As usual with Scarpa, the thermoformable inner shoe comes from Intuition. It is not excessively thin, as with ultralight shoes, but not very voluminous either. Actually just right. The inner shoe comes with a few laces for lacing. What bothered me, however, is that you can't lace the inner shoes up really tightly. Although I don't have exceptionally thin calves, the two sides of the liner touch when lacing before the shoe fits snugly on the foot.
All in all, the Scarpa F1 TR makes a pretty solid impression, despite all the new and unfamiliar features. In size 29.5, the shoe weighs 1400g. The shell is kept very short (322mm at 29.5). The shoe also has a grippy Vibram sole. I also liked the fact that you can easily adjust the heel angle to three different positions. I set the lowest position with the widest angle of support.
Tester and test conditions
I am 191cm tall and weigh 91kg. My forefoot is slightly wide, otherwise I have relatively normal feet without any major problem areas. In general, I prefer rather narrow shoes and have them adjusted by a boot fitter in the event of minor pressure points. I wear size 29.5 ski boots, which I use either in combination with a light ski setup (Blizzard ZeroG 85 with ATK Race SLR) or a slightly more freeride-heavy setup (Blizzard Kabookie with ATK Freeraider 14), most of the time on ski tours. I've been using the Scarpa F1 TR since the beginning of December. In addition to traditional tours, I also did a few ski tours on the piste at the start of the season. In the end, the ski boot was used in almost all conditions (except very deep powder).
Test report
Entry and ascent
Getting into the boot is a little awkward. Without the two tabs on the liner, it's almost impossible to get in. Even the trick of putting on the inner shoe first and then putting it into the shell together with the inner shoe, which is normally my favorite, doesn't work properly (except with a shoehorn). The reason for this is the inner shoe material, which gets stuck around the heel. If you could block the walking mechanism, it would probably work. Furthermore, when getting into the shoe, care must be taken to ensure that the shoe laces do not get tangled in the tongue. Once you're in, closing the buckles is super easy thanks to the Boa Closure System and the strap buckle.
Getting into the binding also works perfectly. Here you can clearly feel the advantage of the Quick Step-In inserts compared to conventional (non-Dynafit) inserts.
The F1 TR is very comfortable to walk in, thanks to its low weight and balanced shape. The shoe has excellent freedom of movement and a pleasantly rounded sole, so that walking both in the binding and without skis on your feet is very comfortable. I often let the strap buckle go on shorter climbs. For longer climbs, you have a little more freedom of movement if you leave the upper strap and buckle open. In this case, however, you still have to bend down and you lose the advantage of the TR system's handle-less entry.
What can also be a limiting factor is that crampons only fit on the boot to a limited extent. Because of the TR system, the shape of the heel is slightly adapted. Not all crampons will fit. The instructions for use describe what you should bear in mind when wearing crampons with the F1 TR.
Once you have closed the strap, you only need to step into the binding after converting the skis and the locking mechanism locks automatically. In practice, it happened to me on two different days that snow accumulated in the system and the mechanism no longer worked. This could not be remedied on site. I was therefore forced to set off in ascent mode. During the descent, the system recovered and reengaged. On one occasion, however, I skied about 600 vertical meters with the right boot in walk mode, which was very annoying.
Downhill performance
The flex of the F1 TR is very comfortable and even. It can't be compared to a piste boot, but the boot is still surprisingly firm for its weight when the buckles are sufficiently tight. The fact that the boot has a relatively large volume bothered me a little. With the Boa system, I couldn't tighten the boot quite as much as I would have liked. Nevertheless, the boot offers good support and allows controlled and precise steering of the skis in all conditions. At least with narrower and medium-width skis.
