SallyCat
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I am an intermediate skier with very narrow feet and have been through the wringer trying to find appropriate boots. I think I may have found my solution and am posting this preliminary review in the hopes that it may be helpful to Divas with similar fit issues.
The Boot: Lange World Cup ZJ+
Flex: 110
Last Width: 92+
This is a race-style boot, "junior race boot", pseudo-race boot, race boot "light"...whatever you want to call it. My understanding is that it is designed for people who want a narrow, race-ish fit without the stiff flex of a race boot. The boot sole is compatible with bindings without modification. It's not a "plug" boot: it has modifications to the clog that are designed to make it fit pretty much off-the-shelf, but also thicker plastic to allow for internal grinding if that's necessary.
My Modifications: Heel lift, Insta-Print custom insole, and a punch at the left navicular area to prevent rubbing. One bolt removed from the spine to soften the flex slightly. Also lift plates on the soles to prevent wear. I am using the stock liners, which are a thin, lace-up race liner.
Me: 5' 8" 175#. I measure 27.5 on the brannock, but the boots are 26.5.
Background
I went to see Jim at the Start Haus in Truckee last month with my old boots, which were Atomic Hawx Ultras with ZipFit liners. He agreed to work on them, but said that they were far too wide for me. He strongly recommended finding a pair of Lange ZJ+ boots and and bringing them to a shop to have them fitted. He said that they were hard to find this late in the season, but to keep an eye out early next year.
I was lucky enough to find a pair of the boots online at a discount, so I grabbed them and brought them to the Boot Pro in Ludlow, VT. There on the shelf at the Boot Pro were numerous pairs of ZJ+s. I should have called.
Anyway, Pat at the Boot Pro checked the fit of the boots, made some custom footbeds, added plates to the sole, adjusted the cant, warmed the liners, and away I went to see how they felt. He had mentioned heel lifts, but I hadn't had good experience with them (I'd felt previously that they negatively impacted my stance), so I said no to those.
Day 1:
The boots were very snug, so I skied with the buckles very loose. I spent about three hours on them and the liner loosened up just enough that they were comfortable and not too tight. I played around with buckle tightness but mostly erred on the loose side. My big frustration was that I felt that I was in the back seat constantly. I really despaired that the new boots wouldn't work because they altered my stance. I went back to the Boot Pro and we chatted about that issue. They removed one bolt on the spine to soften them and we decided to see if that would help.
Day 2
This was a semi-powder day at Killington and conditions were objectively great, but a bit challenging for me since I was on new boots and new skis. I was having a hard time, not feeling confident or aggressive and still very worried about whether the boots were workable. I was using new skis because they were a cheap demo pair I'd picked up and thus were easily adjustable. I know having that as a huge variable when trying brand new boots was not ideal. I thought to play with that variable a bit and headed over to the demo center to try some different skis.
I am not a fan of the new/used skis I bought recently.
I'd picked up a demo pair of Volkl Kanjos in a longer length than the ones I demoed and I wasn't loving them. At all. So they were part of the problem. I demoed some shorter, wider skis (Volkl 90Eights) and felt a bit more confident. So that answered one question.
I have very, very poor dorsiflexion, and it finally occurred to me that maybe leaving the top buckles very loose was not helping my stance issue. So I buckled everything down tight and WOW: suddenly much more confidence and control. I could stay connected to the front cuff and the boots flexed just fine, only now with more control. Call me Captain Obvious, I know. I had been worried that it was the stiffer flex that was bumping me into the back seat, hence my counterproductive buckle-loosening strategy.
Holy curse words, my calves were killing me after an hour or so. Also my heel was coming up off the footbed a bit when I leaned forward. I went to see Chris at the boot shop next to the Potter Brothers demo center at Killington, explaining that I was in a committed relationship with the Boot Pro but needed some immediate help. I asked for heel lifts, we chatted a bit about what I was experiencing and he put some lifts in.
Et, voila!!!
Suddenly everything came together. I could commit forward effectively, flex well, and my confidence was back!
I tooled around on the 90Eights for a couple of hours feeling great. When I got back on the Kanjos again, I still didn't like them but I knew the boots weren't the issue.
Day 3:
Had my trusty Volkl RTM 84s adjusted to the new boots and skied from 9am to 3pm at Okemo and experienced some things I'd never before experienced:
1. I did not have even a hint of metatarsal pain all day. That's literally never happened before. On bad days the met pain would start early, and on good days it would arrive late, but it always arrived. Not today.
2. After some fiddling in the morning I got my buckles set to a good tightness and didn't touch them for the rest of the day. What!? I am ALWAYS the person messing around with her buckles throughout the day, standing with the snowboarders at the top of the lift as we all get our boots tightened just right.
3. It was in the twenties all day and my feet did not get cold. Nor did the cold noticeably stiffen the boots, or at least not to a point that it made any difference to me.
4. I felt confident and in control of my turns. I need to be a bit more attentive to staying consistently forward, which has always been true, but I think these boots give more feedback when I'm on my heels. They don't push me back, it's more that I feel a bit more precisely what's going on with the pressure along my foot and can tell immediately if I'm weighting the heel. I think that's a good thing for my skiing, and it's probably the reason for the reduced met pain: the boot is holding me in position more effectively.
Divas, I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I may have found my boot.
Finally.
I posted all of this because I know that there are Divas with similarly narrow feet, and that most of us don't really want to be in a race boot, we just want something that fits well. The ZJ+ seems like it's designed just for us, and it certainly seems to be working well for me so far. I will update if anything significant changes.
