The Happy Skier
Diva in Training
Hello Divas!
Apologies in advance for the long post, but I’m in a bit of a boot conundrum and I feel some neutral input may be helpful!
A little back story, I’ve almost always have had some foot pain (mostly cramping on the bottom of my feet) since I started skiing about 20+ years ago. I had custom footbeds from Granite Chief in Truckee from way back when and those never really solved the cramping problem (although the beds were formed to my foot perfectly, they didn’t have flat bottoms so they flexed with my foot).
In hindsight, my first two pair of boots were definitely too big. I eventually got fitted into some 24.5 Solomon X-waves, they fit like a nice, tight glove and felt no pain while off the slopes, but as soon as I started skiing, the cramping would come back. I was then fitted into a Full Tilt Soul Sister (again, a 24.5) these were glorious! In the beginning, I was elated, absolutely no foot pain (still using my Granite Chief footbeds)! After a couple weeks of wearing, the cramping started back up. Being on a bit of a budget, I tried semi-custom do-it-yourself footbeds. Over the last couple years the pain worsened. I relocated to the east coast and after dealing with pain every ski day, (and going to a podiatrist to make sure nothing was wrong with my foot), I went back to get new custom footbeds. I went to the highly recommended FIS Sports in Kingfield, ME. These guys are great, really know their stuff and these footbeds (with flat bottoms) did the trick! The only problem is it created some new issues. Now, there was too much room in my FT’s for my low volume foot with liners being packed out. They tried heel and ankle wraps—worked great on my left foot, which has always been my bad one, but my right foot (the bigger one) it was excruciating. Decidedly, it was time for new boots, so…
Back to the boot fitter I go.
I decide to go with the ski shop at Sugarloaf, since that’s my home mountain and if I need adjustments, they’re right there!
I had done some research and had an idea of what I should be looking at in terms of models for low volume narrow feet (in street shoes I wear an 8-8.5 and my foot width is 85mm). I got connected with Chris, he was a boot fitter from Vail and really knew his stuff. I was open to anything, but really like the 3 piece boot and based on what I know about my feet, I leaned towards the Dalbello Chakra 95 ID. He measured me and put me into the 24.5 in the Dalbello Chakra 95 ID. For reference, with a flexed knee my left foot is 24 and my right is almost 24.5.
The Dalbello fit fantastic…again, like a firm handshake but not crushing (I definitely want a performance fit). I asked to try them on with my new footbeds to see how that would feel—when he pulled the beds out of my boots and saw the hot mess of ankle wraps + c-rings trying to fill up volume, he recommended going down to a 23.5. He said if I go with the 24.5, I’d likely end up back in the same boat and assured me he could get the 23.5 to fit (that it’s easier to make a small boot bigger than I big boot smaller—which I knew). The cuff on the 23.5 was fantastic (the widest part of my calves are about 13.5” and my ankles are 8”), but my toes were crushed…it was excruciating. Even when I flexed, my toes were still pushed into the end (not just touching, but curled into). Chris reiterated that could be fixed and he could make the boot bigger. I had to go out of town, so I said I’d make up my mind while I was away. During that time, I learned that Chris had quit & inventory was very low, so I called the ski shop and bought the 23.5 over the phone to make sure I got them.
When I got back I went in to get my liners & shells heat molded. I had a couple boot fitters helping me and they seemed really knowledgeable, I could tell they were a bit surprised about the smaller boot. I explained Chris said they could be made bigger and they agreed it was possible—but only so much. They moved forward with the process…cut down my new ($250) footbeds to fit this smaller boot and molded everything to my foot. The length was still WAY too short. My toes were curled at the end, even when flexing. They told me to try to ski in them and they would loosen up & they’ll keep trying to punch them. After one run and basically feeling like I was going to vomit and couldn’t make turn being in so much pain, back to the ski shop I went. The first go around they carved more room in the heel, which didn’t really help the toe. Another run, same amount of pain, they punched out the toe, but the boots looked deformed and there were bulges coming out of the sides by my pinkie toes. I reiterated that it was the big toe area/front that needed punching and the width is NOT the issue, and they said it simply isn’t possible to get in there and ultimately conceded that Chris fitted me into the wrong size (the two boot fitters in there that day agreed they would not have put me in that size).
