A Snow and ski forum. SkiBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » SkiBanter forum » Skiing Newsgroups » Alpine Skiing (moderated)
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

getting used to new boots



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old December 15th 04, 09:02 PM
Monique Y. Mudama
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default getting used to new boots

Does anyone have any advice on what to do to get used to new boots?

I tried them out for the first time yesterday, at Beaver Creek. Eric was in a
mogul mood (as per usual), so that's most of what we did. Ripsaw was the
best; it doesn't get much sun, so the snow was still nice.

It seems that my new boots, which are designed for "expert" rather than
"intermediate" skiers, are much more demanding. In my old boots, leaning back
definitely hurt my technique, but in these new boots, shin-to-tongue contact
is an absolute must. I never thought I'd notice the difference so readily,
but there it is. If I'm not aggressively positioned, I have no control. I
figure this is a good thing, in the long run, as it will force me into good
habits, but right now it's still disconcerting.

The sides of my feet cramped a good deal the first few hours, but as the day
wore on, the pain subsided. Eric assures me that his feet cramped the first
few days, too, but after that he's been happy, so I guess I shouldn't expect
miracles the first day.

--
monique
Longmont, CO

Ads
  #2  
Old December 15th 04, 11:46 PM
VtSkier
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
Does anyone have any advice on what to do to get used to new boots?

A little.

I tried them out for the first time yesterday, at Beaver Creek. Eric was in a
mogul mood (as per usual), so that's most of what we did. Ripsaw was the
best; it doesn't get much sun, so the snow was still nice.

Doing bumps in "racing" boots? Could be a problem right there.

It seems that my new boots, which are designed for "expert" rather than
"intermediate" skiers, are much more demanding. In my old boots, leaning back
definitely hurt my technique, but in these new boots, shin-to-tongue contact
is an absolute must.


Shin to tongue contact is a good indicator that you are where you should
be over your skis, but pushing against the back of the boot to jet out
of a turn is also something you can feel with stiffer boots. Get out of
the bumps for a while and do big carved turns and pick up on the feel of
wherever you are.

I never thought I'd notice the difference so readily,
but there it is. If I'm not aggressively positioned, I have no control. I
figure this is a good thing, in the long run, as it will force me into good
habits, but right now it's still disconcerting.

It would seem to me that being in the back seat in bumps is the cause
for no control, not the boots. Yes, good boots will improve your skiing
habits.

The sides of my feet cramped a good deal the first few hours, but as the day
wore on, the pain subsided. Eric assures me that his feet cramped the first
few days, too, but after that he's been happy, so I guess I shouldn't expect
miracles the first day.

And now the meat of it. Plastic (a ski boot shell) will not conform to
your foot. A conformable liner will help, but if the shell has pressure
points now, or is too narrow, it will be too narrow and have pressure
points next year. As I said, the conformable liner will help. Have you
gotten your custom inner soles yet? The stiffer the boots, IMO, the more
important these become. Have you gotten your inner soles at a place
where they can also do shell adjustments? I have gotten two pair of
boots finally adjusted to my feet so that I can ski multiple days in
either of them. The AT boots are juicy comfy and the Alpine (racing)
boots can be worn all day with little adjustment. All because I've had
the bootfitter move out the shell where it hurt, and caused pain which
lasted several days.

Foot cramping can be caused by two things. a) your foot (instep) is
being squashed because you don't have adequate arch support. or b) you
boot is too narrow, or at least too narrow in critical places.

Your boots should be tight enough so that you don't have to buckle them
very tight to ski well. You should never have to "crank" on your
buckles. Tight enough to stay closed plus a little is adequate if the
boots fit right. If your new boots ARE fitted correctly, maybe your are
simply buckling too tight. Your feet shouldn't cramp, get cold or
otherwise be uncomfortable when you are in your boots. If they are the
boots are too tight somewhere.

