SKI BOOT 101: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BOOTS
SKI BOOT 101
I strongly recommend that you buy your own boots if you are to ski regularly every year. If you are still renting boots, well make sure you rent them at the ski resort so you can easily swap them at no cost if you realize after a couple of runs that they don’t fit properly. And a lot of discomfort may happen ! The boot might be the right size, but might not match the shape of your foot and your leg: narrow foot vs wide forefoot (you will need a wider toe box), high arch vs flat foot (you will need a lower volume boot), narrow ankle vs wide ankle (you might need some punching of the shell to accommodate for your bones), skinny leg vs bigger leg (you will need a wider cuff), calf muscle attached high on the leg vs lower on the leg, or if you have a bunion (you can punch or grind the shell), all these are factors, just to name a few, that you need to consider when renting/buying a boot… Needless to say that buying your own boots will give you a far better chance to nail the right one for you!
If you are not sure where to go, you can ask any instructor or race coach you will come across in a ski resort where is the best bootfitter in town. The name that will come more often is the one you want to see.
Once again, if there is ONE thing you can do to ski better and more efficiently, is to invest in your feet and see a proper bootfitter. Everything else is details, and nothing else can happen properly if you don’t get this right. We receive priceless and constant information through our feet from the ground, allowing us to effectively manipulate our skis to remain balanced and in control, and if the connection is not sound because of an ill fitting boot, the link will be weak.
So, which boots do I recommend ? The ones that fit you ! It doesn’t matter which brand, or which color you end up with: you can only ski at your best if you are comfortable in your boots. Snug, but comfortable. The boot should respect the shape of your foot, and allow the foot to splay with no restriction, but should also allow your ankle joint to function properly. And what I mean by that is that the ski boot should allow you to reach your reference shank angle, the one specific to your body and that you need to balance efficiently on your feet when you are in a flexed position. Any restriction in the ankle movement because of a plastic wall blocking it, and you will end up bending from the next joint up, the knee joint, with the effect of putting you in the back seat, and the forefoot disconnecting from the ground. I don’t know about you, but if my forefoot is off the ground, it means my ski tip is off the ground… good luck with tilting the ski tip to guide it on a smooth arc across and up the hill… !
So please do yourself a favor, and invest in seeing the best bootfitter you can find.
MY RECOMMENDED BOOTFITTER
When it comes to skiing, there’s nothing more important than your ski boots. It’s the most important part of the equipment, the one that connects your foot to the ski. If the link is weak, not only will your feet be unhappy, but you will lose the ability to manipulate the skis quickly and efficiently.
When it comes to bootfitting, you can trust Mark Festor to find the boots that will fit you like a glove. His years of experience in the industry makes him a go to person.
I spend more than 250 days every year in my ski boots, sometimes more than 8 hours per day, and I couldn’t recommend him more. For me, it is worth going all the way to Geneva in between my ski seasons, or during a ski trip in the Alps, to make my feet happy.
He is conveniently located 15 mn away from the airport, on the French side of the border, and bonus if you are not a EU citizen, you will get the taxes back.
