO.  The EVO buckle is much improved over the TLT buckle and actually works.  I also like the mini gator that the EVO comes with. It certainly keeps more snow out of the boot than the BOA.

Durability
This is a hard question to answer after one season.  I skied the EVO pretty hard including a fairly long boulder hop down the Nisqually river bed.  This same scramble absolutely destroyed Andy's Stratos (mulitple quarter sized holes in the shell) but the Evo held strong - very impressive.  I haven't abused the Alien in the same way but will soon and will post an update.  Looking at/fondling the Alien the main difference I notice is the cuff pivot.  Why can't Dynafit put metal on metal pivot points on their carbon cuff?  Rumor has it they screwed this up again on the TLT 6. With that said, after a season in the EVO there isn't much wear on the carbon but with my prior TLT experience I fear it's coming.

What appears to be metal on metal, hard to tell without pulling it apart

Metal on Carbon

Forward Lean
Who cares?  I don't really.  I hear the 2013 Evo has an adjustable forward lean but can't find what the range is.  The 2012 model has a fixed lean of 15 degrees. The Alien has two settings either 13 or 18 degrees.

I think there's a pair of Aliens in there.  Both EVO and Alien are plenty of boot for powder.

Price
They're both expensive.  Check out skimo.com for current pricing.  Luckily both the Evo and the Alien 1.0 have cheaper versions - the Dynafit PDG (great reviews by A. O'keefe and Layne Caldwell) and the SCARPA Alien (not the 1.0).  From what I can tell they are both very similar to their expensive big brothers but just a little heavier and not quite as stiff.

Overall
I would give the nod to the Alien 1.0.  I think the skiablity gained with a little higher cuff more than makes up for the open front, especially since the snow problem is easily solved with a gaitor or stirrups on your pants.  As an added bonus (although unproven) I suspect the cuff/pivot point wil hold up on the Alien a bit better.  Anyway, both are great and everyone should have a pair of super light weight boots.  Once you try them on you'll never go back to the clunky bricks you've been lugging around.

Tom Goth, Aliens, White Pine Drainage

The busiest month of my life

This last month was crazy. I worked a ton, helped plan my wedding, got married, moved, wrecked 2 cars (that's right, 2), tried to keep training, lost a phone, raced 3 times, and did all sorts of other random life stuff.  A brief description of the highlights is as follows:

Dec 20, 2012 - Bachelor Party/ Wedding Dinner

How lucky am I? The morning of the 20th a group of 10-20 of us met, ate bagels and headed up one of the Honeycomb peaks.  The sun was shining, the snow was still dry and it was fantastic.  Andy and Travis had dragged a grill to the summit the day before and we were treated with a day of grilled food and skiing.

Grill master Andy

The crew

Jared documented the day in a video here.  Thanks guys, I couldn't have asked for a better party!

One hour after skiing our last run I was showered and eating dinner with Amanda and my family and a good handful of our closest friends.  No pictures yet but there's something special about getting all (most) of the important people in your life together in one room.  It's even better when they're there to celebrate you!

Dec 21, 2012 Pre-wedding Powder/ Marriage

Lars was in town and the skiing was still fantastic.  Since my wedding was at noon we figured we better go poke around for the morning and get a little fresh air to clear the mind.  Nothing to exciting but a great way to start the wedding festivities.

Posed brothers shot

Wedding morning celebration, photo by Andy

A little drama on the ride to the ceremony almost led to a ruined wedding dress but the crisis was averted and everything else went off as planned.  There are 2 things I'll never forget.  1, Seeing my beautiful wife excited to marry ME.  Who would have thought?  I guess she's quite the risk taker.  2, seeing my family and the majority of my close friends sitting together showing support.  Again, how lucky am I?

photo by Alpha Smoot

From there we ate burgers, tots and drank soda at the always classy Purple Turtle in Pleasant Grove.  The bouquet hit the floor of a fast food restaurant before is was snatched up greedily by some single lady.  Fantastic.  Best day of the year!

Soda at the Purple Turtle, photo by Jim Catano

Dec 29, 2012  Moguls on Superior

Chad, Andy, and I donned spandex and skinny skis to rally a few laps on Superior before going to work.  Skiing the south face twice car to car in 3 hours was a pretty good effort (pre nationals training). More alarming than seeing 3 fruits in full lycra suits on Superior was seeing the hundreds of tracks (literally hundreds).

A TRACKED out chute on Superior, photo by Chad Ambrose

Chad on the S. face

Jan 5, 2013 US Ski Mountaineering Nationals

Andy wrote a fairly detailed summary here. I won't rehash any of it but will say Skimo is growing in popularity and for good reason - it's fun.  Everyone that raced battled at some point.  I can look back an think of mistakes I made that cost me precious time but so can everyone, correcting those mistakes in pursuit of a clean race is part of the allure.

Coming down the final groomer to the finish I kept looking back and seeing Luke gaining. On the relatively flat finish there was nothing to do but watch him catch me.  I squeaked out a 1 second lead but may have shoved a pole in front of him during the last 50 meters, sorry Luke.  A few more thoughts:

1. Gaston and Max ski FAST
2. The entry to Corbet's looks steep
3. Always ski the course before the race if possible
4. SkiMo is getting more competative
5. Every second counts
6. When in doubt cut Luke off
7. I need to ski moguls more often
8. Training with Any and Tom works
9. I'm PSYCHED to make the US team!

Starting the booter up Corbets

Corbert's Couloir

Poor quality photo of my cutting Luke off, again, sorry

John Gaston continuing to dominate us

Jan 6, 2013 Targhee

Last year I was lucky enough to win this race.  Although motivation to qualify for the US wasn't there I felt a strong desire to try and defend the title.  We went out hard, Tom and I led the first 2 climbs and then a very poor dowhill performance left me out of the led pack finishing in 5th.   Turns out the DH matters too. Oh well, it was still a great race.  Thanks to Andy M. the race director for taking the time to put together a great course.

I started typing this a week ago and have just had the time to finish, I guess my busy month may be turning into a busy couple months...