As for "expert" boots as opposed to "intermediate" boots, I'm wondering
what the difference is. I ski a lot in my AT boots. They are very soft,
only three buckles, have a walk function and vibram soles. I got them
because I'm off my skis a lot while "working" at the area. My bootfitter
told me that many people can't ski well on them because they are so
soft. Is softness a mark of an "expert" boot? My "racing boots" are
middling stiff. Maybe not as stiff as my old Salomons, maybe stiffer,
but they have a great progressive flex fore and aft and don't feel very
stiff at all, but they will drive my Volkl 6star skis well where the AT
boots leave a bit to be desired on a high performance ski. I've been
considering a softer boot for my alpine use. I saw a pair of Kneissl
Rail boots and tried on a pair of Garmont Adrenaline AT boots when I was
at a shop in South Lake Tahoe on Friday. Both looked very nice and the
Garmonts felt great.

VtSkier

  #3  
Old December 16th 04, 01:07 AM
Monique Y. Mudama
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Thanks for your input ... I'm not sure you read my post very carefully,
though. Have you read any of my previous posts about boots, either? I didn't
bother to reiterate some stuff I've mentioned before.

On 2004-12-15, VtSkier penned:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

I tried them out for the first time yesterday, at Beaver Creek. Eric was
in a mogul mood (as per usual), so that's most of what we did. Ripsaw was
the best; it doesn't get much sun, so the snow was still nice.

Doing bumps in "racing" boots? Could be a problem right there.


Who said anything about racing boots?

It seems that my new boots, which are designed for "expert" rather than
"intermediate" skiers, are much more demanding. In my old boots, leaning
back definitely hurt my technique, but in these new boots, shin-to-tongue
contact is an absolute must.


Shin to tongue contact is a good indicator that you are where you should be
over your skis, but pushing against the back of the boot to jet out of a
turn is also something you can feel with stiffer boots. Get out of the bumps
for a while and do big carved turns and pick up on the feel of wherever you
are.


I don't think I've ever heard anything from an instructor or fellow skier
about pushing against the back of the boot before. Maybe that's because I
have such a bad habit of sitting back that they just wanted me to focus on
moving forward.

I never thought I'd notice the difference so readily, but there it is. If
I'm not aggressively positioned, I have no control. I figure this is a
good thing, in the long run, as it will force me into good habits, but
right now it's still disconcerting.

It would seem to me that being in the back seat in bumps is the cause for no
control, not the boots. Yes, good boots will improve your skiing habits.


Of *course* being in the backseat in the bumps is a no-control situation. My
point was that my old boots were at least slightly tolerant of this bad
behavior, while my new boots will have none of it. I have to be in the
driver's seat. Like I said, pretty sure it's a good thing, but it's always
painful when you're confronted with your own bad habits.

The sides of my feet cramped a good deal the first few hours, but as the
day wore on, the pain subsided. Eric assures me that his feet cramped the
first few days, too, but after that he's been happy, so I guess I shouldn't
expect miracles the first day.

And now the meat of it. Plastic (a ski boot shell) will not conform to your
foot. A conformable liner will help, but if the shell has pressure points
now, or is too narrow, it will be too narrow and have pressure points next
year.


Well, yes, which is why I just bought these boots after having tried for
five years to get my old boots to work. The new boots are already much
more comfortable than the old ones, which had man-days of fitting work.
I felt no pressure on the side of my foot in the stock liner, so when I
felt some in the custom liner, the shop guys encouraged me to try the
liner for a few days before getting any adjustments done on the shell.

The shell itself is wonderful. There are no pressure points and it is plenty
wide, for once. The stock liner felt good on first blush, but because of my
history of difficulty with boots, I decided to get a custom foam liner.

As I said, the conformable liner will help. Have you gotten your
custom inner soles yet? The stiffer the boots, IMO, the more important these
become.


Yup, this is my second set of orthotics. My old boots had orthotics, as well,
and they helped, but weren't enough to eliminate problems inherent to the
shell.


Have you gotten your inner soles at a place where they can also do
shell adjustments?


Yes. They won't grind or punch the shell until I've skied on the boot enough
to pack out the liner and eliminate that as the culprit. I believe that is an
appropriate attitude; no point making adjustments to the shell when the liner
is still settling in. As I said before, my feet felt better at the end of the
day than they did at the beginning, which suggests to me that it's not yet
time for shell adjustments.

