Dave Mac wrote:
I am still of the opinion that thre is a technical reason for Tony's issue. The change seemed to be marked by a change in ski, and possibly binding, although Tony didn't make that clear.
I was of that line of thinking too, Dave. I was skiing quite happily in my boots with my old skis, but improved to the level where I needed better skis in order to progress. I bought skis from the same manufacturer, Blizzard, with Marker bindings as oppose to the previous Fischer bindings. I know nothing about bindings to be able to suggest that there may be some kind of issue with them, but the guy who sold me the skis said the Markers were as good as I would get, and were better than the Blizzard bindings that could have been fitted.
My first week on the new skis was fantastic: the difference in how I was able to ski on them was marked, but by the end of that week I was getting annoyed with my boots, as they were starting to feel too big. After my last weeks skiing in
Verbier, where I started to ski bumps and offpiste, the boots felt twice the size, and thats when I took them in to S&R. The boot manager there suggested I had "skied the boots out" as the linings were looking, in his words, "minging", and that my best plan of action was to have a custom fitting and new boots, suggesting that I needed to spend at least £300 on a pair of boots. At this point I began to wonder whether he had my best interests at heart, or had a sale on his mind. However, we continued to speak, and I explained that the boots had felt looser around the back of my heel and also around the middle and front of my foot. I was able to move my foot everso slightly inside the boots, which whilst this was comfortable led to a couple of hairy moments on the skis as I was starting to lose that real control and tightness I had felt before. If I did the boots up tighter, I was on the tightest adjustment, and thats after having moved the adjusters to the tightest levels, and whilst I felt much more in control, my feet started to ache after a run, and the only was to take away the aching was to undo the clips, so I was in a circle between comfort and control.
Like Dave, I made the assumption that there was a technical issue, because all this had happened since I bought the new skis. These ski much more advanced skis, enabling me to get a better edge (which I have been doing as oppose to an amount of sliding I was doing on my old skis) and also they have enabled me to go faster, and venture onto new territory ie offpiste, steeps and bumps - not something I had planned to do, and certainly these are not the perfect skis for that kind of territory, but I am much more confident in trying anything now as a result of my improved technique and better skis.
But this doesnt alleviate the boot issue. S&R decided to try packing foam around the back of the boots, from the heel up the ankle and to the lower calf. Last night, thinking about all of this, I tried them on for the first time to see if it made a difference. It was evident that there was much less room to get into the boots, and initially I struggled to get my foot in. When I finally did, it was most uncomfortable, as I could almost feel where the foam had been cut to shape and was pressing on my foot/leg. I was thinking there was no way I would be able to ski in these with that kind of annoying feeling. However, the boots were now gripping the back of my heel and the lower leg much better, and I would still have plenty of adjustments left to make. Unfortunatley, the area around the middle/front of my foot still felt like it was able to move about, which suggests to me that it may well be as simple an issue of the linings having packed and the boot now being too large for me all round.
As a last resort, I bought some Spenco Polysorb insoles, which I am going to place underneath the linings, and see how they feel. I havent had a chance yet today to try that, and if they feel comfortable, I will need to actually try them out on the slopes in 8 weeks time. With some luck, this may be the solution, filling the boot up and giving my feet less space, although I think that maybe the guy in S&R was right all along, and I need a new pair of boots with a custom fit, as clearly mine are no longer right for me - at least not without something being done to them in an attempt to make the fit better.
So, Dave - maybe you are right. Maybe that because I am skiing better, harder, faster; whatever it may be, but certainly differently, with the new skis, this has led to a change in the way my feet move about and the boots have kind of given in to the pressure and packed out to make them now feel too big.
Its frustrating, as I had not budgeted for spending £300 or so on boots, but with another 3 weeks skiing already booked for this coming season, I dont want to find I am not enjoying it, in pain, or end up with all sorts of foot problems.
What do you reckon now, Mr Mac?
