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Alpina BC 1550 Backcountry Boots - About

Alpina BC 1550 Backcountry Boots – About: This is the BC 1550. This has been a tradition in the Alpina Boot Line for many, many years and seen some nice updates. This is the number one back country boot sold in the United States and has been for years. It’s just a great all around touring boot for anybody wanting to go off track and can certainly be used in track, but is primarily thought of as the back country or an out of track type boot. The 1550 has a molded counter and cuff with a Velcro closure. It creates tons of stability with the system itself that’s also quite wide and very stable. The platform itself is excellent for any kind of heavy duty touring—you’re wearing a pack or you’re going outside to do some more rugged type skiing. This would be great and you do need the extra support. The boot flexes very nice so it’s very comfortable to ski in. It has a broader toe box, good easy toe room, nice wiggle room when you’re wearing the right socks. It does have a covering over the entrance on the laces so it does help from water to penetrate. It’s just easy to get in and out of . We added this year a new rivet on the side so you can really cinch it down and make it a little tighter over the instep. But a great all around touring boot and been a fan favorite for years.

Chris Freeman - Why Alpina

Chris Freeman - Why Alpina: I like working with Alpina because they’re innovative with their products. They don’t just come up with a good product and just sit on it. They’re always trying to make it better and they listen to their athletes—the top athletes that they have in the world cup. It they have a problem with a boot, they go back to the drawing board, they address it, they fix it, and the boot comes back better. And that’s how it should be done. There’s no laziness in this company.

Chris Freeman - Working with Alpina

Chris Freeman - Working with Alpina: Alpina is the only company at this point that is just about ski boots in the cross country ski world. That’s where they’re focused and that is very clear when you pick their boot up and put it on your foot. If I didn’t think it was the best boot, I wouldn’t use it. They’ve been a shoe company in Europe for years and it comes through when you put that boot on your foot.

History of Alpina Sports

History of Alpina Sports: In the early ‘50’s when skiing was just getting started, there was a young man by the name of Eric Reese that had been in the German Lufewafa as a navigator. Post war he wanted to get out of Germany. He didn’t know much about skiing, but he knew a lot about shoe making. The story in between there and how he ended here I don’t know, but one day he arrived at the docks in New York with a Volkswagen bus that I think was one of the first ones that came to this country. They had stuccoed the entire thing and they built a little Swiss chalet on top of it. They dressed him up in some Liederhausen and said “There you go, Mr. Reese. Go sell ski boots to the Americans.” They had plenty of money. So he started driving across the United States with this little bus and a bunch of leather and selling ski boots, downhill ski boots, under the name of Rieker. Along came about the ‘70’s--early ‘70’s, late ‘60’s—and Rieker ran into trouble in Austria. So Eric Reese already had a very good business going out of this and he decided he would buy what’s called the lasts and the cutting knives, the shapes of the leather that made the boots. And plastics were just starting to come around a little bit. He went shopping for someplace that he could have these boots made under God knows what name—he couldn’t think of that one at the time. He went to a country called Yugoslavia at the time and working through an agent at the airport, found this little sleepy hamlet up in the foothills of the Julien Alps in a town called Ziri and convinced them they could make ski boots. They’d never done it before in their lives, but they were outstanding boot makers for years supplying an awful lot of the behind the iron curtain military shoes, fashion shoes, casual shoes and boots. They knocked it out of the park. The name of the company was called Alpina, so he adopted the name and Alpina Sports U.S.A. was born that day. He brought in a young protégée by the name of Rolf Shear who became sort of his imagination man. He was about 20 years younger than he was. Together they built Alpina Sports. They expanded the product lines well beyond footwear to include bindings and poles and skis and today we have clothing as well. So that’s sort of a little snippet of how Alpina Sports and the brand Alpina came to be.