I have gotten two pair of boots finally adjusted to my
feet so that I can ski multiple days in either of them. The AT boots are
juicy comfy and the Alpine (racing) boots can be worn all day with little
adjustment. All because I've had the bootfitter move out the shell where it
hurt, and caused pain which lasted several days.


On the flip side, my last set of boots had many, many adjustments, including
at least three punch-outs and a grind, and were never comfortable. Ski
literature has all sorts of things to say about how you need the fit to be
tight from the start, so that you have good control. It's clear to me that
this tight-fit theory has flaws when it comes to people with unusually
sensitive or oddly-shaped feet. When I first tried on this new pair of boots,
I actually told the salesguy they must be too big, as they actually felt
comfortable. But he did the usual toe and heel checks and assured me that
"not in pain" did not have to mean "too loose to be effective."

Foot cramping can be caused by two things. a) your foot (instep) is being
squashed because you don't have adequate arch support. or b) you boot is too
narrow, or at least too narrow in critical places.


c) the liner hasn't packed out yet

Your boots should be tight enough so that you don't have to buckle them very
tight to ski well. You should never have to "crank" on your buckles. Tight
enough to stay closed plus a little is adequate if the boots fit right. If
your new boots ARE fitted correctly, maybe your are simply buckling too
tight. Your feet shouldn't cramp, get cold or otherwise be uncomfortable
when you are in your boots. If they are the boots are too tight somewhere.


Welcome to my world. I have big calves. Even with women's boots and having
moved the buckles out to the third hole, the boot is still pretty tight on the
loosest setting.

Also, I can definitely tell a difference in my level of control when I don't
have the upper buckles tight. I've learned my lesson about cramping the calf
by making the boot too tight, so I start out on the loosest setting every day
and only tighten the buckles if I feel "wobbly." The one just above the ankle
seems to be the most important for control.

The two buckles across my foot, on the other hand, I have set as loosely as
possible. There's no pressure being applied by the buckles.

Frankly, I think all of your advice applies to boots that have been broken in,
not boots that have been worn for a day. As I said, I had some cramping on
the *first run ever* in these boots, but by the end of the day most of that
was gone. As for the idea that my feet "shouldn't get cold," I'm wondering if
you have any circulation problems. My hands get ice-cold just typing at the
computer.

As for "expert" boots as opposed to "intermediate" boots, I'm wondering what
the difference is. I ski a lot in my AT boots. They are very soft, only
three buckles, have a walk function and vibram soles. I got them because I'm
off my skis a lot while "working" at the area. My bootfitter told me that
many people can't ski well on them because they are so soft. Is softness a
mark of an "expert" boot? My "racing boots" are middling stiff. Maybe not as
stiff as my old Salomons, maybe stiffer, but they have a great progressive
flex fore and aft and don't feel very stiff at all, but they will drive my
Volkl 6star skis well where the AT boots leave a bit to be desired on a high
performance ski. I've been considering a softer boot for my alpine use. I
saw a pair of Kneissl Rail boots and tried on a pair of Garmont Adrenaline
AT boots when I was at a shop in South Lake Tahoe on Friday. Both looked
very nice and the Garmonts felt great.


My new boots are stiffer than my old boots, but not so stiff that I can't flex
them. Here they a

http://www.salomonski.com/us/product...m=9&pro=782594

According to the shop, they recommended these boots to me based on forward
lean, not stiffness. They have a more aggressive forward angle (see above
discussion on how they force me into the driver's seat). In fact, the models
they suggested first were softer, but the fit was just as tight as my old
boots.

My old boots had the walking function, as well as a flex adjustment that was a
disaster -- any snow on the boot would push the flex adjuster, so that I never
had any idea from moment to moment how much flex I actually had. The walking
function isn't important to me, as the only walking I do in my boots is from
the locker to the lift. I use regular shoes from the parking lot to the
locker, to preserve both my feet and my boots.

--
monique
Longmont, CO

  #4  
Old December 16th 04, 01:41 AM
pigo
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any advice on what to do to get used to new boots?

I tried them out for the first time yesterday, at Beaver Creek. Eric was
in a
mogul mood (as per usual), so that's most of what we did. Ripsaw was the
best; it doesn't get much sun, so the snow was still nice.


