Ski boots - A pain that I no longer want to be used to

Getting ski boots to fit properly can in involve a far bit of "faffing" a couple of further visits to the shop for tweaking are often necessary. Too tight is better than too loose as a boot can always be made a bit bigger by either grinding a bit more space out or heating and stretching the plastic. As they are guaranteed to fit http://www.snowandrock.com/terms-and-conditions/content/fcp-content I would take them back to S&R.

As far as I know there are only two boot fitters in the UK (considering the size of the market this compares very favourably with the rest of Europe) who have the expertise and equipment to tackle almost any boot fitting problem Solutions 4 Feet in Bicester as mentioned by Bandit and Profeet in London http://www.profeet.co.uk/skiing/1d-analysis/

Thanks for the compliment Scapula but sadly I'm just an ordinary skier who is difficult to fit, mainly because the design work for ski boots is carried out at size 26/26.5 (there are no true half sizes) and I take a size 23.

the insoles can be made thinner, if this is the issue. Some boots are low profile, so if your instep is high you'll have problems, especially if you put the footbed in. It can be OK-ish in the store, but once you click the skis on and start moving the pain will kick in as you will be leaning more forward and putting even more pressure on your insteps. my friend had this with a pair of Lange boots, she said the only way her feet were not in agony was when she was consciously putting herself into a backseat position to relieve the pressure. but she fixed it now. So don't be in a rush to change boots, see first with a bootfitter what can be done to help your issue.

Bicester isn't that far away, so I'll go see them, Thanks for all the info :) Alas the problem with going back to S&R is that the receipt has long gone :(

I developed terrible back problems some years after I first went skiing and just couldn't work out what the problem was. I went to the sports injury unit attached to Snow+Rock in Chertsey and they did a great job. It turned out that a combination of one femur shorter than the other, one foot smaller then the other and a curved spine plus asymmetric back muscles all contributed. All I needed was a made-to-measure insole for the smaller/shorter foot and that sorted it. I'm not saying yours is the same issue but you may need professional analysis to diagnose what's wrong. Straight boot retailers/fitters, no matter how experienced, may not be able to diagnose the root cause.

I would be a touch circumspect with Profeet. I went that route 4 years ago but after one season the boots were excruciating. Went to see a chap called Keith in Ski Warehouse in Morzine, supposedly another one of the boot gurus. He was away but his equally knowledgeable wife(?) said Profeet are a pain in the nuts and more often than not dont know what they are talking about. All the gear, no idea was the view. They had had a girl in with fresh Profeet boots who was in tears after 3 hours on the slopes. Keith was so shocked at the poor fitting they had done, he not only helped her write a letter of complaint to get her money back but encouraged her to claim damages for her feet.
Oh yes - and my boots. Well apparently you should have a new foot tray each season as your feet change shape, even when you are old as me. Trouble is, Profeet had glued the tray to the bespoke inner boot, and had then put a cheapo plastic wedge under ankle between inner boot and outer shell. Shoddy to say the least.

DerekAngel wrote:I would be a touch circumspect with Profeet. I went that route 4 years ago but after one season the boots were excruciating.

It's quite possible to wear out a pair of boots in a season. What did you do, 16, maybe 20 weeks in them? Did you contact Profeet to gain redress? They do have a fit warranty.

Profeet are one of the founder members of British Ski Bootfitters Assoc:

http://www.skibootpro.co.uk/

There are other J2skiers who are also professional members.

All sounds a bit far fetched for me Delboy, if you have such a big problem you should go talk to Hamish yourself! I'm sure he would be more than happy to listen to your interesting and factual point of view.

bandit wrote:It's quite possible to wear out a pair of boots in a season. What did you do, 16, maybe 20 weeks in them? Did you contact Profeet to gain redress? They do have a fit warranty.

Actually no - I did 1 week in them (!!). I am average Joe Punter going for a week a season. After so many years suffering in hire boots, someone pointed me towards Profeet and I was prepared to throw money at a solution (anything to make skiing a buzz without the agony). It was when I next went skiing that the boots caused so much grief. I did not know I was meant to check and change foot trays each season (Profeet never told me to do so and the fact they glued the trays in suggests it was not forgetfulness).

I am indeed going to go back to Profeet: if they are as professional as you suggest, I would expect some serious grovelling and redress and will gladly withdraw any inferences I have made here if they "step up to the plate", as it were.