Wanting to make it right, they said I could exchange for another boot in the shop (they were now out of the Chakra’s in 24.5) so I tried on every boot they had left. None of them fit like the Dalbello’s, but (I’m sure partly out of frustration & the fact there were no other boots to try on), I went with the Nordica Strider 115 W DYN in 24.5 (a hybrid/touring boot that’s $150 more than the Dalbello). To make things worse, my 4 year old Marker bindings (not the Griffon or Jester) did not work with these boots, so I had to buy new bindings to work with these boots. I went ahead and threw another $230 at the problem. The next morning in my new boots and bindings I notice (other than the first run, which was okay other than all over bottom foot pain) 1. I can now feel the edge under my toes of my new $250 foot beds that were cut for the shorter boot. 2. These boots are too wide (turns out they are100mm last) and the volume is too big (I can lift my toes way up!) 3. The cuff is decent (other than the bruising on the inside of my calves), but overall the toe box area feel like clown shoes. 4. We have not heat molded the liners or shell (yet)
I took them back and discussed these issues. Basically, I was told these are my boots now. They did say they can/will work with me to get them to fit and they have ways of making it happen, but I know it’s not really possible to make a big boot smaller, right? They placed a couple of shims on the bootboard and it took up some of the space, but they’re still too wide. They claim they can fix it with some Fischer vacuum and heat molding the shell and liner. The plan is to go back in this weekend and get to work.
From my perspective, I can either 1. Take their word for it, and keep having them work the boot til they fit (not sure what happens if they don’t). 2. Cut my losses before they heat mold anything and see if they’ll remove the shims and try to sell the $700 boots + start over 3. Really push / make a stink and see if they will take them back (even at a loss on my end) and see if they will order me the boots I want in the right size (of if they can’t, I can order them elsewhere and have them mold them) + have them redo my foot beds they cut down or …???
Anyone have a different perspective or suggestions as to how to deal with this? I’ve lost too much sleep already
Thank you for reading!
The (not very) Happy Skier
Apologies in advance for the long post, but I’m in a bit of a boot conundrum and I feel some neutral input may be helpful!
A little back story, I’ve almost always have had some foot pain (mostly cramping on the bottom of my feet) since I started skiing about 20+ years ago. I had custom footbeds from Granite Chief in Truckee from way back when and those never really solved the cramping problem (although the beds were formed to my foot perfectly, they didn’t have flat bottoms so they flexed with my foot).
In hindsight, my first two pair of boots were definitely too big. I eventually got fitted into some 24.5 Solomon X-waves, they fit like a nice, tight glove and felt no pain while off the slopes, but as soon as I started skiing, the cramping would come back. I was then fitted into a Full Tilt Soul Sister (again, a 24.5) these were glorious! In the beginning, I was elated, absolutely no foot pain (still using my Granite Chief footbeds)! After a couple weeks of wearing, the cramping started back up. Being on a bit of a budget, I tried semi-custom do-it-yourself footbeds. Over the last couple years the pain worsened. I relocated to the east coast and after dealing with pain every ski day, (and going to a podiatrist to make sure nothing was wrong with my foot), I went back to get new custom footbeds. I went to the highly recommended FIS Sports in Kingfield, ME. These guys are great, really know their stuff and these footbeds (with flat bottoms) did the trick! The only problem is it created some new issues. Now, there was too much room in my FT’s for my low volume foot with liners being packed out. They tried heel and ankle wraps—worked great on my left foot, which has always been my bad one, but my right foot (the bigger one) it was excruciating. Decidedly, it was time for new boots, so…
Back to the boot fitter I go.
I decide to go with the ski shop at Sugarloaf, since that’s my home mountain and if I need adjustments, they’re right there!
I had done some research and had an idea of what I should be looking at in terms of models for low volume narrow feet (in street shoes I wear an 8-8.5 and my foot width is 85mm). I got connected with Chris, he was a boot fitter from Vail and really knew his stuff. I was open to anything, but really like the 3 piece boot and based on what I know about my feet, I leaned towards the Dalbello Chakra 95 ID. He measured me and put me into the 24.5 in the Dalbello Chakra 95 ID. For reference, with a flexed knee my left foot is 24 and my right is almost 24.5.