Make sure that you are not over cranking them. If you need to, they're
probably too big.
Cramping can result from trying to grip the bottom of your boot with your
toes. Custom orthotics help that. You can also get what feel like a cramp
when boots are too narrow at the base of your toes and kind of fold your
foot between the ball of your foot and the other 4 toes. You won't believe
the kind of pain that that compression can cause.

Bootfitter. It doesn't mean that you got the wrong boots. IMO, 99% of boot
buyers need some adjustment. If you paid more than bargain basement for
them, fitting should be included.

pigo

  #5  
Old December 16th 04, 01:42 AM
DZN
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I don't think you can be sure of how a boot fits until you've had at least a
week of skiing. The may never be comfortable, but I've seen lots of people
say they hate their new boots one week and later say they love them. (I've
observed this phenomenon more with women than men but I'm not sure my
sample size is large enough for that to be statistically significant.)


"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any advice on what to do to get used to new boots?

I tried them out for the first time yesterday, at Beaver Creek. Eric was
in a
mogul mood (as per usual), so that's most of what we did. Ripsaw was the
best; it doesn't get much sun, so the snow was still nice.

It seems that my new boots, which are designed for "expert" rather than
"intermediate" skiers, are much more demanding. In my old boots, leaning
back
definitely hurt my technique, but in these new boots, shin-to-tongue
contact
is an absolute must. I never thought I'd notice the difference so
readily,
but there it is. If I'm not aggressively positioned, I have no control.
I
figure this is a good thing, in the long run, as it will force me into
good
habits, but right now it's still disconcerting.

The sides of my feet cramped a good deal the first few hours, but as the
day
wore on, the pain subsided. Eric assures me that his feet cramped the
first
few days, too, but after that he's been happy, so I guess I shouldn't
expect
miracles the first day.

--
monique
Longmont, CO


  #6  
Old December 16th 04, 02:36 AM
VtSkier
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
Thanks for your input ... I'm not sure you read my post very carefully,
though. Have you read any of my previous posts about boots, either? I didn't
bother to reiterate some stuff I've mentioned before.


A bit here and there, I've had a hiatus from RSA/RSAM for almost a year
and just started posting again in the last week or so.

On 2004-12-15, VtSkier penned:

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:


I tried them out for the first time yesterday, at Beaver Creek. Eric was
in a mogul mood (as per usual), so that's most of what we did. Ripsaw was
the best; it doesn't get much sun, so the snow was still nice.


Doing bumps in "racing" boots? Could be a problem right there.



Who said anything about racing boots?


Okay, "almost" racing boots. My previous boots were X-wave 10's, same
boot as yours, stiffer for my over 200# heft. Also, the X-wave line,
especially the 10 is the same as the CrossMax 10 except that the cuff of
the CrossMax is riveted for less fore-aft flex, and can almost certainly
be called a racing boot with a comfortable liner.

My current alpine boots are Raichle Flexon Racing boots and flex much
better than the Salomons ever did. They may or may not be softer than
the Salomons, but sure feel softer.


It seems that my new boots, which are designed for "expert" rather than
"intermediate" skiers, are much more demanding. In my old boots, leaning
back definitely hurt my technique, but in these new boots, shin-to-tongue
contact is an absolute must.


Shin to tongue contact is a good indicator that you are where you should be
over your skis, but pushing against the back of the boot to jet out of a
turn is also something you can feel with stiffer boots. Get out of the bumps
for a while and do big carved turns and pick up on the feel of wherever you
are.



I don't think I've ever heard anything from an instructor or fellow skier
about pushing against the back of the boot before. Maybe that's because I
have such a bad habit of sitting back that they just wanted me to focus on
moving forward.

Probably didn't want you to get used to pushing the back of the boot,
but you will find, as you progress, that there are times when you may
want to feel the back of your boot at certain times during (ending) a turn.

I never thought I'd notice the difference so readily, but there it is. If
I'm not aggressively positioned, I have no control. I figure this is a
good thing, in the long run, as it will force me into good habits, but
right now it's still disconcerting.


