Boot-fitting
Ski boots are (by far) the most important part of our gear. Nothing closer to the truth than the saying “a good skier skis well with any ski, but not with any boot“. Boot-fitting
The ski boots are the control center of the entire setup. Each person has a differently shaped foot and perfecting his/her boots’ fits absolutely essential. The boot must be a direct connection between the skier’s leg/foot and the ski.
The bootfitting process includes the fitting part and then the alignment part. As for the fitting, the top priority is to get a secure, perfect snug fit around your foot.
In the aligment process, we look for adjusting the boot to match your lower leg anatomy or morphology. That’s a key aspect, particularly lateral alignment, that targets the ability to ride a flat ski, i.e. the “neutral” edge angle, or to have equal access to both edges. This is done to make sure skis are running flat in the skier’s neutral athletic stance, and prevent over or under-edged skiing. It allows to “feel” the snow/terrain better, and make the skis more responsive when tipped.
There are two parts in this lateral alignment process: cuff alignment first, and sole canting second (whole boot lateral alignment).
“Of all the ski equipment, boots make the biggest difference in skiing performance. Professional skiers are absolutely obsessive about boots. Bootfitting can add much more performance to your skiing than any top-level coach could do.” Mark Jones, BASI trainer
The general idea is that the ski boot should fit “like a glove”.
We should go for the foot snug hugged fit without pressure points, but fingers should never be “wrinkled”.
The key concept is to buy the smallest boot that we can fit and tolerate. But, if we have some pressure points, that’s not bad at all! These hot spots are due to bony protrusions contacting the boot shell.
They can be addressed in two ways,
_Grinding: for small corrections
_Punching: for bigger corrections.
And after these modifications, your boot will really “fit like a glove”.
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