Exclusive First Look: 2012-2013 Tecnica Cochise Pro AT boot

Product: 2012-2013 Tecnica Cochise Pro alpine touring boot

Flex: 130 flex

Last: 98mm

Liner: High end, Alpine race liner with a tight, defined fit, and firm c-shaped padding around the ankle.

Soles: DIN soles are standard, Tech soles sold separately for $70 retail.

The Tecnica Cochise Pro is the boot I have been waiting 10 years to actually come to market.

2012-2013 Tecnica Cochise Pro
2012-2013 Tecnica Cochise Pro

It is a 98mm last, 130 flex, full blown, alpine boot (a la the Tecnica Demon 130), with a functional walk mode, and Dynafit / AT / alpine binding compatibility.

After growing tired of hoping for such a boot, I finally had decided to just build my own, source a spare Tecnica Bodacious lower and a bunch of assorted parts, and marry it to a Tecnica Cochise cuff.

Fate intervened, however, and Tecnica boot czar, Conor Brown, offered to build for me a…Co-Dacious? A Bo-Chise?

Prototype: Cochise Pro
Prototype: Cochise Pro

He wound up mating a 2011 Bodacious lower with a 2011 Cochise upper, which replicates the specs of the 2012 Cochise Pro, allowing me to test the skiing, fit, and stride that will be present on the production 2012-2013 Cochise Pro.

I should add that this science experiment might appear on paper to be rather straight forward, but it is actually very involved and requires a number of parts and tools that are simply not widely available.

My proto-Cochise Pros weigh in (with an Intuition liner and Surefoot footbed) at ~1900g, or about 50g heavier than a Cochise with the same liner and Surefoot footbed.

For reference:

Black Diamond Factor with intuition liner and surefoot footbed is ~1950g

Technica Cochise with intuition and surefoot footbed is ~1850g

Dynafit Titan with Intuition and Surefoot footbed is ~1825.

After doing some further experiments with heat-molding the liner, I was able to get the boots up on slope for a quick session. I was on 78mm race carve skis shralping hardpack, which is a great way to test the stiffness, power and rebound of an alpine boot.

The skiing performance is very high, and legitimately compares to my now retired Nordica 98mm 130 flex Dobermann’s. I can’t say that I would want to race at a high level in the Cochise Pro, but for general all-mountain ripping-around, both the Dobermann and Cochise Pro are neck and neck.

The interesting thing is that the Dobermann—with the same Intuition liner and Surefoot footbed—is ~2400g. I’m very interested to find out through further testing across more terrain, the extent to which the lighter boot impacts performance on the down. Assuming that the boot has the same flex, stiffness, rigidity and fit, a lighter boot should be higher performing since the skier can (in theory) be quicker and more precise in his or her movements.

19 comments on “Exclusive First Look: 2012-2013 Tecnica Cochise Pro AT boot”

  1. Wow, Tecnica is really stepping it up! The Cochise light is very appealing to me. I find that weight a bit hard to believe. Thats a huge weight loss just for different buckles, strap, and liner. Is the plastic the same as the standard Cochise? I wonder if the flex will be the same. Its awfully early to be previewing 2012-2013 boots, any chance this is going to be a mid-season release?

  2. Very cool. It looks like it might become hard to find a 4 buckle AT boot at some point, but if these have all of the performance……..

  3. hey MM- the pro’s do come in a 100mm last. they are called the standard Cochise. the only difference between the PRO and standard cochise, realistically, is the internal shape (98mm vs. 100mm). the cochise pro is slightly stiffer only because the wall thickness of the plastic is thicker due to the narrower last.

    cheers!

  4. like every time thanks for the info.
    for me the last of the cochise was more than 100mm, good flex, but too much room (and no inside foot good molding).

    only one thing: on paper, the fourth buckle/strap was a good idea.

    one time I try it, the strap is more powerfull than the buckle.
    you can’t close it if you strap first: three buckles are lighter with the same effect.
    I’m sure it’s more marketing than it is usefull!

  5. all this sound very exiting
    one thing very important for me : progressivity of flex.
    sometimes on At boot, with the ski/walk mecanism you have a little gap, play on the flex.
    I hope tecnica will look carefully after that…

  6. Outstanding work Marshal! I like the new Tecnica boots and will definitely look at this boot when I get the chance to – right at the top of my list!!!

  7. Hmm, after the SIA show, I’m wondering if this will be competing with Salomon’s quest max 120 and the Lange XT130, although I’m not sure if those have swappable at/alpine sole blocks.

  8. C Haugan

    Neither the Salomon or Lange will also have a swappable Tech sole option nor are they any where near as stiff as the Cochise 130, the Lange XT 130 felt as stiff as the Cochise 90. The range of motion on the Cochise Pro 130 is also twice what the Quest and Lange XT. Both boots still have a lower spine that goes up the back of the ski boot so even if you release the walk function your lower leg runs into the spine in the back of the boot and you end up with virtually no rearward range of motion. The range of motion in the Cochise isn’t as good as a Maestrale or a TLT-5 but as you can see from Marshal’s review it’s pretty comparable to the Titan series from Dynafit and more than a Factor from BD.

    • Marshal, thanks for the great reviews and info on this series. Do you know if the Standard Cochise will have the better liner for 2012-13? I don’t think the narrower Pro will work for me, and I also have a high instep. I tried on the current Cochise and was very happy with the fit–just wondering about the liner quality.

  9. greetings nick, the 2011/12 liner was much nicer than what i sampled in this review, sort of a standard mid-high end liner, and the new liner for 12/13 is legitimately as nice as any stock liner on the market.

Leave a Comment