It would seem to me that being in the back seat in bumps is the cause for no
control, not the boots. Yes, good boots will improve your skiing habits.



Of *course* being in the backseat in the bumps is a no-control situation. My
point was that my old boots were at least slightly tolerant of this bad
behavior, while my new boots will have none of it. I have to be in the
driver's seat. Like I said, pretty sure it's a good thing, but it's always
painful when you're confronted with your own bad habits.

I have never had boots which were "tolerant" of being in the back seat
in bumps. If I was there, I was out of control and needed to stop and
regroup.

The sides of my feet cramped a good deal the first few hours, but as the
day wore on, the pain subsided. Eric assures me that his feet cramped the
first few days, too, but after that he's been happy, so I guess I shouldn't
expect miracles the first day.


And now the meat of it. Plastic (a ski boot shell) will not conform to your
foot. A conformable liner will help, but if the shell has pressure points
now, or is too narrow, it will be too narrow and have pressure points next
year.



Well, yes, which is why I just bought these boots after having tried for
five years to get my old boots to work. The new boots are already much
more comfortable than the old ones, which had man-days of fitting work.
I felt no pressure on the side of my foot in the stock liner, so when I
felt some in the custom liner, the shop guys encouraged me to try the
liner for a few days before getting any adjustments done on the shell.

The shell itself is wonderful. There are no pressure points and it is plenty
wide, for once. The stock liner felt good on first blush, but because of my
history of difficulty with boots, I decided to get a custom foam liner.

Sounds to me like your are getting good advice.

As I said, the conformable liner will help. Have you gotten your
custom inner soles yet? The stiffer the boots, IMO, the more important these
become.



Yup, this is my second set of orthotics. My old boots had orthotics, as well,
and they helped, but weren't enough to eliminate problems inherent to the
shell.



Have you gotten your inner soles at a place where they can also do
shell adjustments?



Yes. They won't grind or punch the shell until I've skied on the boot enough
to pack out the liner and eliminate that as the culprit. I believe that is an
appropriate attitude; no point making adjustments to the shell when the liner
is still settling in. As I said before, my feet felt better at the end of the
day than they did at the beginning, which suggests to me that it's not yet
time for shell adjustments.

Sounds OK to me too. I've just been doing this for so long that I know
what needs to be moved, tell the tech that and we can avoid a whole lot
of call-backs. Recently, SureFoot made footbeds for both my Raichle's
and my AT boots. The Raichle's are perfect, but in the AT boot, the arch
was a little too much. So much that it actually chafed the bottom of my
foot. I went to a boot guy in Tahoe and he ground a little off the arch
of the footbeds because he, as I had suspected, said that the liner of
the boot was more convex or narrower at the arch area or something like
that. Problem solved. The initial fitting and this fine tuning will be
the only fitting those boot will need. This on feet that are duck-shaped
(probably webbed), extremely flexible, with bunions on the outside
(pinky toe) as well as the big toe side and extra lumps of calcium where
the right foot had been broken over 30 years ago. Now this is
experience, and I'm sure you will get this experience as time goes
along. You are smart and analytical, so you'll get it.

I have gotten two pair of boots finally adjusted to my
feet so that I can ski multiple days in either of them. The AT boots are
juicy comfy and the Alpine (racing) boots can be worn all day with little
adjustment. All because I've had the bootfitter move out the shell where it
hurt, and caused pain which lasted several days.



On the flip side, my last set of boots had many, many adjustments, including
at least three punch-outs and a grind, and were never comfortable. Ski
literature has all sorts of things to say about how you need the fit to be
tight from the start, so that you have good control. It's clear to me that
this tight-fit theory has flaws when it comes to people with unusually
sensitive or oddly-shaped feet. When I first tried on this new pair of boots,
I actually told the salesguy they must be too big, as they actually felt
comfortable. But he did the usual toe and heel checks and assured me that
"not in pain" did not have to mean "too loose to be effective."

See above for odd-shaped feet. Also those pinky toe bunions are the most
sensitive things going.

Foot cramping can be caused by two things. a) your foot (instep) is being
squashed because you don't have adequate arch support. or b) you boot is too
narrow, or at least too narrow in critical places.



c) the liner hasn't packed out yet

Could be, and I think more likely with your custom liners.

