Painful feet while on ski-lift!

bandit wrote:

Trencher
I just had my boot soles planed, and for the 1st time ever I can pivot my skis underfoot without catching an edge,....and I can sit the tongue central against my shinbone 8) The boots have been set up with full negative cant, internal shims and a 1 degree > angle.

Now I just need to ski better :mrgreen:

I can quite believe the difference. It always feels great when a piece of equipment is "just so". I find it fun to mess around setting up my own boots, but living 10 minutes from skiing, and being able to take more than one pair of boots with me, makes that viable. I can really see that if anyone is restricted to a couple of weeks a year skiing, it does make sense to have boots set up by a professional, in order to get the most out of the limited time on the snow.

Trencher

shamp00 wrote:

Hi

I'm completely new to skiing, having now had 3 lessons at Castleford. I have brought my own ski boots which the shop did a propper fitting on, (as in they got me to take them away, wear them for a few days for 10 mins a time, and then have had them heated up & for me to wear them in the shop while warm). They are comfortable to wear when I'm skiing and I'm generally happy with them.

However on Lesson 3, we got to use the button lift (I think that's what it is called) and I found that the bottoms of my feet were painful while on the lift. I'm not sure if this is because of the angle, because I'm doing something wrong, or because the boots need adjusting / I need footbeds etc.

Can anyone advise? The shop I got them from (Severn Sports in Leeds) were very friendly and helpful and I'm sure I can go back there for advice, but as I have searched on here and not found any posts about ski lift comfort I thought it might be worth posting here first.

I'm off to Bulgaria in January (Borovets) and am told that there are miles and miles of these sorts of lifts there....

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

Matt

ok so i am coming to this a little late (been busy tending to the feet of skiers and all that)

there could be a few things going on but without seeing your feet my best guess is that as you are being pulled up the hill you are being forced forward onto the balls of your feet, the arch is being compressed into the bottom of the boot and is being stressed...so solutions

1 check that the boot is not too big (shell check, liner out feet in shells toes toeching front somewhere between 15-25mm behind your heel...this is on the generous side but you are a learner so we don't weant a race fit)
2 custom moulded (or even off the peg) footbed to help support your foot in the correct position spreadign the weight over the whole foot rather then just the bits that hit the ground
3 test your ankle flexibility are you able to get your knee past your toes when you flex without the weight coming off your heels (do this barefoot) if no then you may need a lift under the heel in your boot
4 one legged squat test..... when standing on one leg and doing a squat where foes your knee go, striaht ahead? inwards? outwards?

over 80% of the american skiing public who take one lesson never ski again...of that 80% most have excessive pronation of more than 5-6degrees...in the study which was done last season in aspen all of the ski pros /racers had less than 2 degrees of excessive pronation...now is this natural selection?????

Hi Cem,
I just tried your one legged foot squat - and fell over :oops:

Ally

I did it too, and my knee went inwards. What does that mean?

Tony_H wrote:I did it too, and my knee went inwards. What does that mean?

I'm awfully sorry Tony, (sob), I'm (sob), afraid it's terminal. :D

To strengthen the leg and knee muscles all you need to do is stand next to a chair hold on to a chair with one hand, stand on one leg, and then squat 45 degrees and repeat about 20 times then do the other leg 8)

Look here Ian,
I have enough trouble doing leg squats with both legs, never mind on one leg :roll:

Do you do one handed press ups as well?

Ally

cem wrote:
over 80% of the american skiing public who take one lesson never ski again...of that 80% most have excessive pronation of more than 5-6degrees...in the study which was done last season in aspen all of the ski pros /racers had less than 2 degrees of excessive pronation...now is this natural selection?????

20% retention after a class in an adventure sport is not bad, canoeing, climbing, etc, fare less well. Another reason for the figure, might be school day trips. Most 5th and 6th graders in the northern US, have one or two skiing day trips. Most of the kids, never ski again.

My guess for a reason for the pronation contrast, would be a difference in sports participation, and degree of involvement (esp. in adolescence). Muscle holds the body straight. Unbalance of muscle, and stress without an outlet, will make people pretty crooked. Or would most people be a little crooked anyway ?

Trencher