 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello, - long time surfer but only now signed up. I'll be going for my 7th week skiing this year and enjoy trying to find challenging red and black runs.
After waiting a week for them to come in from another store, I tried the two pairs of ski boots my local Ellis Brigham recommended I try. To give you a complete picture, my shoes (asics, salomon, nike) are size 9.5/10 uk and my mondo point is 26/26.5. I tried on a pair of Salomon impact 8's and found at first they were extremely tight, the salesman assured me that they would loosen up considerably while in store, which they did, and in the end it was some pains near my ankle (while bending) that put me off those boots.
The second pair were fischer mx pro 95's. Again I found them quite tight initially but they were noticeably more comfortable than the first pair. More room for my toes to move, although still not very much, and my foot felt a bit happier. I walked around in each pair of boots for about an hour.
I made it clear that the boot was still quite tight for my toes and the salesman stressed that they were only ever going to get more loose with time and he said that * its ok for my toes to touch the front of the boot while standing, so long as when i bent my legs they only skimmed the front. This is the case. It's very snug.
** Something I've read since then stressed that toes should skim the front when you are standing and have space when you are bending your legs. This I find troubling because I have no such space. If I take the lining out of the boot, and put my foot in the shell, there's 1-1.5 fingers space there, which i'm told is quite reasonable, if I just put my feet in the inner linings, my feet really do fill them.
Does it sound quite realistic that I can go from * to ** through bedding in? I really have no appreciation for how much the inners can adapt to the length (in particular) of one's foot.
I tried them out for an 1hr 30 on an indoor slope, and found that a) the boots did do what I wanted, i had good control over the skis b) my left foot had pins and needles halfway through, so I took a break for 5 minutes, after that it felt tight but I didn't experience that problem.
I'm not sure my problem can be fixed just with a footbed, but I am thinking of buying one of them too. The problem i'm most concerned about at the minute is the length and my toes.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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You need a footbed(?) and then get the liners moulded.
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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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tangledinblue,A good boot fitter will be able to find a suitable pair of boots and get the to fit correctly. You need the opportunity to test and make adjustments. My advice would be to wait until you get to resort and use some time to get it sorted. I had a pair of boots for 4 seasons, minor issues only. This year for some reason they were causing real problems. It was so bad it was stopping me ski-ing. Pins and needles, aching, that i'd not experienced before.
I asked advice and was directed to the shop in the hotel (LeValThorens), they assured me they could help. They'd even work on the boots I had brought with me. The checked the original sizing and assured me it was correct.
As they were rather battered, I decided to go for a new pair and spend what ever time was necessary to get a good fit. They advised minor adjustments followed by a few runs until I had a satisfactory fit.
The initial 2 runs were made without alterations. Returned to the shop, hot spots pointed out. I repeated this 3 times. By noon I was happy with the fit, and taking a rest having a beer, a morning well spent! Hell, I was still ski-ing while I was trying them out!
Changes made included:-
Inner boot heated\ moulded to foot shape.
Custom footbed made.
Corrections made to the liner, pressure points removed.
I also now ensure that I never put on a totally cold pair of boots. I was warned however, not to overheat the boots as this may affect the customised liner. Warm yes, hot no.
Good luck.
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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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tangledinblue, welcome to  's sounds like a case of a footbed and the liner being moulded as SMALLZOOKEEPER has said, the iner needs to be moulded with a toe cap on your feet to help to force the foam away from the front of your foot and settle you into the back of the liner, when this process is complete there will be a bit more space around the toes [BTW it will be very tight when the moulding is being done]
BMF_Skier, sounds like your boots were packed out and you needed a new pair... the fact that tangledinblue has bought a pair of boots would suggest he/she wants to get them fitted, advising someone to wait until they get to resort is all very well, but only if you are in a resort with a good shop and still to buy boots....even in france i can't count a whole heap of specialists [not saying there are many at home either] besides at this time of year it may be a struggle to get the selection of boots to suit every foot
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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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CEM, As he has a new pair already, IMHO, he\she wont be any worse off waiting till he's away either. Going into a shop for assistance should be fine. At least while your in resort you have (hopefully) an decent practise area to try out the effect of any tweaks.
