No. Not without looking at persons foot. Many people may do this, but their boots are second rate compared to ski boots fitted with a custom foot bed by an expert ski boot fitter.
Note: Ladies’ ski boots 85 soft flexing to 115 stiff ~ Men’s ski boots 100 soft flexing to 130 stiff
Yes, but what is stiff for you? Is a 120-flex stiff or soft for you and your stature? Maybe you need a 130-flex stiff, top of the range ski boot, as a beginner or intermediate skier, because you are a heavier set highly flexible person that would get sore calf’s and numb tingling feet in anything softer.
Stature is crucial when purchasing ski boots. How heavy are you? How tall are you? And how flexible you are is much more important than asking a person how they ski. It will dictate what flex ski boot you end up in, that is correct for your stature, and keeps you within a very small window of flex that will keep you efficient, with less fatigue on your body and muscles when skiing.
A two hour booked appointment to purchase ski boots and custom footbeds is required.
This includes:
Initial assessment – Stature, Foot shape and length. What you want to get from your ski boots and your goals with skiing.
Explanation – Ski Boots, Custom Foot beds and Biomechanics.
Boot Fit Testing – At this time, we need to find the right Ski Boot by trying on various types of fits and styles of ski boots to choose the best one to work with.
Custom Footbeds – Whole foot alignment to help the foot have comfort and control when in a ski boot shell trying to turn and pressure a ski.
Heat Moulding – Modern Ski Boots have a customizable liner that can be heated and some have a custom shell that can also be heated. Once your footbed has been made we can heat up the liners or shells to help mould them to you before skiing.
Shell Modifications – further adjustments are sometimes necessary to eliminate hot spots with fitting before skiing or after skiing.
Time to test your new boots out in the mountains!
Yes. No one likes heel lift. Heel lift is a very common complaint of Ski Boots and there are many reasons for this to occur.
The boot could be too big in the length or it could be too big in regards to the fit. The boot could be too soft and allowing you to over flex and letting the foot get to a position where it’s trying to walk!
If there is no custom footbed stabilizing your feet, that could be the cause of the movement or you have skied over 200 days in your boots and the liner is starting to pack out and simply not doing its job to support you in the shell anymore. Sometimes a piece of foam added to the liner in the shell can help with this as a short term fix or with difference in fitting with our feet that are different left to right.
Ski Boots have a life. Depending on the quality of your boots they should last at least 100 to 200 days of skiing and if fitted correctly even longer.
This may indicate to you that it’s time to buy a new ski boot all together or purchase a new liner.
The liner in the shell plays a huge part in this. Boots that cost more have better liners than the ones that cost less. Low quality boots have low quality liners, and after a short time skiing in them they can pack out. Liners are made up of different types of foams or cork materials that over time compress and get thinner. For this reason, there are some models that we won’t stock because the quality is too low and the life of the boot too short. Our goal is to find you a ski boot that you get many years of use from.
Yes. If this occurs when you are just standing around in them or skiing, you might be in a tight fit and that is not ideal as we all want to be comfortable when skiing.
If you flex forward in your boots and your toes come away that’s good, but it’s not going to help when you go over a bump or jump unexpectedly and jam your toe into the front of the shell.
A custom footbed can help by supporting your feet into a neutral position, and will shorten some people’s feet by 1cm. This will help to stop your natural pronation and your toes touching the shell.
Your boot could be too narrow and is cutting off circulation in your feet.
A simple stretch put into the boots shell to match your feet better will help to allow better blood flow in your feet and eliminate this feeling.
A thick sock could also cause this. By wearing a thinner pair of socks, you will create more airflow around your feet and your feet will be warmer.
Some people have medical conditions that can cause this and sometimes boot heaters are a great option to help you stay warm when skiing.
Lots of people don’t do their boots up properly creating a delay in the boot from when you bend your leg each time you turn when skiing. This causes a banging on your leg well known as shin-bang.
Simply doing your boots up properly will help greatly with this.
We recommend you always do the top buckles up first and with the correct fit, the lower buckles are just closed to create a seal.
Another reason this could be happening is that you are in a ski boot that is too stiff. When you try to bend your leg, the boot doesn’t bend enough and you find yourself hanging on for the ride causing your shins and lower leg to become painful after skiing. All ski boots can be made softer by removing the rivet from the rear of the boot or removing some of the plastic in the shell to create more flex.
Another recommendation to improve this is to fit a Booster Strap to your boots. Almost all ski boots come with a boot strap at the top of the cuff to help keep the boot snug on your leg once it has been done up. The Booster Strap has a stretchy yet strong elastic material instead of rigid canvas type strap that your boot comes with. This stretchy elastic boot strap helps eliminate shin bang and offers the skier more rebound at the end of the turn, creating more power with less fatigue.
Yes. Custom footbeds are very important to align and support our feet when skiing.
We are designed to walk or run, not stand hip width static in a plastic shell. So, understanding what the human bio mechanic requires when skiing is very different to what it requires when walking.
Our feet naturally Pronate or supinate and to allow this to occur when skiing simply creates delay in the feet controlling the ski and will lead to fitting problems like sore ankles or your feet tipping and moving around in the boot.
The Sidas ConForm’able foot bed system that we use at The Boot Lab casts and supports the fore foot as much as it does the rear of the foot, creating whole foot support with neutral alignment for the feet to stand in a boot and on a ski with more feeling, response and comfort.
