Boot Fitters

Its probably a bit of both

Well,
Having been in the gondola with a great many national and international top level skiers, I noticed them undoing and doing up their boots. And ditto at lunch time.

I also noticed they were wearing thin socks (the ones who actually took their boots off I mean), so maybe we should extend this discussion to socks? Do we really need thick socks if we're ski-ing hard and keeping our feet warm? My feet got much too hot and at one point I actually had to take my boots and socks off to dry out my wet socks in the sunshine.

Ally

Well, race boots are fitted for racing, they are unforgiving. They are not fitted for a day's recreational skiing. There is very little room in the shells, and wearers tend to suffer quite a bit, in order to get the best performance from the boots. Chemmy Alcott had her feet operated on to get ski boots to fit properly, as race boots were causing her so much pain.
http://www.octagon-uk.com/content.aspx?menu=75
Expect to go smaller from your regular shoe size for a race fit.
When waiting for a start, Tomba used to get his boots covered over with snow to keep them cold and the plastic stiff.

If your boots fit, you will be using thin socks. Racers socks are thinner still. Thick socks are best kept for wellies :D

Well,
I am most definitely NOT going to have my feet operated on, just to help with the fitting of my ski boots :lol: Chemmy Alcott must be truly dedicated to the sport to go through something like that.

Bandit - do your feet feel warm enough with only thin socks on? One of my instructors had some foot warming gadget in his ski boots.

Ally

Ally, yes my feet are plenty warm enough in thin socks...too warm on occasions!

Some folks have poor circulation to their extremeties. For a ski instructor, there must be a risk of frostbite as they are out in the snow every day for months on end.
Boot heater elements can be fitted to the underside of the footbeds with a rechargeable battery pack on the boot.

http://www.profeet.co.uk/ski_newsarticle.asp?id=40

Thanks Bandit, that does look like the type of gadget my ski instructor was wearing.

Are your socks normal socks, or are they special thin socks?

Ally

bandit wrote:

EVO88 wrote:For sure, online i can only find the stores really. I'll go to Ellis Brigham and grill one of the boot fitters in there to see if he has the experience to do a good job.

Otherwise I'll buy a boot that fits well and get it retro-fitted by someone when i'm out there.

Anyone got any reccomendations or heard of some good places?

Franck at Nevada Sports in Tignes, or Steve Rooke (ex Lockwoods) here http://www.foot-works.fr/

Hey bandit,

That website is closed for the summer unfortunately.

Do you think this would be a reasonable way of getting this done? Get my boots from Ellis Brigham or Snow and Rock under the recommendations of the fitters in there, and have them do what they can. I can always go to another fitter later on if I have problems.
Or just go straight to a pro like Cem that you mentioned? Does he have boots in stock, or is he a retro fitter?

Didnt I cover this off in a recent thread entitled "ski socks" recently?


Do not wear tube or thick socks, they are rubbish.
Only wear thin socks with padding and support in the right places. Use merino wool if possible. But dont wear tube socks. Please.