lafcadio Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 On 11/30/2023 at 10:12 PM, lamby said: I found the Atomic Backlands to be quite soft, compared to the hard boots I normally ride with at our local resort (Deeluxe T700 with blue BTS). The Backlands or Slippers might be just the ticket for someone looking for a softer hard boot option. Regarding stiffness, the Phantom Slipper's primary modification to the Backland is the addition of the Link Lever attachment, which controls forward lean and stiffness. The stiffness is based on the spring (similar to BTS), which comes in 4 different stiffness ratings: https://www.phantomsnow.com/collections/boots/products/link-levers Quote Levers come installed with the springs of your choice ! Green - Stiff Suggested weight range 160lbs/ 72.5kg + Gold - Mid Stiff Suggested weight range 140lbs-180lbs/ 63.5-82kg Red - Soft Suggested weight range 110lbs -150lbs / 50-68kg Blue - SuperSoft I'm 5'5" at 160 pounds and using the gold springs. Honestly, I'm finding the boots a bit stiff for me, especially when riding in softer snow. I've already ordered the red springs. Keep in mind, I tend to like my carving boots on the softer side. I normally use the UPZ XC12s for carving, which are notably soft. But you should be able to get a stiffer flexing boot by choosing the green springs. I'm not sure how the Phantom Slipper compares to a stock Atomic Backland without the Link Lever installed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 8 hours ago, lafcadio said: ... I'm 5'5" at 160 pounds and using the gold springs. Honestly, I'm finding the boots a bit stiff for me, especially when riding in softer snow. I've already ordered the red springs. Keep in mind, I tend to like my carving boots on the softer side.... I'm not sure how the Phantom Slipper compares to a stock Atomic Backland without the Link Lever installed. The 1st generation levers came with all the springs, the 2nd gen ones you have to tell them which to supply you with. I'm 62Kgs - 140 Imperial pounds - and the gold levers were the default for the gen 1, so I still use those. I've not tried the others; don't want to muck with something which just works. But then I rode everything from ski race boots through HSPs etc and whatever it is I've not ever really worried about "stiffness". I rode the stock Backlands without the levers too, those were fine for me, with one specific exception: the stock levers have two positions only, and I could not get enough forward lean for my back boot. I could have cranked up the heel lift from 3° to 6°, or maybe drilled out the stock levers, but the Phantom leavers have a much wider range of lean available, and those solved my "heel down" problem. I liked riding the stock Backlands, which were at least as good as my old HSP boots, and half the weight. I switched to the springs once they came out though, and those are obviously softer than the stock levers, which have no flex at all. The difference... was me "going softer", if you like... but not as soft as soft boots, and the lateral stiffness is not affected by the springs. I'm not attracted by the slippers, which I think are maybe aimed more at convincing soft booters to make the switch (a very good thing). Phantom do a lot of good work in that area, but I'm not the target demographic, having zero fear of ski boots what so ever. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamby Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 7 hours ago, philw said: I rode the stock Backlands without the levers too, those were fine for me, with one specific exception: the stock levers have two positions only, and I could not get enough forward lean for my back boot. I could have cranked up the heel lift from 3° to 6°, or maybe drilled out the stock levers, but the Phantom leavers have a much wider range of lean available, and those solved my "heel down" problem. I found the adjustability of the Phantom levers to be useful to me too, to get more forward lean going on my rear foot. The Hawx come with levers like the backlands with just a locked or unlocked/walk mode available. Changing to the Phantom springs provided the adjustability I was looking for. 8 hours ago, philw said: I liked riding the stock Backlands, which were at least as good as my old HSP boots, and half the weight. I switched to the springs once they came out though, and those are obviously softer than the stock levers, which have no flex at all. The difference... was me "going softer", if you like... but not as soft as soft boots, and the lateral stiffness is not affected by the springs. I do love how light my Hawx are. I do a lot of walking in my snowboard boots, so lightness and a nice walk mode is sweet. First shots were of front/left boot with forward lean. This is of rear boot with more forward lean adjusted into it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lafcadio Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 On 12/11/2023 at 5:35 AM, philw said: I could not get enough forward lean for my back boot. I could have cranked up the heel lift from 3° to 6° Are you referring to heel lift built into the boot? Or something in the bindings? The biggest issue for me right now carving (or turning in general) on a splitboard setup (Phantom Slipper HD boots with Spark R&D Dyno HD bindings) is the relatively flat stance. I'm using the Spark R&D canted pucks but there's no heel lift. I'm thinking of trying to rig something up to get some heel lift on my back foot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted December 13, 2023 Report Share Posted December 13, 2023 10 hours ago, lafcadio said: Are you referring to heel lift built into the boot? Or something in the bindings? The biggest issue for me right now carving (or turning in general) on a splitboard setup (Phantom Slipper HD boots with Spark R&D Dyno HD bindings) is the relatively flat stance. I'm using the Spark R&D canted pucks but there's no heel lift. I'm thinking of trying to rig something up to get some heel lift on my back foot. Specifically the forward lean of the upper cuff of the boot: the angle the upper cuff makes to the base of the boot. My F2 bindings also provide 1° toe lift/ 3° heel lift, which I think you are saying you can't get from those Sparks. I guess you have to either figure out how to get some lift from the bindings, or maybe you could tweak the boot base (delta / ramp angle) by sticking a partial insole in there or some such. I'd hassle Spark - they can't be a massive company and lift seems to me at least to be much more useful than cant. I can't visualize the mechanics of the Spark system, but presumably a shim somewhere would do the job... something under the boot heel even? