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My experience getting boots fitted - advice for fellow newbies.

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@sugardaddy, I can confirm that people with wide feet don't have fewer problems with longer boots. Typically the trouble for me is finding a boot wide enough that is short enough, and inevitably end up having to get the width pushed out otherwise get a boot which is too long to get the width required.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Mrs AAT suffers from sensitive feet. We tried a couple of fitted pairs without much lasting comfort. Disappointed as she missed a load of skiing as a result.

This time around we hit decathlon, she tried a few on and went for a pair of hike & ride Solomons. So far so good.

To be honest at the price its no big deal if they pack out after a few weeks, and they work right now.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I was of the opinion that a ski boot mondo size is simply the length of your foot in centimetres? So far less complicated than UK and EU shoe sizes.
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queen bodecia wrote:
I was of the opinion that a ski boot mondo size is simply the length of your foot in centimetres? So far less complicated than UK and EU shoe sizes.


correct, mondopoint size is the length of the foot in cm, the problems come when people try and convert this into UK or EU sizes, it simply doesn't work... firstly because there are no 1/2 sizes in mondo (only labels on the box) and secondly Uk sizing is an imperial measurement based on the span of the hand + 3 barley corns. trouble is a few years ago (and even now ) some brands put a UK conversion on their boxes and it is so far out you would not believe.... it gets further out the bigger the size as well


boot manufacturers want the buyer to buy the boot as soon as they put it on (out the box comfort) but they base this on someone who skis a week a year at most and is not looking for more than the slightest control, the UK and US markets are more technical than that and most people want the control but to get this they need to shell size the boot and find a closer than "out the box fluffy fit" every skier is different, every foot is different and people tolerance to fit tension is different... BUT what you can't expect is a boot to fell like the affor mentioned out the box fluffy fit and still hold you securely after 4 or 5 weeks skiing. it is a matter of choices
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
It's statements like this
Quote:

not looking for more than the slightest control


that can be misleading.

Along with the term 'fluffy'. That suggests a nice furry warm slipper to me. Which ski boots should never be.

But the idea that a comfortable and accurate (for skiing) fit cannot be found without adjustment/moulding/sanding/liners/footbeds(...hell I'm gonna say insoles!)/blowing/heating/foaming/getting naked in the kitchen whilst cooking curry and wearing your boots is simply not true.

The over complication of this 'issue' is starting to really reflect on this forum.
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@flangesax, no over complication at all, simple fact is people want different things, and if they wish a boot to feel like their trainers out the box then it (for the most part) will be too big
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
^totally!

but what about the curry? Toofy Grin
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
It's not that hard - some people will have feet that aren't that sensitive and will be fortunate to find an off the shelf boot that works fine for them and their level of skiing. They'll be inclined to believe that boot customisation is all a con. Others will know usually through bitter experience that that approach does not work for them.

I've had both. The off the shelf boots were fine at the time thru 100+ days of skiing but when the liner degraded they were effin agony and actually very rapidly drilled a hole in my toe.
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
flangesax wrote:
The over complication of this 'issue' is starting to really reflect on this forum.
I think the opposite. People with a range of experience and opinion, discussing the issue respectfully. I think it's the forum at its best.

A couple of years ago I forgot to take my boots to the indoor slope at Hemel for some lessons I was teaching. By the time I realised it was too late to head home, so I grabbed a pair of rental boots of the correct size and started my first lesson. Within 15 minutes I was on the phone to my girlfriend begging her to make the round trip of about 2 hours so I had my own boots in time to start my next lesson. The rental boots were perfectly fine, and labelled with the correct size, and when I put them on they felt OK. But as soon as I started skiing in them it was clear it was going to be a horrible experience. The level of disconnect between me and my skis was astonishing. I genuinely couldn't believe how bad it was, and wondered how people actually learned to ski if they had little ability to translate precise changes through their boots to their skis. The boots weren't uncomfortable, far from it, but they hindered my ability to ski compared to my regular boots. There are many discussions on snowHeads about the minutiae of ski geometry and construction, all of which can be very important, but that's for naught if you can't use those expensive bits of wood, metal and plastic with a measure of precision because there is not a close connection between your movements and what is transmitted to the ski.

