Guide to Skiing – Skiing Boots
In this installment of our guide to skiing we look at skiing boots…
Spend as much as your budget will allow for a pair of ski boots. They have a bigger bearing on your level of comfort when skiing than any other piece of equipment or clothing and so aren’t the thing to hold back on if you’re on a tight budget.
Having decided on a budget, you’ll then need to find a boot fitter. Avoid leaving it until you arrive at a resort, as you’ll have less boot fitters to choose from and prices will likely be higher, and be prepared to shop around until you find a good one, who: seems genuinely interested in you as a customer; asks what terrain you’ll be skiing and how often; measures both your feet and examines their movement and range of flexibility; gives you several different boots to try on; suggests possible adjustments to improve the fit.
Ask around for recommendations from other skiers you know if you can and be prepared to dedicate some time to getting it right (the process should take more than an hour if done properly). Providing honest details to your fitter goes a long way towards getting you into the right boot. Your fitter needs to know what your proficiency level is, and how often you will be using your boots, as these things are important in order to keep you from purchasing a boot that hurts your ability to learn to ski.
Because boots will generally pack out at about twenty percent over the course of its useful life, you should start off with boots that are a little tighter and firmer on your feet. Your boot is something that will change as your experience changes; because when you have more experience you will be more conscious of response and precision, something that a shorter, tighter boot can accomplish, even though when you’re first starting out, you will likely prefer a more generous, lengthy fit in your boot.
Don’t expect walking around in your new boots to break them in – it really doesn’t affect any positive benefit and won’t give you a clue as to how they’ll feel in skis. In fact, new, well fitted boots tend to give the wearer some pins and needles or numbness if more than ten minutes is spent in them without active skiing.
The only real way to break in your boots is on the slopes, and just like a new pair of shoes, they will require some breaking in, and may be rather uncomfortable until you use them for a few days.
By: Mark Thomas Walters
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Filed under Recreation And Sports by on Jul 28th, 2010. 