The Boot: Lange World Cup ZJ+
Flex: 110
Last Width: 92+
This is a race-style boot, "junior race boot", pseudo-race boot, race boot "light"...whatever you want to call it. My understanding is that it is designed for people who want a narrow, race-ish fit without the stiff flex of a race boot. The boot sole is compatible with bindings without modification. It's not a "plug" boot: it has modifications to the clog that are designed to make it fit pretty much off-the-shelf, but also thicker plastic to allow for internal grinding if that's necessary.
My Modifications: Heel lift, Insta-Print custom insole, and a punch at the left navicular area to prevent rubbing. One bolt removed from the spine to soften the flex slightly. Also lift plates on the soles to prevent wear. I am using the stock liners, which are a thin, lace-up race liner.
Me: 5' 8" 175#. I measure 27.5 on the brannock, but the boots are 26.5.
Background
I went to see Jim at the Start Haus in Truckee last month with my old boots, which were Atomic Hawx Ultras with ZipFit liners. He agreed to work on them, but said that they were far too wide for me. He strongly recommended finding a pair of Lange ZJ+ boots and and bringing them to a shop to have them fitted. He said that they were hard to find this late in the season, but to keep an eye out early next year.
I was lucky enough to find a pair of the boots online at a discount, so I grabbed them and brought them to the Boot Pro in Ludlow, VT. There on the shelf at the Boot Pro were numerous pairs of ZJ+s. I should have called.
Anyway, Pat at the Boot Pro checked the fit of the boots, made some custom footbeds, added plates to the sole, adjusted the cant, warmed the liners, and away I went to see how they felt. He had mentioned heel lifts, but I hadn't had good experience with them (I'd felt previously that they negatively impacted my stance), so I said no to those.
Day 1:
The boots were very snug, so I skied with the buckles very loose. I spent about three hours on them and the liner loosened up just enough that they were comfortable and not too tight. I played around with buckle tightness but mostly erred on the loose side. My big frustration was that I felt that I was in the back seat constantly. I really despaired that the new boots wouldn't work because they altered my stance. I went back to the Boot Pro and we chatted about that issue. They removed one bolt on the spine to soften them and we decided to see if that would help.
Day 2
This was a semi-powder day at Killington and conditions were objectively great, but a bit challenging for me since I was on new boots and new skis. I was having a hard time, not feeling confident or aggressive and still very worried about whether the boots were workable. I was using new skis because they were a cheap demo pair I'd picked up and thus were easily adjustable. I know having that as a huge variable when trying brand new boots was not ideal. I thought to play with that variable a bit and headed over to the demo center to try some different skis.
Verdict #1:
I am not a fan of the new/used skis I bought recently.
I'd picked up a demo pair of Volkl Kanjos in a longer length than the ones I demoed and I wasn't loving them. At all. So they were part of the problem. I demoed some shorter, wider skis (Volkl 90Eights) and felt a bit more confident. So that answered one question.
Verdict #2
Buckle the buckles. I have very, very poor dorsiflexion, and it finally occurred to me that maybe leaving the top buckles very loose was not helping my stance issue. So I buckled everything down tight and WOW: suddenly much more confidence and control. I could stay connected to the front cuff and the boots flexed just fine, only now with more control. Call me Captain Obvious, I know. I had been worried that it was the stiffer flex that was bumping me into the back seat, hence my counterproductive buckle-loosening strategy.
Verdict #3
Heel lifts were the final piece of the puzzle.Holy curse words, my calves were killing me after an hour or so. Also my heel was coming up off the footbed a bit when I leaned forward. I went to see Chris at the boot shop next to the Potter Brothers demo center at Killington, explaining that I was in a committed relationship with the Boot Pro but needed some immediate help. I asked for heel lifts, we chatted a bit about what I was experiencing and he put some lifts in.
Et, voila!!!
Suddenly everything came together. I could commit forward effectively, flex well, and my confidence was back!
I tooled around on the 90Eights for a couple of hours feeling great. When I got back on the Kanjos again, I still didn't like them but I knew the boots weren't the issue.
Day 3:
Had my trusty Volkl RTM 84s adjusted to the new boots and skied from 9am to 3pm at Okemo and experienced some things I'd never before experienced:
1. I did not have even a hint of metatarsal pain all day. That's literally never happened before. On bad days the met pain would start early, and on good days it would arrive late, but it always arrived. Not today.
2. After some fiddling in the morning I got my buckles set to a good tightness and didn't touch them for the rest of the day. What!? I am ALWAYS the person messing around with her buckles throughout the day, standing with the snowboarders at the top of the lift as we all get our boots tightened just right.
3. It was in the twenties all day and my feet did not get cold. Nor did the cold noticeably stiffen the boots, or at least not to a point that it made any difference to me.
4. I felt confident and in control of my turns. I need to be a bit more attentive to staying consistently forward, which has always been true, but I think these boots give more feedback when I'm on my heels. They don't push me back, it's more that I feel a bit more precisely what's going on with the pressure along my foot and can tell immediately if I'm weighting the heel. I think that's a good thing for my skiing, and it's probably the reason for the reduced met pain: the boot is holding me in position more effectively.
Divas, I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I may have found my boot.
Finally.
I posted all of this because I know that there are Divas with similarly narrow feet, and that most of us don't really want to be in a race boot, we just want something that fits well. The ZJ+ seems like it's designed just for us, and it certainly seems to be working well for me so far. I will update if anything significant changes.
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