I'm not saying that you can't buy a pair of boots off the shelf and have them be right for you, you might be lucky (although, you might be unlucky). Nor am I arguing that every boot needs to be heavily customised, as no doubt some people have "standard" feet and there are some some boots fit them well out of the box. But it seems, to me at least, uncontroversial to suggest that an experienced boot fitter will increase your chances of ending up in the boot which is the right size and the right shape for your foot, and that any changes to the hard plastic shell can be made to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of your feet and your biomechanics.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@rob@rar, agreed
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
^ ah hah-a further nice digression - should instructors have to teach in rental boots to better correlate to the degree of control their pupils have? wink
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@rob@rar, +1

My last boots were 'off the shelf' with no customisation (footbed aside) size 26.5 as opposed to the 28.5 that a previous shop said were the correct size. They are comfortable to boot (do you see what I did there).
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
^ ah hah-a further nice digression - should instructors have to teach in rental boots to better correlate to the degree of control their pupils have? wink
It was certainly a learning experience for me!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
^ ah hah-a further nice digression - should instructors have to teach in rental boots to better correlate to the degree of control their pupils have? wink


And their ski's.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
AndAnotherThing.. wrote:
Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
^ ah hah-a further nice digression - should instructors have to teach in rental boots to better correlate to the degree of control their pupils have? wink


And their ski's.
I've taught on rental skis and it was sort of "meh, whatever". It was the rental boots that were scary.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
pam w wrote:
Quote:

The vast majority of holiday skiers won't have any problems with boots, whether rental or bought.

From experience of many years, with lots of friends and family, I agree. And for someone who only skis for a week or so a year to be told that "the right" boots are going to be uncomfortably tight for the first "3 to 4 weeks" is a tad discouraging. The OP (a relatively novice skier) has had "excruciating" pain from rental boots. Now he has comfortable ones, after a lengthy fitting session. Sounds like a good result to me.


This.

I created this to help other newbies in my position. I appreciate that there will never be a"one size fits all" (excuse the pun) but if the discussions my original post has generated help other newbies who were in a similar predicament, well then that's a good thing.

I'm a rugby player so have a relativity high pain threshold. After 20 mins in rentals, I was in agony thinking I'd rather have some 18 stoke bloke standing on me rather than wear these things. I now don't have that. I received what I consider to be a top notch service which ticked all the boxes I expected.
I'm happy. 15 days to holiday!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
The rental boots at Hemel are the most awful I've ever encountered. They all felt huge in some places - even the small ones which squidged my toes a bit felt very wide (and I have wide feet). Last time I went I took my own boots and just used the rental skis, which were OK.

Ski instructors should definitely have to ski in the rented boots at Hemel. wink
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@rob@rar, totally agree.

So many people skiing out there don't realise their boots are roomy, and just how much of a limiting factor it can be, they're unaware they could have so much more performance whilst retaining that comfort. I see it every day.

About 12 years ago I bought my first pair of boots off eBay based on my shoe size (UK 8.5/9) which i believe where a 27 mondo, maybe 28 - the following 4 weeks of skiing were ok, little bit of discomfort here and there but there was a total plateau of my skiing, not much improvement, which would be lost by the following week's skiing. Now I'm "in the know" I ski in a 25 Mondo, (so roughly 6.5 UK - still wear a size 8/9 shoe!). Initially an alien feeling, but so much more comfortable, so much more response, and my skiing keeps getting better and better; the boots are no longer a limiting factor.

People quoting break-in periods of 4 weeks, I would go back and see the original fitter.

As an aside, I will often test boots - regularly they won't have a 25, and a 26 is the closest going - the difference coming from a well-fitted 25 to a 26 is phenomenal - the loss in performance is much like@rob@rar describes above.
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I had nightmares with my off the shelf boots when i started skiing. My first rental boots cut the front of my shins so badly that my socks were soaked in blood at the end of each day. My first bought boots (beginner about 80 flex) were fine for a few weeks but then caused 3 years of problems that even foam ankle supports could not fix. Went to a certain Chamonix expert (no sniggering CH2O wink ) and suddenly I could ski with huge feeling of control and comfort. Since then I went down the raceboot path (basically the same last as the Nordica's) as I really hate the feeling of movement between my foot and the boot. I mean to the extent that I feel that I am not connecting with the ski. My last boots were fine up to 20 weeks and then the last 4 I kept having to crank the buckles ever tighter (moar boot faff!!!). New liners and back to perfection. I know they are not the most comfortable but by god they perform.

CH2O... I am still using the custom footbeds your place (Seb) made up for me, had one of the leading world cup fitters look at them and he reckoned they were still perfect for me 10 yrs later Toofy Grin
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@MarkFinSoup, I often ski on my fat skis with my touring boots. Softer flex by a factor of 40 and a roomier fit. I can cope with them but by god they don't half limit what you can do with skis. I am still a fairly crap technical skier but get on some SLs or GS skis and the boots make so much difference.

Long live the BOOT FAFF!!! Toofy Grin
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@Scarpa,
Long live the BOOT FAFF!!! You wouldn't be the same without it! Expert - and I've seen some faffing over the years! Ange Very Happy
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