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Never ending boot saga continues

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
It is at the end of my big toe, line the boot is too short. He expected that, but wanted me to ski them more before we do a stretch.

I am already in the thinnest wool sock I have. Could probably try those panty hose socks and see if that helps for the first few days.

The performance was better! I had more control, but I almost didn't know what to do with that much control lol. The first two runs I had to just feel it out because I could be much more subtle with my movement.

It kinda sucks that I was so focused on the discomfort though. If they break in a bit more and the pain spots get a little better, this will be awesome. I still may need a bit of padding on the foam tongue though. The poor thing is as full as it gets around my ankle and i still have a bit of heel lift on my left boot. But don't get me wrong, it is waaaaaayyy better in the sense that I'm certainly not swimming in this boot.

You will LOVE them! And I wouldn't sweat a tiny bit of heel lift just yet. Just go SKI them and try to not think about it. I'd definitely try panty hose socks even for a bit. And while the liners don't really pack out, I too am finding they do a wee bit, which is just enough. The tongue I put in last week was REALLY tight on Friday, skied a full day, not as tight Saturday, and felt almost perfect yesterday. I had a sore spot on my right shin that was gone yesterday. So, give them some time for sure, and again, mitigate the tightness with an uber thin sock if you can.

The tongues have literally transformed my skiing in three days. But day one and two, they definitely had some hot spots.
 

SquidWeaselYay

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
He stated that even the foam liners do pack out a bit. With the bottom buckles completely undone, I still have pain after about 5 minutes. It is not as bad when I am actually skiing as when I am standing in them. I have to unbuckle those for the lifts or I want to curse lol. I have them on the loosest setting when skiing and it is still really tight. I can actually ski them with those 100% undone.

I think I am still going to need some length and also a spot ground or punched on the outside of the side of my feet. What is that bone on the outside of your midfoot? That is a spot we didn't put foam padding on when I got foamed, and it feels crushed in the boot. It is sore today.

We are flying out to Montana this coming Saturday, so I don't think I will have time to go back. :( I am booked solid at work.
 

SquidWeaselYay

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
You will LOVE them! And I wouldn't sweat a tiny bit of heel lift just yet. Just go SKI them and try to not think about it. I'd definitely try panty hose socks even for a bit. And while the liners don't really pack out, I too am finding they do a wee bit, which is just enough. The tongue I put in last week was REALLY tight on Friday, skied a full day, not as tight Saturday, and felt almost perfect yesterday. I had a sore spot on my right shin that was gone yesterday. So, give them some time for sure, and again, mitigate the tightness with an uber thin sock if you can.

The tongues have literally transformed my skiing in three days. But day one and two, they definitely had some hot spots.
I think that is what Dieter was getting at. They won't pack out like a stock liner, but they will a tiny bit, and with my skinny feet, a little bit might make the difference between a good fit and back to square one with slop, so he is erring on the side of too tight.

I hope it packs out naturally. The timing is just crappy cause I'm leaving on Saturday for Montana, so I probably won't get to ski them again before we go. I'm in a position at work where I have to get all my stuff done before I leave because nobody does it for me when I am gone. That means this week is crammed with all the stuff I would normally do next week on top of this week.

I reaaaallllllly don't want anybody but him working on my boots, so unless it is dire, I'm just going to ski them in Montana the best I can even if it is painful.

Part of the problem is that I second guess myself all the time - am I being a wuss? Is the pain really that bad? Just keep going, this is probably what it should feel like.

Then the toenails revolt lol.

But on the upside, I felt like I was finally skiing with my feet as opposed to having to kick my edges around with my legs. I'm gonna need lessons to undo all the bad habits for sure. I've never fully understood the "you ski with your feet and everything else follows." I'm kind of nervous that I have skied for 20+ years compensating for bad boot fit. I hope I can unlearn it!
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I skied my new boots despite immediate severe big toe pain several years ago. The pain was at the front end of my big toes. I did this because the boot fitter told me to. I shouldn't have.

