 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello all.
I bought some Salomon Ellipse 8 boots from EB at Castleford in the sale. Tried on 3 pairs of boots and the ellipse 8's felt the most comfortable although snug and felt they held my foot well. Had them heated to fit and left with my first pair of boots and a big smile on my face.
Anyway, after 2 hours at sheffield ski village went back to EB's as the boots were too tight on the outside edge of my feet. Had both shells stretched out (just in this area).
Anyway, did an hours ski-ing at Castleford Snowdome and still had some pain around the outer edges of my feet (more a kind of internal pain in each foot).
Went back to EB's and had some conformable footbeds made, when they were being made the guy at EB's said I had quite a pronounced arch which actually went across the full width of my foot (ie. not just the inside of each foot).
The pain along the outsides of my feet has largely gone but I am now left with the boots feeling tight across the highest points on the tops of both feet.
I didn't have the problem before the custom footbeds were added so it appears they have a) stopped my foot from collapsing and b) maybe taken up more volume than the original insoles).
I have photo'd my feet and the image is below with red lines indicating the areas which are left with really red marks after 1 hours ski-ing at castleford.
Anyway I am going to go back to EB's but the questions which spring to mind are:
1. Should I ski somemore to wear the boots in before going back to EB's (I have only done a total of 5 hours in the boots since new) ?
2. Should I be looking to get the shells stretched along this line of tightness ?
3. Should I look at the liner - the ellipse has a drawstring arrangement on the liner with quite pronounced edges above the tongue ?
4. Should the liner have been heat fitted again after the customer footbeds were done (as they weren't).
I am just an average intermediate skier, 3 weeks ski-ing and planning to ski for 1-2 weeks per year with my family. I just want comfy boots not really high performance.
Sorry for the long post and please help me !
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Mon 5-06-06 11:44; edited 4 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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1. The liners will pack out a bit after a couple of days use. Don't overtighten your instep buckle as this can cause alot of pain.
2. It is difficult to stretch the area in question.
3. Unsure as to the boot in question.
4. The liner will not need to be remoulded.
It can take a few weeks for the liners to pack out, so after 5 hours use I doubt they have achieved this. What kind of socks do you wear, have you tried a thinner sock, avoid 'tube' socks.
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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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Thanks for your response Edmundh009.
I am only just doing up the instep buckle so overtightening can't be the problem.
I am using thin socks - Wigwam Ultimax Lightweight Ski sock from S&R.
Anyone else got any suggestions/advice ?
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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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Hairy Boy, you'll probably get more response after the weekend. Especially look out for advice from the Small/Large ZooKeepers or CEM, who are professional bootfitters.
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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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SMALLZOOKEEPER is off on his hol's...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hairy Boy, I dont do my instep buckes at all. I did them on a trip last xmas before last, taking up the week's slack with one turn of the 'micro adjust'. THe next trip (1 month later) I just did em up on day 1. Day 2 & 3 were spent in the bar with sooooo much pain !
I also notice the difference in sock thickness - start the week with thin ones, finish with thicker ones as my feet compress. 
I did get a numb right big toe which took months to get feeling back - aparently I killed the nerves because of overtightening the instep buckle.
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The preasure on the top of the foot can be relevieved but it may mean a quick visit to EB's.
If you rmove the inner boot you'll see it sits on either a blue or white lump of plastic with holes in it. This can be taken out and using the grinding guides excess material can be removed. It may only require 1 or 2 mm taken off to make all the difference.
Two other thoughts before attempting surgery. Is the preasure only noticable when using the drag lifts? On the plastic or indoor snow you tend to spend far more time going up hill than down. Sometimes this can cause your feet to be pulled forward into a lower volume section of the boot. My boots are fine in the mountains but hell on plastic!
The second thought, How tight do you have the 3rd clip (the one just above you ankle)? If this clip is done up very tight it can apply extra preasure on the top of the foot.
Hope you get the problem sorted.
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Thanks guys - lots of good advice.
Lampbus - I am only just doing the instep clip up (so its not flapping around loose - its not actually applying any pressure by clipping it in place I don't think).
Narrowlast - The innner boot of my boots is kindof a walkable boot, the idea being you can leave the shell in the boot room and walk to your hotel room to dry out the liners over night. So the liner has a 'proper' rubber sole attached to it - not sure this would be grindable - but I'll discuss this with EB's - good idea. The inner boot then sits on a plastic 'stage' fixed loosely to the bottom of the shell which again doesn't look adjustable/grindable in any way.
