Boot fitting thread

One topic I am passionate about is the need for custom fitting for your boots.  Post your boot fitting questions and discussions here.

I am very knowledgeable on this topic and if I don't know the answer or am not sure I will enlist the aid of Rich Hill and expert boot fitter.  Rich had been at Inside Edge (Reliable Racing) and now is at Sports Page in Queensbury so SP know has two expert boot fitters including the owner there.  This makes them by far the top boot fitting shop in NYS if not the East as a whole.

Below is the link to the blog piece I did a couple years ago with Rich on boot fitting if you missed it.

http://nyskiblog.com/new-york-ski-boot-fitter-rich-hill/

I visited Rich yesterday with my new boots which I was concerned about as they are narrower than what I have had in the past.  Rich laid out a plan of what needs to be done and that these will work nicely.  I have a issue with my toe right now that I am waiting on it to heal and then we will do the boot work in a couple of weeks.  I'm got the Dalbello DMS 130 which is a expert version of their new DRS race boot.  its a 98mm last and I have a 101mm foot and Rich plans to do some grinding and stretching in a couple spots to make them comfy.  I will continue to teach xmas week and attend races in my wider comfy Panterra 120 ID's but I wanted a more race boot performance for sometimes and MDV encourages Pro Reps to get new boots to show them off.  I will get new foot beds made by Rich to lighten up the load on my big toe I am having issues with probably from too much walking on the golf course.

I also am planning on getting new foot beds for my son's new boots.  Given on how much we are spending on his racing gear and training spending another $125 bucks to make sure he has the best boot fit possible makes sense to me.

Coach Z wrote

I am very knowledgeable on this topic

WOW...This is great, we finally have a topic Coach thinks he's knowledgeable about. I am so excited I don't know where to start. Lets see:

Dear Coach,

What does  Mondopoint size mean? How about European size, that seems different? How do we convert them all to good old red, white and blue American sizes? Its all so confusing. Thanks in advance.

Yours truly,
Pining for Ski Market

Number 1 thing for boot fitting:  Custom foot beds.

Number 2 thing for boot fitting:  Get tele boots!

Dunno,  my fischer vacuum fit w/ foot beds are pretty comfy

See those advertised a lot Camp.  They sure look comfy in the pics. :)

Welcome to the machine Marcski.

They truly are --- the knock on them is that they can be cold, or some say. I haven't found them to be any colder than the Lange's I skied in for years and years.

What the fitting has done for me is to get my knees and feet directly over my skis. With a bad wheel so-to-speak it's taken alot of pressure off my bad knee making it actually less painful to ski. That alone was worth every cent for me.




You can see the difference in fit.

I ordered new liners for my Scarpa Freedom SL's as I had absconded the other liners for my Alpine boots. Met up the guys (which now includes Rich) from Sport's Page and had them make me footbeds and mold the liners to the shells. Super good fit and comfy as hell, can't stress enough how important that is!

Did you post about them to get a discount?  I go to Maui in lp. They can do anything you want them to... And they are convenient.

Sportspage does not even carry Dalbello the boot brand I rep.  I have been having Rich make foot beds and set up my boots for 10 years now and he is super knowledgeable and is a trainer for Masterfit the outfit that teaches boot fitting.  He is the best in the business in NY IMO

Mondopoint sizing was developed by the ski boot industry and is the length of your foot in cm.  It was created becuase us, U.K. And other sizing systems all differed

Here is a conversion chart http://www.skibootsizingcharts.com

The other key factor is the last or width which is measured in mm.  Now Most boots mfr offer a narrow around 93mm, mid 97-98 mm and wide 100-102mm last boots.  That was not always the case.  It used to be your foot was a Head or Rossi known for historically making narrow boots or a Dalbello wide feet or not.  Now all the best boot mfr offer multiple lasts

You can make a boot bigger but not smaller so error on the smaller size and then visit a good boot fitter.  You can also soften flex but not make it stiffer.

I'd be happy to answer any more snarky questions you may have HPD

You can make a boot stiffer --- just rivet the cuff into the boot so it can't flex and that somebitch is stiffer!!! Done it and it works

Most high end boots all ready have screws in back to do that.

Another comment on boot sizes that many skiers may not know is that the only difference between a full and half size (example 28.0 and 28.5 is that the insole is a little thinner in the 28.5.  If you are going to use a custom footbed which is highly recommended to a must have then it really doesn't matter if you get an even or half size.

I bring up sizing as I just went to double check my son's boot size today to find out he grew a whole size since I last checked in August which sucks as I know have a unskied in size 25 race boot to sell and I need to buy a 26.  His big toe is actually a little over 27 but we are going to do some grinding on that as I think a 27 will be too big in width and in the heel.  The boy's ski expenses and food bills are driving me to the poor house.  He has gained almost 30 lbs since the end of last ski season which is also 30% more weight as he was right around 100 but I think he is going to be really fast this year .

here are a couple interesting articles on boot fitting focused on the race fit but the principles are the same for everyone

http://www.skiracing.com/premium/backshop-5-mistakes-youre-making-with-boots

http://www.skiracing.com/premium/finding-the-boot-whisperer

Coach Z wrote

here are a couple interesting articles on boot fitting focused on the race fit but the principles are the same for everyone

http://www.skiracing.com/premium/backshop-5-mistakes-youre-making-with-boots

http://www.skiracing.com/premium/finding-the-boot-whisperer

P J Dewey - mentioned in the article is in Waterbury. He is the best in the east. A true master of the craft. If you want the perfect fit, race or otherwise, go there.

I had Rich set up my new boots earlier this week.  Sportspage has boot planning capability that he didn't have at his old place so the cant eval is now much more in depth that he goes thru.  

What he does is have you lift one leg with your feet directly under your hips and see if your knee shifts in or out.  My left leg is totally neutral but my right moved in a bit.  He then adds razor knife blades under your boot and repeats to the point where the shifting stops. My right leg is between a half and a full degree fat side in.  Less than 1 degree can usually be accommodated with the boot shaft cant system that most boots have so adjusting that my right leg didn't shift and I didn't need to go to planning.

My wife has a bad leg that was stepped on by a horse when she was young so she has a whopping 3 degree cant planned into her boot soles

good read on footbeds

http://www.skiracing.com/premium/do-top-racers-use-footbeds

I just want to reiterate what Coach said.  I had my new tele boots with intuition liners fitted at Sports Page, but they were painfully tight.  I like a tight fitting boot, but I had to take my boots off between runs, they were so tight.  I went back and Rich Hill worked magic on them.  He wrapped pads around my feet at the tight spot, re-heated the intuition liners and what an improvement.  You do need to call ahead and schedule an appointment time for Rich to work on your boots.