I toenails got inflamed and they formed ingrown toenails in response to the inflammation. I had crippling pain all season long. I ditched those boots at the end of the season and got another pair, another brand, same size but different shape.

I also had to have surgery to remove part of my toenails down to the roots, and boy did that hurt as it was happening. Immediate relief, though. The inflammation went away after that.

Your boots should not hurt your toes just because there is contact. Are your toes or toenails inflamed?

My advice; take a sick day and get this fixed before you go to Montana. The stakes are too high to not do this. If the wrong person (someone in Montana) punches or grinds toe room for you when you choose to act out of desperation at the pain, you may end up with ruined boots and needing to do what I did -- buy yet another new pair of boots. The plastic at the end of the toe boxes got so thin it couldn't be worked on any more; cold intruded, my toes continued to scream because of the inflammation and growing problems associated with the ingrown toenails, and I could deform the plastic with my finger. The boots were ruined by uncoordinated boot work from several boot fitters.

This happened because, well, who knows why. My toes got inflamed, my boots got ground, punched, ground, punched as I complained about the pain. Then the boots ended up too thin in the toe box. My toenails got worse all winter long. It was a total waste of a season because of those boots.

Don't let that be you. No one should go through what I went through. Go back to Dieter before you spend a week irritating your toes and maybe going in desperation to an on-site bootfitter for a quick fix.
 
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SquidWeaselYay

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I skied my new boots despite immediate severe big toe pain several years ago. The pain was at the front end of my big toes. I did this because the boot fitter told me to. I shouldn't have.

I toenails got inflamed and they formed ingrown toenails in response to the inflammation. I had crippling pain all season long. I ditched those boots at the end of the season and got another pair, another brand, same size but different shape.

I also had to have surgery to remove part of my toenails down to the roots, and boy did that hurt as it was happening. Immediate relief, though. The inflammation went away after that.

Your boots should not hurt your toes just because there is contact. Are your toes or toenails inflamed?

My advice; take a sick day and get this fixed before you go to Montana. The stakes are too high to not do this. If the wrong person (someone in Montana) punches or grinds toe room for you when you choose to act out of desperation at the pain, you may end up with ruined boots and needing to do what I did -- buy yet another new pair of boots. The plastic at the end of the toe boxes got so thin it couldn't be worked on any more; cold intruded, my toes continued to scream because of the inflammation and growing problems associated with the ingrown toenails, and I could deform the plastic with my finger. The boots were ruined by uncoordinated boot work from several boot fitters.

This happened because, well, who knows why. My toes got inflamed, my boots got ground, punched, ground, punched as I complained about the pain. Then the boots ended up too thin in the toe box. My toenails got worse all winter long. It was a total waste of a season because of those boots.

Don't let that be you. No one should go through what I went through. Go back to Dieter before you spend a week irritating your toes and maybe going in desperation to an on-site bootfitter for a quick fix.
Yikes, that is horrendous!!!

The tips of my toes hurt because they are up against the end with some pressure. It does get better when I am actually skiing, but they still contact the front even when I am forward. The other hot spot is the outside of my midfoot. It feels pretty crushed even when the boot is unbuckled.

I don't think I can take a sick day, I have deadlines that I can't miss. In my position, nobody covers for you, it is still on your plate, so you take sick days at your own peril. I usually just keep working when I'm sick. :/

Gah, I don't know what to do. He said ski it for 2 days, firm. I would have to take 2 sick days, one to ski it again and another to drive back up cause he is 2+ hours away. I wish I had another week to sort this out.
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
Yikes, that is horrendous!!!

The tips of my toes hurt because they are up against the end with some pressure. It does get better when I am actually skiing, but they still contact the front even when I am forward. The other hot spot is the outside of my midfoot. It feels pretty crushed even when the boot is unbuckled.

