List of Bootfitters Across the World

[SkiMoose]

KILLINGTON, VT:

Hal Karabots at Northern Ski Works
2089 Killington Road
Killington, VT 05751
802-422-9675

Hal is a genius. He's fitted everyone in our family -- and we all have serious foot "issues."
I've got average length feet that are extremely narrow with very low foot volume. I've got Nortica Dobermann Team 60 Junior Race boots -- and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.
My husband has very wide feet and he has a pair of Lange plug boots (don't know the model). (I could keep going with the other 8 members of the extended family that get fitted there).

 

[VASkier]

UTAH - Salt Lake City, and Alta:
Deep Powder House

Thumbs up for the boot folks at the Deep Powder House, especially Stephanie, their hard goods buyer! They have 3 locations at Alta, which is perfect for getting and trying adjustments.

 

[sandella]

Hey So Cal Divas, where do you go to buy boots? I've decided that boots will be my big purchase this year. I plan to wait until fall, when (I hope) my planters fasciitis will be gone. (Already MUCH better!) I've heard if Ski Net in LA, anyone have experience with them? Footloose in Mammoth? Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[SnowHot]

I hear good things from Footloose in Mammoth.
If you ever get to Tahoe, give Phil at Start Haus a shout.

 

[SkadiSkiGrrl]

There is a bootfitter in Manhattan called Surefoot. I had a friend that went to them. He is a beginner and they put him in an expert boot that I feel is also too small for him and he is in pain everytime we go skiing. I feel that they also charge way too much. I drove myself to Bootworks over at Mount Snow in Vermont to get my boots fitted. Both Nick and Tom were great and very patient. I spent a 3 day weekend there. I got my boots fitted the first day and I came back in several times each day to get adjustments made. I ended up getting custom insoles too. I still need to go back to get a slight cant put on my left boot to help counter my knock knee. I am so glad I went to them. It is also great to be able to have an adjustment made, go ski a few runs and go back and tell them what was wrong while it is still fresh in your mind.

This is kind of a new trend in boot fitting and one I do not like. Tell him to return the boots (they should be fully refundable) and take a trip to BootPro in Ludlow Vermont. Ask for Shon. He is very sensitive to this issue. I too went to a fitter who put me in boots that were way too small--even according to all the sizing conversion charts issued by the boot makers. My US street shoe size is 6.5-7. He had me in a 22.5! That is a 5.5 street shoe equivalent. I was in such horrible pain. He refused to sell me a larger size, so I returned the boots and got the same model in a 23.5 online and took them to Shon for fitting. Shon sized me and agreed that I am a 23-23.5. He also pointed out, however, that some people prefer a tighter boot and that he lets the buyer be his guide, and that as long as the boot isn't too big to be safe that he is flexible. Anyway, if your friend can make it to Ludlow it is worth the trip. I am assuming it is not too far since so many New Yorkers ski Killington and Okemo. Good luck!

 

[Laurie Pasturczak]

ILLINOIS – Northwest Suburbs

Rick Pasturczak
Alpine Accessories
9219 S IL Route 31
Lake in the Hills IL 60156
847-854-4754
www.AlpineAccessories.com

[email protected]

Rick has over 30 years of boot fitting experience. Rick started his own shop 9 years ago after working at Vertical Drop and Munson Ski Shop.

FYI - Rick Barton is no longer at the Vertical Drop Ski Shop.

 

[MissySki]

Totem Pole in Ludlow, VT

I worked with Torin and he is really great and a pedorthist as well. Highly recommend.

 

[SaraJ]

I saw Colin of Solutions4feet in Bicester, England mentioned on the first page, but I guess there's no harm in giving him another recommendation. His website is www.solutions4feet.com

And, a recommendation in Austria Sport H&N in Reith im Alpbachtal, Tirol, Austria https://www.sport-hun.at/

 

[SnowHot]

I haven't seen Colin as a bootfitter, but I have had some great discussions with him on line. I'm not surprised that you had a good experience with him.

 

[contesstant]

I hear good things from Footloose in Mammoth.
If you ever get to Tahoe, give Phil at Start Haus a shout.

I have had great experiences with Footloose in Mammoth. Go during the middle of the day on a weekday for the best service. A major bonus there is you can DEMO their boots with the rental amount going towards the purchase of boots if you do buy some. Try to see Corty or Kevin, who is a pedorthist. Go there at the start of a trip so you can have the boots worked on during your trip if you need. I have ZipFit liners, custom kork footbeds, and now new boots thanks to them, and every purchase has helped me and my skiing immensely. FWIW, they did not push the new boots on me. I finally gave up when my big toe nail bed was bruised for the 2nd year in a row (causing the nail to fall out AGAIN.) They did not sell me the boots I was in, I bought them in Santa Monica.

Phil did a great job setting my husband up in boots when we were in Tahoe a couple years ago

 

[skibum4ever]

+2 on the recommendation of Footloose at Mammoth!

 

[mustski]

Hey So Cal Divas, where do you go to buy boots? I've decided that boots will be my big purchase this year. I plan to wait until fall, when (I hope) my planters fasciitis will be gone. (Already MUCH better!) I've heard if Ski Net in LA, anyone have experience with them? Footloose in Mammoth? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Sorry, I didn't see this earlier. I had my last pair fitted with Claude at ski net and so far I am totally happy. I had to go back for some tweaks - nothing major - and it was all handled quickly and professionally with a great attitude from Claude. I've actually talked DH into his (gasp) first ever trip to a bootfitter! I would say that if you ski Mammoth a lot, then Footloose is a good option. If you ski locally a lot (as I do) then Ski Net is a better choice because you can get tweaks without paying the lodging required for a trip to Mammoth.