Your boots should be tight enough so that you don't have to buckle them very
tight to ski well. You should never have to "crank" on your buckles. Tight
enough to stay closed plus a little is adequate if the boots fit right. If
your new boots ARE fitted correctly, maybe your are simply buckling too
tight. Your feet shouldn't cramp, get cold or otherwise be uncomfortable
when you are in your boots. If they are the boots are too tight somewhere.



Welcome to my world. I have big calves. Even with women's boots and having
moved the buckles out to the third hole, the boot is still pretty tight on the
loosest setting.

If I'm not mistaken, you may be able to punch a fourth hole, I think
there is enough material. Alternately, I think you can get a longer
ratchet for the buckle.

Also, I can definitely tell a difference in my level of control when I don't
have the upper buckles tight. I've learned my lesson about cramping the calf
by making the boot too tight, so I start out on the loosest setting every day
and only tighten the buckles if I feel "wobbly." The one just above the ankle
seems to be the most important for control.

The two buckles across my foot, on the other hand, I have set as loosely as
possible. There's no pressure being applied by the buckles.

Frankly, I think all of your advice applies to boots that have been broken in,
not boots that have been worn for a day. As I said, I had some cramping on
the *first run ever* in these boots, but by the end of the day most of that
was gone. As for the idea that my feet "shouldn't get cold," I'm wondering if
you have any circulation problems. My hands get ice-cold just typing at the
computer.

Your buckling technique sounds right to me, but I'll bet as time goes on
that you will find just the right tightness to last you all day, or
maybe with just one "tightening".

If you really do get cold feet often enough to be bothersome, there is
no shame in boot heaters. Some of my best friends use boot heaters.

Also, my wife has a pair of mittens which have a jell inside which moves
heat from warmer areas to the finger areas. She's had them for a long
time and swears by them. Remember, I said mittens. Hotfingers of a
couple of years ago said their gloves (and mittens) moved heat from one
part of the glove to another. I've also seen electrically heated gloves,
not unlike boots.

As for "expert" boots as opposed to "intermediate" boots, I'm wondering what
the difference is. I ski a lot in my AT boots. They are very soft, only
three buckles, have a walk function and vibram soles. I got them because I'm
off my skis a lot while "working" at the area. My bootfitter told me that
many people can't ski well on them because they are so soft. Is softness a
mark of an "expert" boot? My "racing boots" are middling stiff. Maybe not as
stiff as my old Salomons, maybe stiffer, but they have a great progressive
flex fore and aft and don't feel very stiff at all, but they will drive my
Volkl 6star skis well where the AT boots leave a bit to be desired on a high
performance ski. I've been considering a softer boot for my alpine use. I
saw a pair of Kneissl Rail boots and tried on a pair of Garmont Adrenaline
AT boots when I was at a shop in South Lake Tahoe on Friday. Both looked
very nice and the Garmonts felt great.



My new boots are stiffer than my old boots, but not so stiff that I can't flex
them. Here they a

http://www.salomonski.com/us/product...m=9&pro=782594

Great boots, no question, I made some comments earlier.

According to the shop, they recommended these boots to me based on forward
lean, not stiffness. They have a more aggressive forward angle (see above
discussion on how they force me into the driver's seat). In fact, the models
they suggested first were softer, but the fit was just as tight as my old
boots.

My old boots had the walking function, as well as a flex adjustment that was a
disaster -- any snow on the boot would push the flex adjuster, so that I never
had any idea from moment to moment how much flex I actually had. The walking
function isn't important to me, as the only walking I do in my boots is from
the locker to the lift. I use regular shoes from the parking lot to the
locker, to preserve both my feet and my boots.

There were quit a few boots made in recent years called "convenience"
boots which had a walking feature. They tried to bridge the gap between
rear-entry with their ease of use and comfort and a full overlap design
such as your new boots. My daughter's boots have this. She almost never
clicks to "walk" once her boots are on, but the feature gives ease of
putting on and taking off. The "walk" mode on AT boots is absolutely
necessary for the intended use.