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leeho730 Posted December 14, 2023 Report Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) I have the very old phantom binding (the very first production version) and I would probably stick to Ibex binding. Adjustable cleats cost like $350 and is more expensive than Ibex binding or F2 Carve RS which is like $229… Edited December 14, 2023 by leeho730 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted December 22, 2023 Report Share Posted December 22, 2023 Any excuse to post a photo, this from yesterday 20th December 2023 in Big White... fresh tracks all the way. And then today, suddenly I couldn't ride. I felt like an instant novice; I could kind of ride, but I thought I was going to crash any minute, and my front leg was hurting wildly with the strain. I took my boots out of the bindings and checked them, all seemed fine, tried again, still useless. Then I took them out again, and checked the springs... the front one had switched into "walk mode". I've had that in powder, but there it doesn't really matter... in resort snow, it really, really matters. I have two pairs of levers: Gen 1 and Gen 2. There's a mod on the Gen 2 which makes the self-switch to walk-mode less likely, but I'd also supplemented that with a tie wrap ("cable tie" in American). Today my tie wrap slipped, and the lever switched to walk... so I couldn't control the front of the board at all. It was actually quite interesting being a beginner again. My front leg had to learn how to soft boot... until I fixed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted December 22, 2023 Report Share Posted December 22, 2023 18 minutes ago, philw said: I felt like an instant novice Boy, I know this one! I struggled after lunch one day, turned out I forgot to lock my boots too after walking around the lodge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lafcadio Posted December 22, 2023 Report Share Posted December 22, 2023 The other day I somehow forgot to put the link lever into ride mode before heading down. Previously, I had been playing with the forward lean adjustment and the first thought I had was “Wow, I still need MORE forward lean?!” Yeah, with the link levers in walk mode, no kidding!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpalka Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 On 12/8/2023 at 4:43 PM, tpalka said: Not to highjack the thread, but has anyone tried to ride a splitboard like a monoboard? The bindings and HBs are narrow enough that I think it'd work. I got a chance to try it yesterday, looking for ways to optimize getting through flats in the backcountry. While I was practicing split skiing, I also clicked into the tech toes when the board was in one piece. Without the downhill bindings it was kind of a disaster -- too much flex on the planks, and I was afraid of breaking the board hooks. Could be fun skiing that way on a powder day, the video has my first 10 turns that way and I'm looking down way too much. I don't see much future in the split-monoski. Tom. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamby Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 Way to go! So great that you experimented with it as a monoski. And practice on split as ski set up super too. You're efforts bring a grin to my face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamby Posted February 24 Report Share Posted February 24 Inspired by tpalka, I decided to ride the lifts this morning on my split board set-up. I've gotten zero time in the backcountry this season, but I hope to get out there before too long. I figured it would be good to get more used to riding my split board by taking some laps at the resort. My split board is a 161 Jones Solution, Phantom bindings, Atomic Hawk 130 AT boots with Phantom link-levers (gold springs). With this set up I can reach 30-degree binding angles, which is how I have mine set up. Normally, when riding at the resort, on a non-split board set-up, I'm often riding binding angles of +/-45 rear and +/-54 front. In the past, when backcountry split boarding, the 30/30 angles were fine, but did feel limiting to me. I sort of longed for the ability of the Phantom bindings to be able to go to steeper angles. Today, I was pleased to find that what at first felt rather awkward, felt better and better as the morning wore on and as I got more miles on the 30/30 set-up. By my third run I was comfortable and relaxed and enjoying the set-up completely. I'm stoked that it felt so great. I feel like we’re adaptable, us humans, especially when we spend a lot of time getting proficient at things. After many years of doing sports, we get pretty good at making all sorts of set-ups work for us. I like things dialed, but it’s amazing how adaptable the human body is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpalka Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 Awesome! I couldn't agree more -- we're very adaptable -- worth switching up gear and settings to remain adaptable riders too For me too riding 30* took some getting used to... even on softboots I usually ride 45/15. But it didn't take too long to get adjusted, just like you wrote. Cheers, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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