How to fit hire boots and what mods (insoles?) can you make to them?

A snowHead

There's tons of fabulous advice and fitter recommendations on here if you're going to buy your own boots, but if you have to hire not buy and have never skied before (just some dry slope lessons) how can you tell you've got the best fitting boot available please?

My son will be skiing in hired boots in April in US as well as before then on a dry slope.

Presumably the advice about fitting really tight because of liners packing down etc won't apply as all the previous users will have packed the liners already?

Do you look for a fit that is snug but comfortable with the liner in or should you start taking the liner out and looking at shell fit in the hire shop? Are you allowed to do that???

Are there any insoles/footbeds you can add to hire boots (presumably you can't take out the insoles on hire boots)?

If so, how do you tell which type of insole to get before you get to the hire shop and know what boot you'll be using?

Can you go to a specialist like CEM and get recommendations for things like insoles/heel lifts etc to help ensure you're balanced properly?

Any other advice for getting the best fit from a limited choice of hire boots would be appreciated please.

Thanks.

A snowHead

You are looking for a snug comfy fit, being able to feel the boot liner hold you, but with room to wiggle toes - as you say it's not a snug a fit as a purchase fit, as you aren't buying for years, just for the next 6 days. IME you can't (and don't need) a shell fit or to pre buy 'bits' like heel-lifts or custom insoles (which need some tweaking and depend on the fit problems, and involve knowing how to dissasemble and reassemble the boot to fit them). I find hire places are reluctant to faff with their boots for you (snowberry in Valdisere being the exception). However there are some things you can do to have a better chance, so my practical tips to maximise the chance of sucessful fit would be:

Before you go:
Know the sizes and which size is usually thought of as matching your shoes size - all boots have the size on the outside somewhere so this will let you know if you are being totally led astray. Something like this:http://www.norfolkskiclub.co.uk/files/boot.html someone else might have a better link, that ones a bit messy.
Learn the local lingo for toe(s), leg, small, big, hurts, here, better, worse, please and thank you Wink

If you get unlucky and your fitters english isn't good, you can still make some headway!
If possible get a recommendation for a store to use .

In the shop:
Don't get rushed, try and go so you aren't having to rush off to lessons and end up leaving unhappy.
Start by claiming a size under your normal shoe size, see if you toes hit the ends. If they do go up one. Check on the boots that you have only been given _1_ size up.
Don't try and second guess the fitter with ideas that brandX is 'wide' or 'small' etc - they know their boots, just tell them what is wrong.
The boot should feel like the liner has some life - if it's hard as a rock reject on some pretext or another and point to a newer looking one on the shelves with an innocent expression Little Angel

Accept it won't be perfect (thats why we all say to buy wink

) - they will have maybe 3 boot types in store, once the nice man says you have tried them all, pick the best. IMO it's best to be comfy, rather than the closest possible fit.

Generally only those with ankle flex issues need the heel lifts, and only heavy folks need the insole (when you bare talking comfort not performance). In my 20 or so ski-buddies I am the only one with hire boot problems bad enough I HAD to buy, and most of them have never had any problems at all - so don't worry, it will probably be fine. Resort hire boots are better than dry slope ones ime, so if you are surviving dry slope ones, in resort you'll probably find all is good.

Good Luck and have a great time!

aj xx

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

wow, that's longer than it looked when I was typing it.....

Anyway having reread and noticed this is advice for your son and in the us I'd say don't worry. I'd be very suprised if what I assume to be a young man or teenager had fit problems unless he is out-of-the-ordinary heavy (calf is sometimes then a problem), and if he does he has the advantage of communicating in english, he'll be fine.

aj xx

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Thanks for taking the time to answer, aj. Love the 'newer boot ... innocent expression'!

I'll pass all of that on to my son. He has dyspraxia so his balance isn't fabulous and he tends to pronate, hence I wondered about the insoles - CEM recommended superfeet green but I can't see a hire shop letting him pull the existing insole out (or are they detachable?).

He was given size 8s at his first dry slope session with the school and felt as if his feet were in a vice (according to him). At the local slope they took his size from his trainers (size 9) and he's much happier in those, but I just worry that they may be too big. Haven't had his feet measured for a while so not sure whether he's an 8 or 9. From what you've said though a 9 probably is too large. I'll try and get him to re-assess it next time.

We had to fill in a form in advance for the Stowe hire shop so we compromised and put 8.5!

I guess my concern comes from my own disasterous experience with hire boots (see my other thread that you replied to before), but then I'm a long way off average in build, unlike my son (though he does have a wide forefoot too)!

Thanks again.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

HelenS, Boots usually just have a thin liner in them, easily removed. Putting in the 'superfeet' is simply a matter of trimming them to fit, making sure you push it back fully into the heel of the boot and that it is sitting flat and level. Shoe sizes in general have only a tenuous relevence to foot shape and actual size. Ski boot sizing is based on the overall length of the foot with boot variations on height, width, performance etc. If he is an unsuported pronator then boots the right size can easily feel too small (as the foot effectively lengthens, widens and shifts lateraly towards the outside of the boot) and the boots can induce further pronation making the problem worse.

Ps Don't forget to remove the footbeds before you return the boots! There are probably still a pair of mine floating around La Tania which have probably never been spotted Embarassed

You'll need to Register first of course.

There is (should be) a removeable insole in hire boots. My OH skied in hire boots + his custom orthotic insoles (which he wears all the time) until he found a pair he wanted to buy. Did help when he remembered to remove the original insole... Probably easier not to do that in the shop though, just remember to put theirs back and reclaim yours!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Yup what everyone else says, if you know how to do it, it's easy to flip insoles, but you do probably want to do it out of sight. (i don't know why, I've never tried asking them if i can tbh). If you are tempted by an insole, buy now and have him wear it in something else to get used to it, and then practice putting it in at the dry slope - dry slope staff are likely to be much more forgiving of such oddity as caring about fit (I was a boot monkey at sheffield for years, anything interesting happenning is fine, it breaks the monotony!)

Anecdotal: my other half pronates very badly and he always found hire boots pretty comfy (they are flat, like his feet!), so it's not bound to be a problem. Those of us with high insteps/arches had the most problem ime, but even then all the boys have been fine - it's ladies with (i suspect high heel related) ankle flex problems or curvacious types with generous calves who have always struggled in my experience.

aj xx

Help!!

How to fit hire boots and what mods (insoles?) can you make to them?

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