Fitting Ski boots...Myths and Methods.

Ski boots....some people seem to think that the ski boot is this clunky, uncomfortable, heavy, vice that is not pleasurable to wear but a necessary evil if you want to take in apres ski activities. Nothing could be further from the truth. If properly fitted, a ski boot can be extremely comfortable and give you years of enjoyment on the snow.
 First thing to do is have your feet looked at, not sized ("throw your foot in here....oh your a 9 1/2") because everyone has differently shaped feet. You also have one foot that's bigger than the other. It could be your left, it could be your right. You might have hammer toes, or your second toe may be bigger than your big toe, etc, etc, etc. You might pronate, or suponate, and if your asking what the heck does that mean, ask the sales associate next time you buy shoes, if they don't know, go buy them somewhere else. There are 27 bones in the human foot, as well as tendons and veins and muscles and all kinds of other stuff. What I'm trying to say is your foot moves, a lot, and not always the same as someone else's. Picking a boot that matches your foot is critical....DEFCON 1 critical if you want to have happy feet when you ski. If your feet ain't happy....you ain't happy!
 So your standing in front of the boot wall in your local ski store (hopefully mine) and you don't have a clue where to start. Don't pick by color, or brand or price. ASK someone. Nothing ticks me off more than someone says "can I try THAT silver one with red buckles in a 10". I haven't looked at your foot, I haven't sized you, I haven't even started to see what your foot does weighted and un-weighted. I can count on one hand then number of customers who have picked the right boot first time...and I've been doing this for 20 years.
 So sit, relax, take a load off your feet, remove your socks, roll up your pant legs to your knees and lets see what we have, shall we? I'll ask you to walk about 15 steps away from me and then back. this will tell me a couple things, what your feet do and what your knees do, so I can figure out if we'll have an alignment issue (Hello...footbeds) or not. Then we can measure, and 9 times out of 10 if a person thinks they are a 11.5 they are a 10.5. Keep in mind that ski boot manufacturers use the Mondo point sizing system. so a 9 is a 27.0, a 9 1/2 is a 27.5 etc. The easy way to figure it out is add the first 2 numbers together (2+7.0 = 9.0, 2+7.5 + 9 1/2) Once I see what your feet do and look like I can recommend a boot (or maybe 2) for you to try.
 After we get the boots out of the box I am going to pull out the liner and have you place your foot in the shell with your toes just barely touching the front of the shell. Ideally you should have a finger to a finger and a half worth of room behind your heel. Reason why is the liner will expand after about 20 hours of skiing, you don't want too much room or your foot has to work too hard to stay balanced and then you get sore feet once the liner packs out. Trust me, it will happen. If you have orthodics they should go into the liner to replace the fabric insole at this point, or a [pair of foot beds for more support and comfort (that's another blog to come later).
 So liner goes back into the shell (usually not without a fight) and were ready to try it on your foot. At this point I'll tell you how it's going to feel once it's buckled up, and you'll think in your head that i'm nuts. Most boots have a pull tab on the tongue that makes it much easier to slide your foot into the boot, pull it straight up or slightly to the side. The 2 buckles over the top of the foot are mostly for comfort, so ratcheting them down is only going to make things more snug. It's buckle 3 and 4 on the leg we want to focus on, they give you all the support for your skiing (buckle 2 will help with heel retention however don't over tighten). 
 Now this is where we have to address the female "Athletic Calf". Some female skiers have larger calves than others and they find boots pinch at the top. There are several cures for this. The first is if the 3rd paragraph of this blog was done. You might need a heel lift (but that can throw other things out of whack so be leery of these right away) but a better answer would be a footbed. Also almost all boots have adjustable bailes (or teeth) that can adjust out towards the buckle. 90% of the time this does the trick.
 So it's buckled, your standing and it's too small....hold on there boss! Standing straight up we WANT your toes to touch the end, not curled, not jammed, but touching. Then flex your knees over your toes by applying pressure on the tongues of the boots with your shins. Your toes will come off the end and lose contact with the front, THIS IS THE PROPER SIZE, I'll say it again...THIS IS THE PROPER SIZE!! Not to sound like a Marine Corps Drill Sargent but THIS IS THE PROPER SIZE! You don't stand at attention when you ski, but you usually do when you try on boots (because at this point you aren't going 20MPH in -7C on a 20 degree snow covered gradient).
 Leave them on for a few minutes, flex them, get to know them, love them. You should be able to flex them pretty well, If you cant it's probably too stiff as today's skis require the ability to bend your ankles to get the ski turning. After a few minutes if there are any pressure points they will start to crop up. Then we can address those.
 So there they fit, you like them, now don't forget to get your ski's bindings adjusted as ski boots have whats called a boot sole measurement, it's the length in millimeters of the sole from the toe to heel of the boot (almost all 27.5 boots will have different boot sole measurement). Any ski shop can do this in about 10 minutes provided they are busy, no butting in line...play nice!
 There you have it, bootfitting 101. There are certainly other things that can arise in the fit process, and other things you can do to boots but that's for another day. Hopefully this gives you a sense of what to expect when you go to your favorite ski shop (again, hopefully mine). Stay tuned for my next blog and thanks for reading.....