New boots

I got the same Salomon impact 8's last season. TBH i love them, highly adjustable for me so if my feet do tire I can quickly get them comfortable again :)

I always have the ankle buckle quite tight and the leg looser. Think ill spend a day the other way round see how my control is.

I also had to buy new support for the arches of my feet as the default ones offer absolutely nothing at all! ha great boots though (for my feet anyway))

Go with a tighter leg buckle and loose ankle. Better flex and more control. Ellistine to thank for that one.

I have also bought the Impact 8's at the start of the season and have to agree that they are brilliant. I went from a pair of Atomic M Tech 110s into these and even for racing the flex is just about right for my level and use on the dryslopes.

Having said that, after 4 hours of racing a week since October and 2 weeks on the snow, the shin padding seems to have packed down a little more than I was expecting and I am having to adjust the straps more and more. Anyone else had similar issues?

I was in the shop for about 3 hours trying on different boots and sizes so they are defiantely not too big (like Tony, these are actually a few sizes smaller than the Atomics I bought off the shelf).

I dont want to turn it into a situation where the more I tighten the buckles, the more packed it gets so the more I tighten the buckles. Having only bought them at the start of the season, and with a lot more dryslope use and another 2 weeks on snow to come this season, I am not quite sure what to do. Any suggestions?

Stop drysloping )

smirnoff_skier wrote:I have also bought the Impact 8's at the start of the season and have to agree that they are brilliant. I went from a pair of Atomic M Tech 110s into these and even for racing the flex is just about right for my level and use on the dryslopes.

Having said that, after 4 hours of racing a week since October and 2 weeks on the snow, the shin padding seems to have packed down a little more than I was expecting and I am having to adjust the straps more and more. Anyone else had similar issues?

I was in the shop for about 3 hours trying on different boots and sizes so they are defiantely not too big (like Tony, these are actually a few sizes smaller than the Atomics I bought off the shelf).

I dont want to turn it into a situation where the more I tighten the buckles, the more packed it gets so the more I tighten the buckles. Having only bought them at the start of the season, and with a lot more dryslope use and another 2 weeks on snow to come this season, I am not quite sure what to do. Any suggestions?

Invest in some Zipfit liners, and you can move them to your next pair of boots.They should last you through 2 shells worth of use.

bandit wrote:Invest in some Zipfit liners, and you can move them to your next pair of boots.They should last you through 2 shells worth of use.

Cheers bandit, sounds like a good plan. I asked at Ellis Brigham when I bought the boots if it was worth buying 2 sets of slalom inners so I could replace them after a while but the response was that by the time the inner needs replacing, the shell usually does too so the Zipfits may just do the trick.

Tony_H wrote:Stop drysloping )

I would but its the only way I can get my fix (and I dont think the uni would support weekend trips to the alps for race training)

Tony_H wrote:Go with a tighter leg buckle and loose ankle. Better flex and more control. Ellistine to thank for that one.

This is an interesting idea. I have always done both leg buckles quite tightly with the thinking being that the tigher the boot is, the more control I will have making short and quick turns.

By having a looser lower buckle and increasing the flex of the boot, does this mean the boot will have more 'spring' in it when turning?

If so, that could work well short turns and racing as you would get more 'pop' from one turn to the next.

Anyone got any thoughts one this?

I also used to always fasten the leg buckles as tight as possible, as I was under the impression that I would lack in control if not.
However, Ellistine got me setting up as suggested with the lower leg buckle as loose as possible without coming undone, and I found the perfect comfort zone as a result. This was only achieveable however by setting off first thing in the morning with my boots as loose as I dare have them without lacking control so that a couple of minor adjustments later on meant I was feeling the perfect fit without them being too tight and my foot throbbing, like they used to in my Atomics.

From what Ellistine said, the top buckle on the leg affects steering, but by leaving the lower buckle loose, you get more flex in the boot but can obviously make them stiffer if required. I found this particularly more useful and comfortable on the steeps and off piste stuff we did.