Skiers in here

collisster

collisster

collisster

Soldato
Joined
23 May 2006
Posts
2,590
Location
Blythe
looking for some advice on ski boots,
I'm going to snow and rock on sunday (birmingham) to look for some ski boots,
I'm classed as an intermediate skier, what sort of boots should I be looking for? I've been on the S&R website and the nordica speedmachine range look good.
how tight should the boots be as I've heard that the get looser after a few days skiing when the footbed packs down?

Advice please

Collisster
 
Depends on what type of skiing you do. Soft for tricks n playing about and hard from downhill speed stuff (iirc)

They do lossen off a bit, but you still dont want your foot getting crushed (thats what the huge straps r there for) Also its worth getting them heat molded to your foot, most places will offer this as std with new boots.

Google "ski boot guide" (or variations) lots of help available.
 
Last edited:
collisster said:
looking for some advice on ski boots,
I'm going to snow and rock on sunday (birmingham) to look for some ski boots,
I'm classed as an intermediate skier, what sort of boots should I be looking for? I've been on the S&R website and the nordica speedmachine range look good.
how tight should the boots be as I've heard that the get looser after a few days skiing when the footbed packs down?

Advice please

Collisster
Click to expand...

Most boots have a thermal fit liner which expands and shapes to your foot with use, so try to keep the boots about a half size smaller than you think it should be. Your toes mustn't be curles up, but there should be a snug fit.

My only real advice is once you think you have a good pair is wear them in the shop for as long as possible 1-2 hours is good, Walk around, strecthc, bend, jump, pretewnd ski. That will show you any tight points. If their is any pain hte the boot is too tight. Also, when you get home, try and wear them as much as possible around the house. see if you notice an discomfort. If there is take them back, they should refund a pair that hasn't been used for skiing.


Other things to check are the stiffness of the boot. More aggressive, better skilled, or heavier skiiers want a stiffer boot. MOst boots have an index, which sadly isn't fully compatable. Aim for 90+.
 
cuppy tea - you seem to be quite the enthusiast at many things.
seems someone want to have the last post for all threads. :)
 
cuppy tea said:
Being quite the Skiing enthusiast myself, I can tell you that the boots are the foundation of all your skiing fun. Make sure you pick good 'uns :)
Click to expand...

..but he's absolutely right :)

and as already said, try them on in the shop, flexing them with movement for *at least* 1hr to ensure that they 'warm up' and your feet become used to them.

If they dont feel 'like a glove' after this, then they are wrong for you.
 
Last edited:
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=20110

If you're lucky you'll get a good boot fitter at S&R and Ellis Brigham. It's best to go to a specialist (recommendations can be found over at snowheads). Spie got his from Lockwoods in Leamington Spa - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17788246

Wear the boots around the house standing up as much as possible - you don't sit down much when you're skiing.
Book a session at one of the indoor snow slopes. You'll probably find the boots are too tight the first few times in snow. This is to be expected since they will contract in the cold.
 
I bought some boots about 3 weeks ago, I ended up with Nordica Speedmachine 10's for about £250. :)

I went to Ellis Brigham, and got a very good fitter (nice intelligent girl, very fit too ;) ). They measure your feet in thin ski socks (don't wear thick ones), and that determines the boot shell size. Then you basically have to try on all the boots in that size, as they're all different. Some are narrower at the toes, some are wide at the toes and narrow on the calves. There's a lot of adjustment on the straps but some boots will feel great and some will feel horrible, even though they're the same shell size.

I wanted Salomon Impact 10's or Atomic M100s when I went in there, but the Atomics were too narrow in the calf, the Salomons felt ok but just a little odd. Head boots felt lovely and comfortable but were too flexible for me, so I went for the Nordicas in the end. Although I'm barely intermediate in terms of ski ability, I'm pretty heavy and have powerful legs so I had to go for a more expert level boot - purely as the lower end boots were just too flexible for me.

Once you choose the boots, they heat them up on a heater and then clamp them on your feet, the liners have conformable sections which mould slightly to fit better - but you need to have the basic boot fit right in the first place.

I went one stage further, I got custom footbeds made too (earlier this year for my snowboard boots). With these they take a mould of each foot and make a footbed that fits you perfectly. They do make a difference to the comfort, but are expensive. IIRC I paid £50 for mine, also from Ellis Brigham.

I know some people buy online to save money (I've done it), but please try not to, it's a false economy. You'd have to be incredibly lucky to get boots that fit properly. You can't guess based on your shoe size, my normal shoe size is UK 10.5 but my ski boots are 27.5cm shell which is about a UK 9 or 9.5 IIRC, my snowboard boots were a UK 11.
 
I just used to hire different pairs of boots each couple of days till i found a set i really liked.

Did this a few times, then when i found the pair i liked, i bought that very pair the day i went to hand them back i refused saying i was buying them. They looked at me a bit funny, and gave me a price. I paid a quarter of the new price of the boots, and KNEW they would be comfortable. Few years ago now never had uncomfortable feet ever again!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom