• Forums
  • Gear Talk
  • Modifying iso 9523 boots to work with GripWalk or iso 5355

Member of the Month

GayWolf420
June, 2025

Online

Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!

Modifying iso 9523 boots to work with GripWalk or iso 5355

profile picture
Distancedave
Posts: 22 - Karma: 42
I have Scarpa Freedom RS boots with the changeable soles. One is an iso 9523 touring boot with pin insert. The other are iso 5355 but of course without pin inserts. So are I've had Look Pivot 18s on one pair of skis and Fritschi Tectons on another and have been switching the soles each time switching skis. Now I've finally gotten a Cast Touring system, but without pin inserts in my iso 5355 soles, this doesn't work. I know I can get the boot conversion from Cast but I'm not really willing to spend another 200 just for that. In addition I would still have to change the soles each time, and I believe it doesn't even work with the peculiar soles of the Scarpa Freedom. So to my question:

Could I modify the iso 9523 soles to work with the GripWalk or iso 5355 AFD plates offered with the Pivot Cast system?
Since the Fritschi only relies on the pins, I don't really care about the soles (they're also very worn out anyway).
Logically, it seems like I could sand off some of the rubber on the touring soles to reach the GripWalk standard, but maybe I misunderstood the differences.

Some photos attached
5 years ago
1 1
profile picture
Non_State_Actor
Posts: 5100 - Karma: 18,714
DIY boot sole modification is a pretty terrible idea. If you have access to some serious cnc machines and can mill them to spec that's one thing but just taking a belt sander to the sole and trusting your bindings are going to release properly is quite another.
5 years ago
9 0
profile picture
tomPietrowski
Posts: 7295 - Karma: 18,720
I may be wrong but do you not need a solid sole lug to get the inserts added? Not sure fast will be able to do it those those soles. I may be wrong though.
5 years ago
0 0
profile picture
Distancedave
Posts: 22 - Karma: 42
tomPietrowskiI may be wrong but do you not need a solid sole lug to get the inserts added? Not sure fast will be able to do it those those soles. I may be wrong though.


Not sure what you mean by "sole lug". But I agree, from what Cast writes on their website, it sound like their pin insert conversion won't be possible for me.
That's exactly why I'm wondering if I could modify my touring soles to at least work with the GripWalk AFDs offered by Cast/Look.
5 years ago
0 0
profile picture
onenerdykid
Posts: 6750 - Karma: 11,806
DistancedaveCould I modify the iso 9523 soles to work with the GripWalk


Big no.

The dimensions for GripWalk are not 100% equal to ISO 9523. It can be that there is some overlap between the two (some brand's GripWalk is also ISO 9523, but it is not always the case and won't be the case in the future). And there is no way for you to know if Scarpa's 9523 can overlap with GripWalk.

Part two, even if you could somehow DIY convert your 9523 soles to GripWalk, how are you going to check that they are 100% GripWalk compatible?

Sorry - this is just not going to work and if Scarpa does not offer actual GripWalk pads for the Freedom, then you are either stuck with 9523 or 5355.
5 years ago
1 0
profile picture
animator
Posts: 4576 - Karma: 26,432
I can’t lie, this could be the dumbest thing I’ve seen so far regarding boots. Come on man, boots have to reach an international standard for a reason: people’s safety. Modifying boots completely throws any liability out the door. You can theoretically do whatever you want, they might even test out (if you can do it yourself or find some idiot at a shop to do it), but if you get hurt you’ll understand why these standards are set in place
5 years ago
2 0
profile picture
Distancedave
Posts: 22 - Karma: 42
So thanks everyone for shutting down my idea. I'll leave the boots as they are. But can I get a solution to my main issue?

How could I use my cast touring system with the stuff I have? (meaning not buying new boots or doing the cast boot conversion)
5 years ago
0 1
profile picture
Distancedave
Posts: 22 - Karma: 42
The referenced post has been removed.


What else is a good and reliable as the pivot and cast?
Please don't say the shift because I had that and had at least 1 daily pre-release everytime I skied (no matter what I tried).
5 years ago
0 0
profile picture
TheWeaz
Posts: 803 - Karma: 1,903
Im having a tough time understanding why you purchased incompatible products that you knew were incompatible?

you could probably jam the touring sole into cast using the wtr afds they sell, I’ve skied a couple time with mtn labs in cast like that. The release will not be remotely consistent and no shop will test or mount that set up, in all reality you probably won’t release form the toe at all with that set up so if you do it be really careful.

Another option is to switch sole blocks at the top of every lap, skin up in the touring sole and ski down in the alpine soles.

third option is to buy new boots, expensive but is your best bet for using cast and being able to release.

Fourth option is selling cast and buying something more compatible with your boots, shift, duke pt when it comes out, etc. sounds like you don’t like the shift so your options on this one are limited.
5 years ago
3 0
profile picture
Distancedave
Posts: 22 - Karma: 42
TheWeazIm having a tough time understanding why you purchased incompatible products that you knew were incompatible?

you could probably jam the touring sole into cast using the wtr afds they sell, I’ve skied a couple time with mtn labs in cast like that. The release will not be remotely consistent and no shop will test or mount that set up, in all reality you probably won’t release form the toe at all with that set up so if you do it be really careful.

Another option is to switch sole blocks at the top of every lap, skin up in the touring sole and ski down in the alpine soles.

third option is to buy new boots, expensive but is your best bet for using cast and being able to release.

Fourth option is selling cast and buying something more compatible with your boots, shift, duke pt when it comes out, etc. sounds like you don’t like the shift so your options on this one are limited.


I didn't actually purchase it. I got the cast system for free and had a pivot already. Plus my skis have been drilled twice so would obviously prefer to stay with the same holes as I can with the cast and pivot.
Thanks for the second option, didn't think of that. It's tedious but I guess my only option.
5 years ago
0 0
profile picture
TheWeaz
Posts: 803 - Karma: 1,903
DistancedaveI didn't actually purchase it. I got the cast system for free and had a pivot already. Plus my skis have been drilled twice so would obviously prefer to stay with the same holes as I can with the cast and pivot.
Thanks for the second option, didn't think of that. It's tedious but I guess my only option.


It might be worth reaching out to cast and seeing if they have any solutions, they’re pretty creative folks so they might have an idea none of us have thought of.
5 years ago
1 0
All times are Eastern (-4); Currently it's 4:23PM