Review: Garmont’s 2-buckle Kenai

Garmont has been transforming their entire line of ski boots with shells that hug your foot tighter to deliver higher performance. While the majority of interest in their line has been for the higher cuffed, big-boot version, the emphasis here is on earning turns, so a review of the most touring friendly tele boot seem appropriate.

In the telemark line, one of the most obvious visual elements of this ongoing refinement in performance is the elimination of the toe buckle. Sporting only two buckles, Kenai is the replacement for the SynerG, a svelte mix of power and touring pragmatism. So the question is, are two buckles enough?

In downhill mode they’re the only two that really matter, holding your heel in place above and below the ankle. For extra power, the cuff is as high as EnerG, but with a nice fat power strap to secure the upper lip. It adds enough leverage to handle mid-phat to full-phat. If you insist they can drive super fatties, but Garmont’s Voodoo makes more sense in that case. As you would expect, the flex is smooth, thanks in part to a new progressive bellows that collapses at the rear first, then the front. The bellows is curved to conform to the metatarsal line so you can weight your pinky toe better. All in all, excellent improvements throughout Garmont’s new tele boot line.

One of the coolest items is the new Easy-Lock cuff buckle. This utilizes a rib of plastic down the middle of the latches that grabs the mating hook and holds it securely in the groove. With the hook effectively locked in the groove, to switch from fully clamped for turning, to loose for skinning, just unflip the buckle. No need to take the time to hook it into a special touring tooth, or worry about it flopping around. Just flip the buckle open and it hangs loose without letting go. To completely unhook, or to even catch the hook, press down on a button at the end of the grooved side of the buckle to pull the plastic fingers back and let the wire go. This is far and away my favorite feature Garmont’s newest generation of ski boots, tele and AT.

There are other changes in the basic construction of this boot. It uses an overlap tongue, and triple injected plastic to reinforce lateral rigidity in the shell and in reinforcing ribs around the angled bellows. Plus the liner is completely new, with three zones of different density foam and reinforced lace eyelets that look like they can actually survive tugging on them more than half a dozen times, unlike the eyelets on SynerG’s or EnerG liners. Be forewarned, Garmont liners are the least preformed of any telemark boot manufacturer. Combined with a lower shell that is the narrowest available the correct size shell will probably be uncomfortably tight out of the box. In my case, even a shell that was a size large was tight on my forefoot, while the correct size shell was downright painful. Since it was my duty to get past first impressions I followed my own advice and despite the pain I trusted the molding process and voila, after molding they felt great. By design the end result is a very comfortable liner that resists packing out. This is due to the squished nature of the foam on either side of your forefoot (after molding), and to the use of a denser foam underfoot.

Though narrower than models of yore, these boots still favor those with a higher instep foot. Those with a low instep like yours truly will need to fill the extra space above the instep with extra foam rubber so the lone foot buckle can hold your heel down better.

Regardless of whether you have a low or high volume foot, the lack of a second buckle practically guarantees more heel movement in the shell. This isn’t noticeable while turning, but is especially true in tour mode where you want your upper leg to be able to flex fore and aft. As soon as you release the cuff buckle, the only thing attempting to hold your foot in the boot is the foot buckle. When you’re skinning, this is simply insufficient and your heel will lift with each step. On a long tour, that spells blisters – the longer the tour, the badder the blisters. On the positive side, the tour/turn lever that releases the cuff allows a lot more movement than its predecessor, the SynerG. It may move more, but it doesn’t feel any more free, owing to the higher cuff.

I agree with Kenai’s premise that the front buckle of most ski boots is vestigial. Unfortunately the lone buckle is not far enough back to keep my heel in place, especially with the cuff buckle loosed. Those with a higher instep, or a higher volume foot will probably not notice.

In downhill mode Kenai skis more like a T1 than a T2 or T2X. The closest boot in performance is probably Black Diamond’s Seeker, but even here, Kenai’s stiffer frame and cuff offer more. Bottom line, I’m not sure two buckles is enough to hold your foot secure enough in all modes of travel. For those who tend to judge a boot based on criteria like the number of buckles, Kenai delivers far more than you would expect. However, considering how little an extra buckle weighs, I’d recommend Voodoo over Kenai, not so much for turning as the ability to hold your foot in place for touring.

© 2010