First boots if and when to buy

A snowHead

So, having done a few hours of lessons in hire boots I am reasonably convinced of two things.

However, I don't want to go buying a pair of boots too soon. I'll likely be using the dry slopes once or twice a week over the next year and I have a week's skiing in the alps in March next year.

So, question is when to buy? I guess I definitely want them bought and broken in before March. I guess I'll get a better deal now than in the winter. But, is it worth waiting a while? My concern would be that my requirements might change significantly between now and March (I heard different levels have different optimum boots but not sure how important that is or how quickly it changes).

Also, any recommendations for good places to buy in or around Newcastle upon Tyne?

Thanks!

PS I did read the sticky boot thread so no need to point me there.

A snowHead

@Dogfever, in my experience the hire boots at an alpine resort are light years better than the ones at the UK slopes. I think it might be sensible to wait till after your first holiday, actually.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Ok. I'm hoping to do a 2 to 4 hours a week on the dry slope but I guess I'll have time to recover circulation on between. I suppose the time good boots really pay off is when you wear them six days on the bounce.

I can save a few hundred pounds on boots that's a few hundred pounds to spend on other kit. Happy days.

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@Dogfever, you are doing the right thing. Keep going to the dry slope - tuition is the best investment at this stage in your skiing career Very Happy

The shiny hardware will come later snowHead

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I actually disagree with waiting for boots. I didn't realise how bad snow dome boots are until I tried a pair. Dangerous if you ask me. They were like wellies.

I would go to your local store (e.g. Ellis Brigham) and ask for a pair of boots for a beginner. Expect to progress form these really quickly, but they will do you for the next year I suspect

eg
http://www.ellis-brigham.com/products/fischer-mens-fuse-8-vacuum-cf-1415-ski-boots/701426

Or a similar store.

They will not sell you something that won't fit but will kit you out. You will progress so much in "proper boots" that when you ge tot the proper slopes, you will be far better and enjoy is so much more.

At your stage a nice soft boot like an 80 flex is ideal. IMHO.

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Here are some random thoughts:

- As has been stated, boots are the most important piece of hardware you will own, as they can make or break your skiing experience.
- You should get more from your lessons if you are in properly fitted boots.
- The standard of hire boots can vary and whether they turn out to be suitable/comfortable can be a bit of a lottery, especially if you don't have "generic" feet.
- There is the question of whether to buy locally, or in resort. An argument can be made for both approaches, but what doesn't change is the need to find an experienced boot fitter with a good reputation.
- It is much more important to get "the right boot", rather than "a bargain boot".....and you are much more likely to get the former when stocks are high at the start of the season.

After all it is free

That all kind of confirms what I was thinking. Boots were my first big thing on account of the safety and comfort aspects. Just a question of whether I stick out the hire ones until I hit "optimistic intermediate" or whatever comes after utter incompetent.

Other spends are likely to just be base and mid layers sufficient that I don't spend my holiday washing or smelling (any worse than usual anyway).

Skis can wait pretty much forever. The tradeoff of cost plus hassle against benefit just doesn't seem worth it in the foreseeable future.

I think if you're really uncomfortable in hire boots, and have tried different sizes, it makes sense to buy. But don't kid yourself it's for safety reasons. wink

Be sure to go to a good bootfitter - when you're not used to boots it's very easy to buy a pair that are too big, because they feel comfy "out of the box".

I wouldn't worry too much about whether they are "beginner" or "intermediate" boots. What is vital is that they fit really well - which means getting the smallest size feasible, doing a proper shell check - which a good fitter will do. Too high a flex is probably more of a problem than too low a flex - unless you are really hefty and just likely to crush a low flex boot.

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@pam w, I concede that it's really the comfort. I have already decided that it will be a proper boot fitter job. I don't know anything like enough about what I'm buying to do anything else. I would hope that would avoid the bargain boot issue @GlasgowCyclops mentioned.

The other issue is that I don't know any good boot fitters up this way. My nearest EB is Leeds which isn't a problem but I do like to buy locally. I can always ask around the dry slope.

Thanks to everyone for the advice

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You can't rely on Ellis Brigham - it all depends who you get. A personal recommendation is best. Maybe amend your thread title to ask for recommendations for a bootfitter near Newcastle.

