 Poster: A snowHead
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When I got back into skiing from a very long break I hated hiring stinky boots so I bought my own. These were salomon quest 70s. Soft I know but I was worried about my knees, from rugby, and my thinking was if my boots were too hard then the shock would be all taken up by my knees. Straight off eBay and fitted really well out of the box but they only have three clips. Two on the foot and one on the leg. Some silly clip on the back that you can unclip and it's supposed to make it easier to walk. Never unclip them so useless gimmick I feel.
After reading another post on here saying that having good boots was the best way to improve has got me thinking. I'm six foot and my weight is about 14 1/2 stone and I've kind of plateaued and seem not to be able to improve. I would say I'm a confident intermeadiate and can really large it on the right kind of slope but if conditions get more challenging I'm not so good. I'm going again with a mate in Feb so
will going up to 100s help..?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Jools 837, at 14.5 stone and happy to go reasonably quickly in the right conditions you're going to be crushing those boots. A stiffer pair of boots isn't going to improve your ski technique, but will give you more ability to influence what the ski is doing if you use good technique.
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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?
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Someone more knowledgeable will surely help you, but I'm pretty sure 70 flex for 6 foot, 14.5 stone is *very* soft and will be badly limiting your power transfer to the shovel of the ski.
I'm 5'8", 13.3 stone and have 120 flex boots. My brother is a little shorter and just over 10 stone and finds 90 flex quite reasonable. Neither of us are particularly advanced skiers.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Jools 837, 100 or 120's. Salomon x-pro might suit you, I think they share roughly the same foot shape as the Quest (others will correct me if that's wrong)
Should be available for under £200 in the NY sales
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Masque,
I get what you're saying but having said that I want to get some new fancy boots and was looking for an excuse to share with the OH. But now you've ruined everything coz I can't show her these posts now..
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@Jools 837, 
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| Jools 837 wrote: |
| When I got back into skiing from a very long break I hated hiring stinky boots so I bought my own. These were salomon quest 70s. Soft I know but I was worried about my knees, from rugby, and my thinking was if my boots were too hard then the shock would be all taken up by my knees. |
The shock will be taken by your knees whether you have hard boots or not! Hard and soft are not really accurate definitions... it's more like a scale of very bendy to not very bendy. All a 'soft' pair of boots do, for a heavy person, is affect your posture and your ability to control the skis. Having boots which flex too much is not like having bike suspension for your legs or anything.
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| Some silly clip on the back that you can unclip and it's supposed to make it easier to walk. Never unclip them so useless gimmick I feel. |
Only useless if you don't use it. Lots of people do use it and find it makes it substantially more comfortable to walk around.
| Quote: |
After reading another post on here saying that having good boots was the best way to improve has got me thinking. I'm six foot and my weight is about 14 1/2 stone and I've kind of plateaued and seem not to be able to improve. I would say I'm a confident intermeadiate and can really large it on the right kind of slope but if conditions get more challenging I'm not so good. I'm going again with a mate in Feb so
will going up to 100s help..? |
As Rob said, harder boots won't make better technique. But, good technique can be flawed by boots which flex too much.
Ski boots work by transferring your weight into the ski so that the ski bends and sets the corner. If your boots are too flexible, all the weight you're leaning forward with is just collapsing the boot, and not being transferred into the skis.
I went from 110 to 130 and my turns got noticeably tighter.
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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.
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Trouble walking clips is forgetting to click them back on after getting off the lift.. Which is why I don't use them anymore and to be perfectly frank they didn't make any noticeable difference in walking anyway...
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To be honest, I reckon the only reason you don't think they make any difference is because your boots are far too soft for you and are flexing fully regardless of whether you've got them set to walk or ski!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Oh come on you lot, my boots have a squishy soft bellows over the instep and only attached at the toes, @rob@rar, has seen how it's perfectly possible to carve tight hard turns in them. It's called balance, feedback and control . . . not using a stiff boot to mask the lack of those . . .
Notwithstanding that . . . new kit IS nice to get . . . having just thrown $1k at some new tele binders 
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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.
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@Masque, it's common sense that you need to transfer the energy from your body to the boot. If all that energy is being lost in the boot, the ski does not bend. I know we love the 'get a lesson' philosophy but even the best lesson can't change physics.
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| dp wrote: |
The shock will be taken by your knees whether you have hard boots or not! Hard and soft are not really accurate definitions... it's more like a scale of very bendy to not very bendy. All a 'soft' pair of boots do, for a heavy person, is affect your posture and your ability to control the skis. Having boots which flex too much is not like having bike suspension for your legs or anything.
As Rob said, harder boots won't make better technique. But, good technique can be flawed by boots which flex too much.
Ski boots work by transferring your weight into the ski so that the ski bends and sets the corner. If your boots are too flexible, all the weight you're leaning forward with is just collapsing the boot, and not being transferred into the skis.
I went from 110 to 130 and my turns got noticeably tighter. |
I'm tempted to scream BALLOX to a lot of that and add that "good technique" can be completely screwed up by stiff boots.
Suspension is a good allegory and your knees are an integral part of it. I lose count of the people I see with locked knees and hips trying to force their skis by moving their body weight back and forth. There is NO "leaning" in driving skis it is just the differing pessures you apply through your toes and heels and that is achieved through the position of a perpindicular force and not an angular one (leaning foreward or back).
Good grief! people were skiing harder in ankle high leather boots than many of us do now in our high tech plastic prisons. Stiff boots tend to make us 'ride' our skis, soft boots allow us to drive them.
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You know it makes sense.
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@dp, it's mass into a force vector compounded by centripital element determined by the speed and radius of the turn and the dimensions of the ski. You could ski perfectly adequately in sneakers . . . up to a point. That point is where speed requires faster and more deliberate responses. The vast majority of skiers use excess boot stiffness to compensate for poor technique and never get anywhere near the speeds and forces their boots were designed to function with.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Oh well, ask a load of experienced skiers a question and getting a load of totally opposing views.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Jools 837, sorry, I didn't mean don't get new boots, we all love new and shiny, just don't assume that will automatically fix your skiing. It's probably worth while to take your old boots on your next trip but also hire a few top end boots to compare back to back.
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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?
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@Masque,
Yeah, I know and I appreciate all the advise I get from this forum.
I probably need some lessons too. It's odd how I watch videos, read books and generally think about how to ski better all time yet my 18 year old son does none of this and been less times is improving at a dramatic rate and is clearly at lot better than me now.
It's so annoying...
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