I don't think I can take a sick day, I have deadlines that I can't miss. In my position, nobody covers for you, it is still on your plate, so you take sick days at your own peril. I usually just keep working when I'm sick. :/

Gah, I don't know what to do. He said ski it for 2 days, firm. I would have to take 2 sick days, one to ski it again and another to drive back up cause he is 2+ hours away. I wish I had another week to sort this out.

Those sound like issues where normally a bootfitter would just heat and then “punch” out the offending areas of the shell as @liquidfeet says. Boots are designed to be modified in this way. They can also use a dremmel tool to remove some of the plastic from the inside.

In the event you can’t grt to Dieter, at Big Sky there are some great bootfitters who will work with you - just doing a little at a time.

It’s something that can usually be done overnight.
 
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Jenny

Angel Diva
Maybe he trained someone at Big Sky . . . You could call him and see if he recommends anyone out there.
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
This might be a silly question, but your toenails are super short, right? And no polish on them? I can't wear polish during ski season.
I DO believe that that area can probably be punched out to give you some relief, fairly easily, actually. I also think that the squeezing you are feeling on the upper side of your foot will subside after a full day of skiing. Word of advice: get your boots on in the morning.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
This might be a silly question, but your toenails are super short, right? And no polish on them? I can't wear polish during ski season.
I DO believe that that area can probably be punched out to give you some relief, fairly easily, actually. I also think that the squeezing you are feeling on the upper side of your foot will subside after a full day of skiing. Word of advice: get your boots on in the morning.

I am constantly cutting my nails during ski season so they are super short, but why no polish? I’ve never had an issue with nail polish, just soreness if I let my big toe nail grow too long (i.e. not actually long at all, but just slightly past the toe itself)
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Yes, I was going to ask the same question about toe nail length. Mine are super short too. But since I need to wear steel toe boots at work, mine usually are? Polish? Haven't seen that in years!
 

SquidWeaselYay

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
He said that he can do a punch in the toe area no problem, but he wants me to ski them a bit before doing that so that we don't crate any more space than is necessary.
 

SquidWeaselYay

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I keep my toenails as short as I can humanly get them. I do have some polish on, but just 2 coats of regular OPI polish that I did at home, not the super thick gel polish.
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My experience with polish is the extra thickness of that toenail thanks to the polish is no bueno, at least with my previous boots that my toes were very cramped in. Just a thought that could help at least until you get them punched/ground.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
I guess I’d also ask, if the rest of the foot is super snug and stable, does it really hurt to create extra space for toe length? I can see waiting on width for things to break in, and that forefoot bone is always my problem zone as well. But what would it hurt to give a little room to the big toe length even if they do pack out a tiny bit on their own? Is there some detriment that would come from it if it were minutely overdone?
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
I guess I’d also ask, if the rest of the foot is super snug and stable, does it really hurt to create extra space for toe length? I can see waiting on width for things to break in, and that forefoot bone is always my problem zone as well. But what would it hurt to give a little room to the big toe length even if they do pack out a tiny bit on their own? Is there some detriment that would come from it if it were minutely overdone?

Totally agree. I’ve never heard of a bootfitter being concerned about making extra length for toes or punching out laterally for sixth toe syndrome right away. The greater risk is that the toes get injured before the fix happens.

If the boot fits well where it needs to fit well, there should be no issue about a little more toe wiggle room.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Is this where your foot bumps into the side of the shell (5th metatarsal tuberosity, aka styloid process)? Carefully shaped boot shells, the good ones, often are narrow in this spot. Ask me how I know.
1551794785031.jpg

Or is it here (Tailor's bunion)?
shutterstock_259596317(1).jpg
 
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liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Been there, done that, in two boots. It can be ground; maybe no need to punch. I forget, are you in Tecnica LV Mach1 boots? If so, I am too, and this spot had to be ground out for me.

Prior boots, Atomic Redsters, also had to be ground out there. I waited too long and had issue with the middle center of my right foot (I used crutches going to the bathroom at night). Not fun. Once ground, the issues disappeared.

Boot pain sucks.
 

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