The signs were clear if you were looking. But nobody cares that Scott Sports makes Telemark boots. Make that made Telemark boots. Already past tense. Scott will soon announce, officially, they will no longer produce their already Spartan line of 75mm telemark boots, the Synergy and Voodoo. As a result, Scott’s remaining Telemark boot, the Voodoo NTN is endangered, as are all duckbilled boots. At this point Scott Tele will not last long. I never believed it would.
The sad thing is it wouldn’t have taken much for Scott to make a competitive product and grow sales. Make an NTN version of Synergy, promote it, and cull the rest. All Scott has done is use the molds they bought from Garmont, change colors, and let the accountants set a threshold for killing the product line. When you don’t till the ground these boots are planted in (actively promote it), they die.
The clue to their demise was how Scott retired the Excursion and the kids telemark boot line. They stopped making them three years ago, and didn’t make the announcement until there were none left. It’s not an unusual business tactic.
When I checked the Scott website for size availability of Synergy in October 2021; all they had were mondo size 29.5. That was at the beginning of the sales season. Supply chain issues had been established in the ski world, but this wasn’t product stuck in a port, it no longer existed back then, er, except for that last pair of 29s.
In the case of the 75mm Voodoo and Minerva, your lovers were few anyway, so not much of a loss. However the Synergy featured the classic Garmont flex that many once preferred and a roomy last for high volume feet. That will be a loss. Sayonara Synergy, you will be missed.
Can the entire species of duckbilled boots be far behind?
© 2022
Isn’t it odd that the country shaped like a boot produces the best Tele boots? (Well, really the best of any boot for that matter, cowboy boots excepted.)
The arrival of plastic boots was the beginning of the end of the telemark spirit, killed (definitely?) by the new standardized bindings other than the good old 75mm. Add the wedges for raising the plastic prostheses, and the picture of death is complete. Lightness and simplicity, the arguments of the telemark pioneers, have given way to “things” that make me think of alpine skiing. I’m delighted to have arrived at an age that brings me a little closer to the exit every day. And to ski with my old Merrell Super Comp, more than enough to have your heels and your mind free…
Oh for snap sakes…keep spreading telemark!
Be still my heart. This is bad bad news for old school, new school sucks in my opinion. Dang, buy them when you find them.
After 35+ years of tele and Xc skiing (based in. Australia), its sad to see the number boot options fall away.
Scarpa’s future(?) lighter-NTN boot can’t arrive soon enough. Meanwhile, Excursions will trump my TXPros boots for easy, light tours. And for groomed XC trails, the Excursions are great.
Scored a pair of Synergies in December. What a pile of crap! I have skiied them 6 to 8 hours. Please ,someone make me an offer so I can recoup some of my investment. These are 27.5 , but you better need a 28.5 for these to work.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!