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A properly fitted boot for you will allow you to progress and enjoy skiing up to i'd guess any level except racing.... a boot that fits you for size and stiffness fits you whether beginner or advanced.

And i'd not bother at all with Ellis Brigham or Snow and Rock etc etc...

MAYBE you're lucky enough to have an entirely 'average' shape of foot and so on... but i'd recommend savng wasted time, money and heartache and seeing a properly trained professional bootfitter - so the usual suspects mentioned on here like CEM.

Essentially, you can check out the web sites and see the difference.
EB and others will sell you all sorts of stuff includng boots, by people they choose to describe as 'bootfitters' - do you see any mention of experience, trained podiatrists or genuine knowledge of feet and sk boots on those web sites?
Now compare to CEM. Yes, he has a good reputation on here but look at that website and the difference says it all. Mention of boot cuff alignment and genuine boot canting, stories of people being sent away elsewhere if CEM does not have anything suitable or if the more custom made to measure shells boots are needed and so on...
Plus, just as or MORE importantly, you can have a CORRECTIVE footbed made by someone who knows what they're doing rather than slapping you on snazzy footbed machine regardless of your arch or foot issues and the. callng it a 'custom' footbed.

@rant over@

Anyway, carry on with the lessons, and i'd go ahead and get the boots in advance of ski trip so you can ensure any minor issues are sorted ( assuming you can afford them and since you seem sure you'll be skiing more and more... which is a very reasonable assumption if you already enjoy sking on a dry ski slope....! I learnt many years ago at Churchill dry ski slope in Somerset... you will absolutely love the real thing!)

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I wouldn't recommend buying boots at this time of year. Shops will only have limited range available, the remains of this winter's stock. You might be lucky and find the right pair for your feet in the correct size, or you might be tempted to buy boots that aren't right for you because you might save a bit of money. Much better to wait until the autumn when the shop will have the full range of boots available so the boot fitter has the most options for your feet.

A snowHead

Keith yeoman is generally considered to be the best bootfitter in the north east. His company is called foot stability. He doesn't sell boots anymore I don't think. However, he occasionally attends the ski clubs at Silksworth to advise on boot fitting issues. Footstability@outlook.com is the address I have.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

+1 on finding a personally recommended boot fitter and then go with their advice on which boot to choose (which could well be at EB or S&N or smaller specialist shop)
+1 on waiting until autumn when a full range of new season boots will be in stock, although no harm in approaching a boot fitter now to see what they have.
+1 on ignoring the sales - ski boots are not the thing to skimp on cost. If the right boot happens to be on sale then consider it a bonus.

One thing to add, there is really no such thing as "beginner, intermediate, expert" boots except for full-on pro race boots which are irrelevant to this discussion. There are basically 2 types of boots. Those that actually fit your foot with a flex pattern that matches your weight and range of natural ankle movement and those that don't! But a good boot fitter will put you in the right boot. It doesn't really matter how that boot happens to be marketed. In other words, you may well end up in a pair of "expert" level boots, but it doesn't mean they will be too much for you to handle as a beginner. They are not like skis in this respect.

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I must be lucky, my 90 quid boots in the sales have been great, I did get a custom footbed made for them, but other than that no issues... apart from now I'm out skiing them and they aren't black.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks to all who have responded.

I guess there's always a risk someone will just sell me what they have or what they get the best margin on. That risk will likely be higher in the sales. My thought was that someone reputable and recommended would be less likely to do that than someone without a reputation to look after.

I'll definitely look up Keith/Foot Stability although he doesn't seem to have much online presence. I do ski at Silksworth so I will ask around. Thanks @sledger!

Failing that a trip to Edinburgh might be in order.

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@Dogfever, don't let the boot Gods phase you on here. Some people (including me) have really weird feet and need specialist help. Like 99% of the population, you probably don't, so you'll be fine at any of the usual outlets. It's not rocket science.

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@Dogfever, get in touch with Kieth, he can advise you what will work, he is a great guy and the person i would trust in that corner of the country

After all it is free

@CEM, great. Thanks for the recommendation

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@RichClark,

That kind of chimes with my expectations. My hope was that a good, independent guy with a reputation to protect isn't going to jeopardise that just to dump one pair of end of season boots.

I wouldn't expect the same service from a more volume oriented business. Having said that I do think that's likely to depend on whether you get a good staff member. I would feel a bit harsh to tar everyone who works for these places with the same brush but the problem is that you can't really tell.