The Dalbello fit fantastic…again, like a firm handshake but not crushing (I definitely want a performance fit). I asked to try them on with my new footbeds to see how that would feel—when he pulled the beds out of my boots and saw the hot mess of ankle wraps + c-rings trying to fill up volume, he recommended going down to a 23.5. He said if I go with the 24.5, I’d likely end up back in the same boat and assured me he could get the 23.5 to fit (that it’s easier to make a small boot bigger than I big boot smaller—which I knew). The cuff on the 23.5 was fantastic (the widest part of my calves are about 13.5” and my ankles are 8”), but my toes were crushed…it was excruciating. Even when I flexed, my toes were still pushed into the end (not just touching, but curled into). Chris reiterated that could be fixed and he could make the boot bigger. I had to go out of town, so I said I’d make up my mind while I was away. During that time, I learned that Chris had quit & inventory was very low, so I called the ski shop and bought the 23.5 over the phone to make sure I got them.
When I got back I went in to get my liners & shells heat molded. I had a couple boot fitters helping me and they seemed really knowledgeable, I could tell they were a bit surprised about the smaller boot. I explained Chris said they could be made bigger and they agreed it was possible—but only so much. They moved forward with the process…cut down my new ($250) footbeds to fit this smaller boot and molded everything to my foot. The length was still WAY too short. My toes were curled at the end, even when flexing. They told me to try to ski in them and they would loosen up & they’ll keep trying to punch them. After one run and basically feeling like I was going to vomit and couldn’t make turn being in so much pain, back to the ski shop I went. The first go around they carved more room in the heel, which didn’t really help the toe. Another run, same amount of pain, they punched out the toe, but the boots looked deformed and there were bulges coming out of the sides by my pinkie toes. I reiterated that it was the big toe area/front that needed punching and the width is NOT the issue, and they said it simply isn’t possible to get in there and ultimately conceded that Chris fitted me into the wrong size (the two boot fitters in there that day agreed they would not have put me in that size).
Wanting to make it right, they said I could exchange for another boot in the shop (they were now out of the Chakra’s in 24.5) so I tried on every boot they had left. None of them fit like the Dalbello’s, but (I’m sure partly out of frustration & the fact there were no other boots to try on), I went with the Nordica Strider 115 W DYN in 24.5 (a hybrid/touring boot that’s $150 more than the Dalbello). To make things worse, my 4 year old Marker bindings (not the Griffon or Jester) did not work with these boots, so I had to buy new bindings to work with these boots. I went ahead and threw another $230 at the problem. The next morning in my new boots and bindings I notice (other than the first run, which was okay other than all over bottom foot pain) 1. I can now feel the edge under my toes of my new $250 foot beds that were cut for the shorter boot. 2. These boots are too wide (turns out they are100mm last) and the volume is too big (I can lift my toes way up!) 3. The cuff is decent (other than the bruising on the inside of my calves), but overall the toe box area feel like clown shoes. 4. We have not heat molded the liners or shell (yet)
I took them back and discussed these issues. Basically, I was told these are my boots now. They did say they can/will work with me to get them to fit and they have ways of making it happen, but I know it’s not really possible to make a big boot smaller, right? They placed a couple of shims on the bootboard and it took up some of the space, but they’re still too wide. They claim they can fix it with some Fischer vacuum and heat molding the shell and liner. The plan is to go back in this weekend and get to work.
From my perspective, I can either 1. Take their word for it, and keep having them work the boot til they fit (not sure what happens if they don’t). 2. Cut my losses before they heat mold anything and see if they’ll remove the shims and try to sell the $700 boots + start over 3. Really push / make a stink and see if they will take them back (even at a loss on my end) and see if they will order me the boots I want in the right size (of if they can’t, I can order them elsewhere and have them mold them) + have them redo my foot beds they cut down or …???
Anyone have a different perspective or suggestions as to how to deal with this? I’ve lost too much sleep already
Thank you for reading!
The (not very) Happy Skier
Thanks for the info, the Technica Mach 1 LV was on my list of boots I suspected might work for my feet. The ski shop was sold out, but maybe I can find someone in Portland who still has some in stock to check out.
I was up there today, and the warm temps Mon and Tues followed by rapid freeze have TRASHED conditions. 