I had also thought abut the large time spent on the poma lift at Cas-Vegas - Interesting to hear your boots are fine in the mountains but hell on plastic. My boots have only 3 clips - 1 over instep, 1 above ankle and 1 on my shin. So I guess your 3rd clip is my 2nd clip - the one above my ankle - I will try loosening this a bit - thanks for the advice.
Looking forward to SmallZooKeeper returning from holidays and taking the bait cleverly placed in my thread title - ie the word 'boot' 
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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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Hairy Boy, it is always difficult to answer boot questions without seeing your feet.... so you gave us a photo, it is still a little tricky as the three dimensions of your feet are not easily visible. there are a number of things that can be done to releive pressure in that area
when you put the boot on make sure you clip up the top clips first, this will help to pull your foot back into the heel pocket of the boot giving you more height in the instep area, make sure that you do not over tighten the clips. If you take the liner out of the boot i would be interested to know how much space you have in the shell...place your foot in the empty shell and position your foot so that your toes are just brushing the front of the shell..how much space is there behind your heel?
assuming all else is good here are a few more thoughts / things that can be done...
1 the footbed should not take up much more volume than the original stock insole, my initial thought on this is that the footbed may be over correcting the foot, it does not need to be by much to elevate the top of the foot into the top of the boot and cause problems
2 is the pain on the out side of the foot still there, it may be that the foot is being squeezed a little thus pushing it up into the top of the boot.
3 if the footbed is not over correcting and the pain is gone from the side of the foot there are a few things that can be done ( i would suggest that you do a little more skiing prior to doing these)as the pressure seems to be localised i would pop back to the shop, have them put some foam padding onto your foot in the area of the pressure, heat that area of the shell and allow it to cool on your foot with the padding in place... this does mean 15-20 mins of pain but, when the padding is removed should locally stretch the top of the boot just enough.
Griding the base board (white /black/ blue plastic bit) is possible but this will drop the whole foot and if the pressure is localised may give you unwanted volume in other areas of the boot this is irriversible, new base boards can be purchased, if required.
an alternative is to remove some material from the tongue area of the boot, there is an awful lot of overlapping areas which could be causing pressure, many of which are not required, specific removal with a scalpel or a grinding tool can work wonders but should be done by a proffessional this one is very irriversible.
i hope this helps a bit, sorry it is a bit all over the place (early) 
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CEM,
Thanks for taking the time for such a detailed response.
If I put my foot in the shell, put my toes to the front, I can get my fingers down the back with just a little room to spare - I'd guess about 15-18mm of space behind my heel. I'm really looking for a comfort rather than performance fit - I'm a red run cruiser - not an off piste/black run racer.
I think I am going to get EB's to do a small further stretch to the outer edges and small toe areas of both boots - I did have a little pain (little more to my right foot than left ) the last time at Castleford so I think there maybe is still some tightness around these areas.
When you say the footbed may be overcorrecting the foot do you mean the arch support maybe too big ? I do not see how EB's can create the footbed any other way than the method they used - ie step on the silicon pads, heat the footbeds, stand on the footbeds, then they create the supporting material under the footbed arch and heel area to stop it 'squashing' in use.
Thanks for your other advice - I will probably discuss these options with EB's if the outer edge stretch doesn't sort the problem.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hairy Boy, what i ment by the footbed overcorrecting is this..... when they stand you on the mats they may have asked you to lift your toes... this is called windlass it increases the arch height to it's maximum (correct) level, for some people this is just too much. the other thing that can happen is that when the additional material is put on the bottom of the footbed to prevent collapse it must be ground off in a pretty specific way so as not to tip the foot either inwards or outwards too much, a minor adjustment to the block could make all the difference
good luck
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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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| Hairy Boy wrote: |
......Now wondering which skis to buy, don't tell the wife  . |
Hairy Boy, EB's Castleford have some ski good deals in their sale, as you've probably seen. In particular they have ex demo Volkl 5*'S at a v.good price which you can demo before committing.
Also the snowHeads demo day at Castleford is not that far away (in Aug, maybe the 5th?) were you can try loads of makes & models.
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You know it makes sense.
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spyderjon, my comment about choosing some ski's was rather a flippant one - for this year at least. Maybe by the time EB's end of season sale in 2007 comes round I might be ready to spend somemore. For now its just boots for me I think.
Regarding the summer meet at Castleford, I'll be in Ambleside with my family from the 5th to 12th of August. If the date changes or the ski-testing is done at a later date I will be there.
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