I always thought flex adjustment was fairly useless. I've only had one
pair with it in my life. Some red Technicas of a decade or so ago. The
walking function is handy, especially with the vibram soles, when I have
to be off my skis but on the mountain a lot of the time. Yes, I always
carry my boots to the lodge unless I can ski directly away from my car
as at Vale parking lot at Killington.

Seems to me that you are clear in your direction regarding boots. I hope
the X-Wave's work well for you as they are truly a great boot. I know
you post a lot regarding lots of things about skiing and your present
postings about boots and the many responses you got from me and others
may well be of help to you and to other people looking for advice on
what will and how to improve their skiing. As you have found already,
good boots will make a measurable and immediate improvement on your skiing.

  #7  
Old December 16th 04, 02:57 AM
Monique Y. Mudama
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 2004-12-16, pigo penned:

Make sure that you are not over cranking them. If you need to, they're
probably too big. Cramping can result from trying to grip the bottom of
your boot with your toes. Custom orthotics help that. You can also get what
feel like a cramp when boots are too narrow at the base of your toes and
kind of fold your foot between the ball of your foot and the other 4 toes.
You won't believe the kind of pain that that compression can cause.

Bootfitter. It doesn't mean that you got the wrong boots. IMO, 99% of boot
buyers need some adjustment. If you paid more than bargain basement for
them, fitting should be included.


Ayup. I got these at Surefoot, a bootfitter with many locations around the
area, precisely because they're service-oriented and will keep adjusting the
boot until it does finally work for you.

It occurs to me that I'm not really sure what I was looking for when I made
the original post. I think I meant to ask, "Is it normal to have slight
discomfort that goes away after a few days of skiing on your new boots?" I
suppose that would have been a much shorter post =P


--
monique
Longmont, CO

  #8  
Old December 16th 04, 02:57 AM
Monique Y. Mudama
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 2004-12-16, DZN penned:
I don't think you can be sure of how a boot fits until you've had at least a
week of skiing. The may never be comfortable, but I've seen lots of people
say they hate their new boots one week and later say they love them. (I've
observed this phenomenon more with women than men but I'm not sure my
sample size is large enough for that to be statistically significant.)


I agree. Okay, now I realize what I meant to ask!

What I meant to ask is this:

Are there exercises or practice techniques that you use when you get a new
boot to get yourself accustomed to them? I'm thinking stuff like, exercises
you can do on the slope to teach yourself how they might respond differently
from your old boots.

That's what I *meant* to ask.

--
monique
Longmont, CO

  #9  
Old December 16th 04, 03:53 AM
Mary Malmros
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:

Frankly, I think all of your advice applies to boots that have been broken in,
not boots that have been worn for a day. As I said, I had some cramping on
the *first run ever* in these boots,


I don't think I've ever had a day of skiing when I didn't get _some_
foot cramps. New boots, old boots...there are a lot of possible causes
foot cramps. In any case, I'd say that the level of discomfort you
describe is not bad for a first day in a high-performance pair of boots.
In fact, if it were me, I doubt I could have lasted all day.

--
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield, other days you're the bug.

  #10  
Old December 16th 04, 05:07 AM
klaus
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Mary Malmros wrote:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:


Frankly, I think all of your advice applies to boots that have been broken in,
not boots that have been worn for a day. As I said, I had some cramping on
the *first run ever* in these boots,


I don't think I've ever had a day of skiing when I didn't get _some_
foot cramps.


Are you kidding? If that's the case, you need to get some better
boots. Or a better boot fitter. There is no reason to suffer like a
Japanese geisha.

-klaus

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
So this guy walks into a ski newsgroup and he says... honclfibr Alpine Skiing 28 January 30th 05 06:04 AM
Help - I can't feel my toes! Jay Levitt Alpine Skiing 20 January 24th 05 12:17 AM
more ski boot advice sought Timo Alpine Skiing 6 December 10th 04 10:31 PM
Any recent Demos of note to report? Gene Goldenfeld Nordic Skiing 14 March 13th 04 06:42 PM
Salomon 9 vs Carbon Griss Nordic Skiing 9 January 6th 04 05:25 PM


All times are GMT. The time now is 08:55 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SkiBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.