How should ski boots fit? – 10 steps to find the perfect fit
Testing ski boots is time-consuming and tedious. But keep in mind that ski boots are a skier’s most underrated gadget. The time you spend on finding a good boot is well invested – your feet will thank you. Freeride guides you in the art of trying on ski boots.
No one has ever claimed that it is inspiring and lazy to try on ski boots and it is an art to succeed in choosing the right one and buying alpine boots. It takes time, it sometimes hurts a little and it’s confusing.
But if you do it right, it can go a little faster, hurt a little less and become a little clearer in the hunt for the perfect boot. Below are several tips that you can take with you when trying out new boots, no matter what level you are skiing at.
1. Get help from knowledgeable staff
A good tip when it comes to new ski boots is to seek out a store with knowledgeable staff and a good selection. It’s always worth going a little extra for that service. If you follow this advice, the staff in the chosen sports store will help you by measuring and checking your foot and then selecting a number of boots that fit your foot. If you can’t get hold of a person to help you measure your foot, you have to do it yourself before you start testing boots, that’s the be-all and end-all.
Feet look different and can be wide, narrow, long, short and so on – in the same way that ski boots are built differently. If you turn to a well-stocked sports ski shop with good staff, you will save both time and energy, as they can help you weed out parts of the range even before you need to try on the boots.
Then you have to remember that store staff are not divine sorcerers, there are feet and problems that are actually really difficult to solve. But a good dialogue with knowledgeable staff and/or bootfitter can help you all the way in most cases, and if nothing else, make it as good as it is possible to get it for you.
2. The right socks
Skip the tube socks and instead try boots with the type of socks you plan to ski with. Here, as thin a sock as possible is recommended, preferably in merino wool, but it works well with other materials as well.
Thinner socks provide better contact with the skis and are actually, lo and behold, many times warmer. Also, make sure that the socks do not clump. Double socks are not an option, either for adults or children. New boots are at their smallest when they are new, over time the material in the liner gives way and the volume in the boot becomes a little bigger. It’s also a good idea to try thin socks, maybe even if you’re planning to go with thicker ones.
3. Unbutton your boot
Before you try to put your foot in, make sure that all the buckles on the boot are unfastened and that the Velcro strap at the top is open. Anyone who has ever tried to push your foot into a ski boot with one or more buckles buttoned knows that it is not a pleasant experience. Also check that there is no filler material such as paper or the like in the boot or that any tags have fallen down.
4. Down with your foot
Time to put your foot in the boot. Use the loop that is usually found on the tongue of the liner and pull it up and outwards from the boot to open up while coaxing the foot. If the boot is very stiff, you may sometimes need to pry the plastic apart a little to get in with your foot. Beware of the boot buckles if you are going to separate the plastic, they can be sharp, especially if you slip.
5. Tongue in the right place
Once the foot is inside the boot, you need to make sure that the tongue fits properly, it is not uncommon for it to end up a little crooked. Pull the tongue slightly upwards and make sure it is straight against the shin. A common mistake is also that the tongue ends up outside the sides of the liner, so make sure that the tongue is closest to the leg and nothing else. At this stage, you may experience a little pressure or feeling cramped but it’s nothing to worry about until you fasten the boot correctly.
6. Tighten the boot correctly
Pound your heel on the floor and then fasten the boot’s top two buckles, starting at the top and then tightening the Velcro strap as well. Then stand up and bend your knees a few times so that the boot flexes forward. In this way, you help the heel to get back properly where it should be, which both provides better heel grip and means that the toes do not touch the front. Then fasten the remaining buckles. The boot should fit snugly without it hurting. You can use this way of tightening your boots when you are going out on the slopes later as well.
7. Simulate skiing
Some shops located at ski resorts allow you to try on the boots for a few runs. If you have that opportunity, you should of course take it, nothing can provide a better guide than that you can try the boots in their right environment. However, most people do not have the chance to do this and then you can instead stand with the boots parallel while flexing them forward and to the sides by having bent knees and hips, just like you do when skiing. In this way, you can get an idea of how the boot will feel once you are on the slopes. Don’t pay much attention to how the boots feel when you walk around in them, that’s not what a ski boot is for (well, if you’re not going to ski tour of course).