I was in the position where I had little choice, but the shop I found was excellent. The proof being in the effect the alterations had. My old boots were rather tired, so I think I made the best choice. It wasnt an orthopedic fitting by any standard but did give me back my holiday!
The fitter did say that I'd be better in the Footworks Chamonix shop for a full corrective fit.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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BMF_Skier, good that you got your holiday back, that is the aim, putting smiles on peoples faces, strangely there are people in the uk that cna do it just as well if not better than those in many [not all] resort stores i think somethin like the proble being cited uis something i would want to get sorted before i went away, afterall the shop selling the boot will do all the work free [except the footbed]
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CEM, I cant think of any resort that doesn't have at least one bootfitter with the tools to do a better job than in the UK, things might be improving in the UK, but sheer volume in resort means the learning curve is on the up rapidly. Bootfitting is a question of experience and with the snow outside the door every resort shop is having to raise it's game. The worst shop in resort is going to be way better than the worst shop away from from the hill. IMO.
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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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Jonpim, I assumed that someone had given up trying to get their boots comfy and was going to use them for the hamster to sleep in.
CEM, SMALLZOOKEEPER, the problem I've had with using a UK bootfitter is that one is quite likely to need a couple of tweaks to the boots after the initial fitting. That's difficult to do if the fitter, however able, is in UK; it can make the difference between success taking three days or three years (if people ski only once a year).
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and i thought this was a thread about getting a boot probelm sorted 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| CEM wrote: |
| tangledinblue, welcome to 's sounds like a case of a footbed and the liner being moulded as SMALLZOOKEEPER has said, the iner needs to be moulded with a toe cap on your feet to help to force the foam away from the front of your foot and settle you into the back of the liner, when this process is complete there will be a bit more space around the toes [BTW it will be very tight when the moulding is being done] |
I've been putting them on as often as I can bear it and I'll be going into Tamworth Ellis Brigham again next week, hopefully just once, before I go away in search of the above. I'm glad I now have a better idea of exactly what I'm looking for!
Thank you very much for your replies.. they've made me a lot more comfortable, I was becoming quite worried about being stuck with the wrong boots. Some of my family go to the same resort quite regularly and they are very confident about the boot fitters there in Katschberg, Austria. And they would find it much more pleasant to buy and test the kit out there. I aim to go once a season and I would where possible much prefer to get everything ready for when I go. I can still just about blag two hours at the snowdome for a student fee and that's not the worst place in the world to do a little testing.
I've been under a lot of time pressure lately and have scarcely had any free time out of the office (i'm going on a career break from April), so I opted to go to Tamworth, rather than the more highly rated stores here. I suppose another part of that is that one likes to think they only need a standard solution, they shouldn't need to see a 'specialist', I like to think these things should be simple. I found it interesting that all the Snowsure assurances EB give go out of the window when no footbed is bought. Something that was quietly said at the till after I'd spent two hours there.
And in essence if the seller tells me 'we always recommend a footbed' I feel I might be being ripped off, I want to know why I individually need a footbed, and at the moment I still feel like if the fitter had chosen boots a size bigger, I might well not have any problems. But then I am still learning about ski boots.. 
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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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having a size bigger may well feel great when you put the boot on at first, but when the boot has been skied for a week or 2 the liner will pack down dramatically and your foot will start to move around, the fitter recomending a footbed is doing you a good service your foot needs to be stable inside a ski boot and there are motions which happen with feet which you do not want inside a ski boot.... without seeing your foot it is impossible to say exactly why you personally need a footbed but in simple terms over 85% of people over pronate [arches collapse, ankle rolls inwards] one of the things that happens at the same time is the foot elongates [becomes longer] when weight is applied, the footbed is designed to reduce this elongation which is a hinderence to your skiing performance and is causing the toes to hit the end of the liner, with the space you have descibed you have loads of space in the shell of the boot what you are feeling is the front of the liner, with a footbed, the correct moulding of the liner and doing the boot up properly should resolve the problems and give you a comfortable yet supportive fit
BTW do the top 2 buckles first then the power strap then flex the boot forward prior to gentlty clipping the front 2 clips
ebjoy
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FAQ
I thought this was a thread about something entirely different.
