First pair of boots

[Chris A]

Greetings PugSki Community,

My name is Chris and this is my first post to these forums! To give a little background about myself, I grew up skiing in Tahoe as a young child for many years and recently picked up skiing again in the last two seasons (I'm 25 now). Skiing is my favorite thing to do on our beautiful planet, and I'm thrilled to be back at a place in my life that allows me to ski on a regular basis. That being said, i've rented a car & equipment for the past two seasons while buying 2 and 3 day lift ticket packages - no more. I now have my AWD snow-mobile to get me to and from the mountain, the Tahoe Local Pass for lifts, and am ready to hit Kirkwood and Heavenly every week or two next season. Now that I have my ride and lift situation handled, I need to look at equipment - and I know where to start.

I've heard that before purchasing skis, I should take a good hard look at boots. I'm not sure where to begin my search for boots, so I thought I would start by looking to my new ski community for help. I figure I should start by giving my body dimensions and skier type/ability. I'm 5'10, 165lbs, advanced skier. My foot length is 26.5cm. I like to ski off-piste and in the trees, occasionally sticking to groomers but mostly venturing off to blaze my own trail. I don't like screaming down the mountain in a straight line, I prefer cruising at a natural pace through the trees and finding nature-made features. Skis that I liked: Nordica NRGY 100, Rossignol S6 Koopman. Skis that I hated: Volk RTM 8.0 spec. I do NOT have my own skis yet - figured I should get the boot situation handled first. Please let me know if there's more information I can provide to help with boot suggestions. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Carl Kuck]

Greetings PugSki Community, (snip)
I've heard that before purchasing skis, I should take a good hard look at boots.... [more snippage]

Yes, Grasshopper, you'll have a much better day with boots properly fit and aligned and crappy skis than you will the other way around. You've also come to the right place and others much more knowledgeable than I in the ways of boot fitting and aligning can help you with that end. Welcome!

 

[Chris A]

Thanks CBK! I have a feeling people here will point me in the right direction.

I'd like to add that I am looking for freestyle boots.

 

[NonNativeRado]

Even with the information you gave us, I don't think anyone can give you great specific boot recommendations. I spent $50 more than I would have on eBay and got full service on my boots from a local shop... and the shop got a customer who comes in regularly for waxes and little stuff... and who refers people to their shop constantly. You have the 6-7 months before next season so take your time. I'd recommend that over jumping into any boots right now off of online advice.

Ultimately, what you're looking for is information on your feet/ankles/legs, what would fit, and what would work for the type of skiing that you do. Then you want a shop that will constantly adjust your boots or offer a full refund if they straight up don't work out. I was a serious runner earlier in my life and thought I knew my feet... I didn't know diddly compared to these bootfitters: one foot longer than the other, arches that were the average length of a foot a size bigger which is why my arches were slightly flatter than normal, normal ankles, larger than average calves, wide forefoot, very slightly overpronate, etc.

I'm lucky enough to live in Colorado, so I ended up going to multiple bootfitters and had them just look at my feet/ankles/legs. Every single one said the same thing within looking at my feet for 30 seconds to a minute. Universally, the bootfitters recommended to me on the message boards were great. They all pointed me in similar directions even if it meant that I would have to go elsewhere to buy boots since their shop didn't carry it. I ended up at a local shop near me that had a boot that worked perfectly and fortunately had my size in the previous year's model. They heat molded the liner and put in an inexpensive foot bed that relaxed my toes and supported my arches. And after a couple days on the mountain, I went back and they made a couple adjustments to the buckles and punched out two spots. They've been perfect ever since.

 

[pete]

you may too find shops with some decent discounts yet this season so cost wise, may end up way ahead hitting one with a master fitter.

I'm sure there's some on the forum in the know of your area and the hills you will hit next year. In fact I'ld aim for one at Tahoe or Kirkwood as you can then have adj done if needed by the same shop. While the fitting may be great, occasionally an adjust is needed to tweak differences between shop and actual ride.

 

[Sean]

Go to Start Haus in truckee in later October or early November. You will not be disappointed!

 

[cantunamunch]

First pair?

Your boots are too big. And no, that's not really a joke.

 

[Chris A]

Even with the information you gave us, I don't think anyone can give you great specific boot recommendations. I spent $50 more than I would have on eBay and got full service on my boots from a local shop... and the shop got a customer who comes in regularly for waxes and little stuff... and who refers people to their shop constantly. You have the 6-7 months before next season so take your time. I'd recommend that over jumping into any boots right now off of online advice.

Ultimately, what you're looking for is information on your feet/ankles/legs, what would fit, and what would work for the type of skiing that you do. Then you want a shop that will constantly adjust your boots or offer a full refund if they straight up don't work out. I was a serious runner earlier in my life and thought I knew my feet... I didn't know diddly compared to these bootfitters: one foot longer than the other, arches that were the average length of a foot a size bigger which is why my arches were slightly flatter than normal, normal ankles, larger than average calves, wide forefoot, very slightly overpronate, etc.

I'm lucky enough to live in Colorado, so I ended up going to multiple bootfitters and had them just look at my feet/ankles/legs. Every single one said the same thing within looking at my feet for 30 seconds to a minute. Universally, the bootfitters recommended to me on the message boards were great. They all pointed me in similar directions even if it meant that I would have to go elsewhere to buy boots since their shop didn't carry it. I ended up at a local shop near me that had a boot that worked perfectly and fortunately had my size in the previous year's model. They heat molded the liner and put in an inexpensive foot bed that relaxed my toes and supported my arches. And after a couple days on the mountain, I went back and they made a couple adjustments to the buckles and punched out two spots. They've been perfect ever since.

I feel like you and many others recommend finding a solid boot-fitter before anything else. Am I better off waiting until the beginning of next season to get fitted for/purchase boots? I can wait, but I figured there would be some good deals right now with it being May and all.

I can always go to Kirkwood Mountain Sports on my first day next season, but I was kind of hoping to have my boot/ski situation figured out by then unless I decide I should demo first. If anyone has experience with the Kirkwood demo shop please speak up.

 

[NonNativeRado]

I feel like you and many others recommend finding a solid boot-fitter before anything else. Am I better off waiting until the beginning of next season to get fitted for/purchase boots? I can wait, but I figured there would be some good deals right now with it being May and all.

I can always go to Kirkwood Mountain Sports on my first day next season, but I was kind of hoping to have my boot/ski situation figured out by then unless I decide I should demo first. If anyone has experience with the Kirkwood demo shop please speak up.

Go now and ask for advice from someone in person who can check out your calves/ankle/feet and check your alignment... how you stand.... how you walk... etc. From my experience I haven't run into a real bootfitter who was a jerk. Universally really good guys. It's pretty easy to tell if they know their stuff or they're just a salesman. After you know what you're looking for... then you can go shop the bargains.

 

[Philpug]

I feel like you and many others recommend finding a solid boot-fitter before anything else. Am I better off waiting until the beginning of next season to get fitted for/purchase boots? I can wait, but I figured there would be some good deals right now with it being May and all.

I can always go to Kirkwood Mountain Sports on my first day next season, but I was kind of hoping to have my boot/ski situation figured out by then unless I decide I should demo first. If anyone has experience with the Kirkwood demo shop please speak up.

If Jacob Bender is there next year, he knows how to fit boots but seeing what the selection will be at True North for next year I am not holding much hope that they will have a boot that actually fits. South lake there are a couple of shops that can fit, track Dixon Brown, he can help.