Ski boots and calf sizes

tasha19 wrote:Thanks for all the replies so far, I live in Edinburgh so any recommended boot fitters would be appreciated.

Theres a shop in glasgow in Partick called ski and boardroom that is decent-the guy Alister knows how to adjust boots and can customise them fully. he had a reasonably decent stock of boots last time I was in-other than that have you tried "freeze scotland" in the centre of Edinburgh? They are mainly a freestyle shop but have boots and will be able to give advice too

Or blues on Rose street-I used the Glasgow branch for my previous pair of boots and they did tons of work for me

Just to add it depends on your budget really, but proper fitting boots is where my money would go. For off the shelf different manufactures have different fits and can be adjusted to fit better but are never going to be good as fully customised. For my most recent pair of boots an off the shelf pair with a custom foot bed ended up being a great fit, I've struggled in the past having large calves and fat feet!

Hi Tasha. My wife had a similar problem, she always found the boots cramping her calf. Then last year she tried some head boots, called Head Edge, she also had them stretched & the problems were over. She actually said they are really comfortable. Hope that helps

As others have said getting them fitted professionally is the way to go. I had my new boots properly fitted last weekend, and the deference to my old off the shelf ones is amazing! A good fitter will spend a good 30-40 mins selecting the right boot for you and marking out where the boot needs to be stretched to best fit your foot.

You can also get heel pads that raise your foot in the boot by a few millimetres. This doesn't sound much, but the difference in pressure on your calf can be quite a lot. I'd say it's worth spending a few extra quid getting it right, as the boot is by far the most important element of your kit.

Thank you all very much for replying. They are definitely on the widest setting.

I've just rung Blues in Edinburgh and they said to comein with them as there are anumber of things they can do to help, so this is my next plan of action. Hopefully this will work once fitted by an expert!

Tasha

This is perhaps the most common problem women skiers have! The lower calf issue!

Her is my solution.

Assuming you have boots that fir well everywhere else ( toes, arch, heel),,you will note that most boots have three holes for buckle placement on plastic piece! You can make another 2 holes by drilling plastic!

You can also re position side buckle by drilling out buckle unit and placing it closer to medial side!

Third solution! depending on buckle type,you can take out buckle lope and insert a cloths hanger wire (which is same size) into buckle unit! My wife's boots all have this modification made!

Hope this helps you!

Respectfully,
Pavel

Doing this could have a negative effect on the skiers fore/aft balance, a better solution would be to get a boot fitter to stretch the back of the boot to accommodate the calf muscle. http://custom-bootfitting.southernski.com/balance-in-skiing-is-critical.html

Bootfitter should be able to stretch the cuffs. Also, you can remover spoilers at the back of the boot and this should give you more room for the calves. Also, there are boots on the market marked 'SC' for "short cuff". They can be an option too. The downside, these boots are usually race-type boots and narrow, so if your feet are not narrow they may not fit you. Plus they are stiff, though shorter cuffs will help to flex them as your calve muscle will be above the boot and it will give you better leverage.