Hey Brett... I think I "might" know what is happening as I had a
similar problem at least with the Green/Black dialogues (02-03)... I
had the Orange/Black ones too (01-02?) but they dug into my shins and
I traded them in. I had severe pinching pain in front of my ankle on
the top and sides near my arch. It always starts after a few hours
(right around lunch). Turns out there is this tough piece of
semi-elastic fabric in the liner that goes across the sides of the
liner right in front of your ankle. It's purpose is to help control
heel lift I think... however, if you are a big knee bender like me...
that piece of tough fabric start digging in a LOT into your foot (if
you remove your foot and take off a sock you will see the impression
it leave). My solution to this was to just take a scissors and cut
this part out. That helps a LOT.

However, after 2 pairs of Salmons and talking to several other
people... I've decided that Salomon boots just aren't very durable...
they break down in stiffness very quickly and your heel/ankle begins
to lift... it's a particular problem for me because I have narrow/feet
ankles... I got a pair of DCShoes at the end of last season as I'm
told they last forever.

"Brett" wrote in message news:VLueb.644606$Ho3.134494@sccrnsc03...
My current boots, 2001-2002 Salomon Dialogues, pinch the front of my ankles,
towards the inside/arch... I ride 15 degrees front and 9 degrees back, toed
out to keep an upright stance... But after about 2 hours in the boots, I'm
ripping them off in severe pain. It feels like they are too soft and are
transfering the pressure of the binding, Ride Team EX, to my ankle... I'm
an ex slalom skier and have a tendency to beat on my boots by using alot of
knee angulation. The guys in the ski shops dropped dead when they say me
flex a 2002-2003 Salamon Crossmax 10.0 ski boot.

Any pointers? Other than the pinching, the boots are great. But from what
I am hearing from the guyns in the shops, someone of my size (6'2", 195 lbs)
should be in a stiff boot. I'm an advanced beginner and will be progressing
through to Advanced Intermediate this year. Very quick to catch on as I
grew up on snow and on skateboards...Would like to eliminate the pinching
and have been considering modifying the boots to make them stiffer.

So what do the experts on the group say? Any advice for a tall, agressive
boarder? If it means anything, I have a size 11.5 foot and ride a Ride
Mountain board.

Would like to move to a narrower board this year as well but will probably
need some sort of riser to keep heels and toes from catching...

Sierra Rider