If the one thing people remark on as they ski round me on the nursery slopes is the colour of my boots I will be a happy man.

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in resort, find good boot fitter who "will sort you out", shred in real snow, on a real mountain and come back to him/her if you feel uncomfortable.

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in resort, find good boot fitter who "will sort you out", shred in real snow, on a real mountain and come back to him/her if you feel uncomfortable.

@Dogfever, as you are in Newcastle, have you tried LD Mountain Centre on Dean Street? It always used to be the place for most outdoor equipment back in the day.

I've not bought anything there for a few years (alas I now live away from my native region) but have popped in several times on visits and it doesn't seem to have changed much. Like most specialist independent shops they value their reputation so I doubt they would willingly sell you bum gear.

Here's a link to their boot page: http://www.ldmountaincentre.com/ski-c26/equipment-c87/ski-boots-c127

Someone else mentioned Decathlon for other clobber, and as your luck would have it they opened up a new shop on the Team Valley retail park in Gateshead at the back end of last year. Took the kids in just after Christmas to get kitted out for this year's half-term skiing and can thoroughly recommend it (just the Decathlon, mind, the rest of the place is a hole).

Good luck.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I agree with @uktrailmonster. If you only have a week's holiday, how much of it do you want to spend getting boots fitted/tweaked? And how would you decide which to go to? Even small resorts will have several and they are not necessarily all good.

A snowHead

I agree with @PEZ, The next boots for Mrs AAT will be fitted in resort during a cheap early season trip to Tignes booked for that purpose.

We don't have a local boot fitter close to hand for the inevitable adjustments and I also doubt that dome sessions will put enough use through them to make a difference. The prospect of having boots fitted and Mrs AAT still having painful feet in resort isn't one I care to address (again).

The more I have anything to do with boot fitting the more of a 'process' it seems to be unless you have 'standard' feet.

Personally I find the the whole boot fitting thing bonkers. It shouldn't be that hard for a recreational skier buying consumer boots. Racers and Instructors trying to get the last bit of performance fair enough, but my wife ? It really shouldn't be that hard.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Ingemar_Skidmark,

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Dogfever

The Snowheads early season Tignes trip is good value and before that it's possible to get excellent cheap skiing in the November December period up on the Glacier. The hardest part is probably scoring a cheap transfer. Tignes that time of year has an excellent vibe with all the training going on.

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@AndAnotherThing..,

I did take a look at the snowEvents (mostly the Make Yourself...) but various factors resulted in me not going for it this year. Mainly, it will be our (me, wife, baby) first ski trip. The combination of childcare, not knowing quite how well Mrs will take to the skiing or what sort of standard I will be at made me leery of anything too packaged.

We have a DIY week in Les Gets booked now which will be kind of an acid test. After that I hope that we'll understand how we can make things work out there given our various requirements and I might be more confident in taking on a bash. They do sound great though. I keep reading the trip reports and the bash threads. Makes me quite envious.

As I say, one day we might be able to stretch to two trips a year but unpaid maternity leave hasn't done the ski fund any favours this year.

After all it is free

@Dogfever, Good luck, hope it all works out for you Smile

@AndAnotherThing.., "Personally I find the the whole boot fitting thing bonkers. It shouldn't be that hard for a recreational skier buying consumer boots. Racers and Instructors trying to get the last bit of performance fair enough, but my wife ? It really shouldn't be that hard."

Nope. It is that hard for many people to find something that works. Consider it'll last for 20 weeks so for many people half their skiing careers, surely it's worth getting right?

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I just got my first pair a few months ago in Snow And Rock and have to say it was money well spent. Also got the molded footbed. So happy I did. I've done lots of mileage already and not one ache or pain, great fit and comfort all day. I notice better control too. The hire shops used to give me a whole size or size and half above my actual size, plus they were too wide. I only notice the difference now that I have my own tho. Plus no more horrible sweaty boots. Also didn't notice how sweaty the hire ones must get until I started airing my own liners.
Snow and Rock do a price comparison thingy so if you see them online anywhere in Europe you get them for that price.
They say its your most important bit of kit. I'm not a great skier but it def helps me. If you're going to stay skiing you'll have them paid for in no time V's rentals.

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First boots if and when to buy

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