8. How should the boot feel?
How tight the boot should fit depends on what you want and expect from the boot. If you are a good skier who wants to transfer maximum power to the skis, a tighter fit, so-called performance fit, is recommended. If you prioritize comfort over performance, the boot can be slightly larger, we could call it a tourist fit. If it directly presses on specific points when you try on a boot, it’s either a warning that you’ll probably have to adjust the boot a bit.
Many modern ski boots today can be heated on both the outer shell and the liner, which means that it shapes itself a little extra to your foot and it becomes a bit like not having to go in the boots on those first days of skiing.
9. Feel
Start feeling. The toes can be a little bit of a jerk when you stand up straight but should not do so when you flex the boot and stand in a riding position. The heel should be firmly attached and when you flex the boot, the heel should not lift more than a few millimeters. If you have a heel gap of more than one centimetre, the heel grip is not enough. Of course, it is not possible to measure the gap in the heel, but you can estimate whether it is millimeters or centimeters at least.
Also try to wiggle your foot to the sides, if you can move your foot significantly sideways, the boot is probably too roomy. A classic is that the boot is just the right length but too roomy sideways and when you step down a size so that it is tight enough, your toes touch even when you flex the boots. If that’s the case, the model is probably not the right one for your foot, so just keep testing.
The boot should fit snugly around the foot, but make sure it doesn’t press any particular points. A rule of thumb is rather a little too tight than a little too big, the liner stretches, just like a pair of shoes. However, if you experience strong pressure on one or more points, it is likely that the shell is pressing and it does not form on its own. At this point, you should consult the staff, many stores perform bootfitting and can push out and shape the shell at the points where it presses if the boot otherwise feels good. It is a little different easy to press the boot in different places, which you should keep in mind, for example, pushing out lengthwise is often completely out of the question because it understands the contact to the bindings. On the side of the feet is simpler and more common, but it also depends to some extent on where the buckles are located.
It can also be good to consider if you are going to make a molded sole (highly recommended) which can affect the final fit.
10. Try the outer shell
This step can be considered overpriced, but can be a good addition, especially if you have not been able to get help from a knowledgeable person when testing your boots. By trying on the outer shell of the boot, without the liner in it, you can get a new dimension in the hunt for the perfect size. Still wear thin socks, or you can take off your socks to feel even clearer. If you push your foot forward so that the big toe just touches the front, you can bend your leg forward and see how much space you actually have left in the back. It is usually said that you should be able to get two to three fingers (index, middle and possibly ring finger) down between the heel/buttocks of the foot and the boot, depending on how tight you want to sit. Two fingers = performance fit. Three fingers = tourist’s fit (generally speaking). You can also get a better idea of the length by measuring the actual inner dimensions of the shell without the liner in it and comparing this with the length of your foot.
How wide the shell is and if there are any points that press is also very clear with a bare foot in the shell, if there is something that pushes and goes against already then, it will most likely do so even more when the liner also has to fit. Yes, the liner shapes a lot but not a lot. If it’s three millimeters from the widest point of your foot to the outer shell when you try the boot without a liner, then there’s not much room for the liner to fill out and it’s going to be very tight, probably painful. The same thing in the other direction – if you can swing your foot sideways with a margin or two, then the last is probably a bit wide.
To devote yourself to shell fitting may be a bit of a stretch, but it gives quite clear information about the outer shell of the boot and if your feet have any points, or measurements of length and width, that simply match too poorly.
Do you still feel that you can’t handle this? There is a shortcut in the form of an injection-molded liner. No, not a heated liner, but a liner that is filled with foam that molds exactly to your foot. It costs a little, but it can be worth it if you ski a lot and want a boot with a perfect fit, and want to avoid the endless trying. Of course, you need to have a boot shell in the right size before you make the injection molded liner. Good luck with your ski boots regardless!