 

[SnowHot]

I hear good things from Footloose in Mammoth.
If you ever get to Tahoe, give Phil at Start Haus a shout.

I was asked to list the contact info and an endorsement for Start Haus in this thread.
Start Haus has three boot fitters that made the nations top 10 list two years in a row. They have a full staff of bootfittes on and a crazy busy boot bench beginning in September through the winter.
Call if you want an apt with someone specific, or stop in and see who you get. All of them are great fitters, some with certain expertise (recreational, race, backcountry, tele, ...)
10990 Donner Pass Road, Truckee, CA
530-582-5781

 

[mustski]

I was asked to list the contact info and an endorsement for Start Haus in this thread.
Start Haus has three boot fitters that made the nations top 10 list two years in a row. They have a full staff of bootfittes on and a crazy busy boot bench beginning in September through the winter.
Call if you want an apt with someone specific, or stop in and see who you get. All of them are great fitters, some with certain expertise (recreational, race, backcountry, tele, ...)
10990 Donner Pass Road, Truckee, CA
530-582-5781

Thank you!

 

[segacs]

After 3 painful seasons, I'm seriously fed up and think I may need to toss my boots and start the process all over. I'm not so keen to go back to my shop, though (Austrian Ski Shop on Monkland), since they haven't been able to diagnose or fix my issues or even understand what might be causing them. The trouble is, as far as I know, my shop is pretty much the only game in town for ski boots other than the big box stores. I don't really know who else to go to, if not them.

Montreal-area Ski Divas, what are the latest recommendations for boots? I'd be willing to go up to the Laurentians, too. Jilly, SkiBam, any recent experience?

 

[Jilly]

Segacs - my guy is heading west. So you should look up the guy that SkiBam recommended in Saveur.

 

[segacs]

Segacs - my guy is heading west. So you should look up the guy that SkiBam recommended in Saveur.

Thanks.

 

[mustski]

After 3 painful seasons, I'm seriously fed up and think I may need to toss my boots and start the process all over. I'm not so keen to go back to my shop, though (Austrian Ski Shop on Monkland), since they haven't been able to diagnose or fix my issues or even understand what might be causing them. The trouble is, as far as I know, my shop is pretty much the only game in town for ski boots other than the big box stores. I don't really know who else to go to, if not them.

Montreal-area Ski Divas, what are the latest recommendations for boots? I'd be willing to go up to the Laurentians, too. Jilly, SkiBam, any recent experience?

Skibam listed the info for her guy in Sauveur on the new thread. Go here.
https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/bootfitters-by-region-canada.16793/

 

[litterbug]

Update: Now that the liners have packed out a little, Jeremy Middlemass, Earl's son, has recently worked on my boots, and I can report that my initial assumptions were correct: he's a great bootfitter, with the same attitude and attention to detail as his dad. He got my right boot back to the original fit on the first try, and depending on how last week's tweaks settle out after a few more days of skiing, the left boot is damn near close to perfect.

I noticed that they've apparently hired a new bootfitter to help out, which must mean that business is good--or that Earl is considering retirement, which I think he probably deserves. I don't know anything about the new guy, so I can't recommend him (yet), but it's safe to assume that Earl and Jeremy wouldn't stake the Sport Loft's reputation on someone who wasn't a great fitter.

I can now whole-heartedly recommend Earl Middlemass at The Sport Loft in Salt Lake City, Utah. I will never consider letting anyone else touch my boots. I had called to ask for a consult and wanted to pay a fee for his advice. He said he'd look at my boots to see if I even needed a consult and then we could talk about next steps.

Earl spent about an hour asking tons of questions both about my ambitions and exactly what happened when I was skiing--what parts of the turns I skidded or not, then evaluated my feet and boots and explained my anatomical irregularities and how the boots and custom insoles didn't work. He could charge me several hundreds to make the old boots work, or sell me the right boots and fit them to compensate for all my "issues." His basic fitting fee with hand-built insoles, all that anatomical and personal evaluation, and liner molding is around $300 in addition to the boots, although that's without "major" work like a lot of punching and grinding the shells, which I would have needed with the old boots.

Of course I opted for new boots. Last Friday's fitting took between 2 1/2 and 3 hours. After many steps and some serious education about why he did what he did, I ended up with a completely different kind of right insole, a boot stiff enough to let me stand upright in the boots, flex the cuff without my knees going forward of my bindings, have my right boot follow my knee so my shins stay parallel in a left turn, and generally remove all the twisting and muscling things around that I was doing.

I'd recommend Earl for anyone who wants an even better fit than a normal fitter could give you. But if you have any anatomical or mechanical weirdness or unevenness, this kind of fit is what you want in order to ski the best you can, and Earl is that kind of fitter. I haven't worked with his son Jeremy yet, but I'm sure he's just as competent, even though he doesn't have Earl's 40 years of experience. Instead, he's spent significant time in Europe (France in particular) learning about pedorthics (if that's what it's called) and how to work with problem feet.

 

[CarverJill]

2015 was the last post in this thread. I'm guessing its pretty outdated.

Anyone have recent recommendations for boot fitters in Vail? I'll be there early season and thats always a good time to get boots because there is a good selection. If not, I'll have to sacrifice my time on the mountain and battle the crowds in Mammoth the week after New Years or worse wait till later in the season.