Cheapest country to buy equipment ?

In resort ski boot fitting is very hit and miss. There are a few very good boot fitters who work in ski resorts, but most of the people selling boots in resort shops haven't got a clue. Make sure that the fitter measures your foot using a Brannock device and checks that the shells are the right size and shape for your feet by taking the inner boots out and getting you to put your bare feet in them. If they don't you're in the wrong shop.

Dave Mac, those Nordica Gran Tour S RTL rear entry boots you bought in Germany are very soft (flex index 50) for a bloke of your size. There is a real danger that your ankle joint will rotate beyond it's safe limit before the binding releases, in which case it will break. You initially said you wanted to buy a pair for your wife because she had difficulty closing the clips on other boots, if you had mentioned that you were also going to buy a pair I would have strongly recommended that you didn't.

There's a lot more to boot fitting than most people realise, fit is only one aspect.

Ski Heil! -)

Admin wrote:

Tony_H wrote:USA tends to be cheapest, but you have shipping to worry about.

And tax/import duty - which can remove your saving over the Euro-zone. :evil:

Not relevant when your son lives in USA and brings your purchases home ;-)

Dave Mac wrote:I think I have about 12 pairs of skis, six pairs in Austria, and another six pairs in the loft. And then about 10 years ago, I put 6 pairs in the local recycle skip, although I later heard that the recyclers relocated them into a shed, and they disappeared. (Good luck with that one, recyclers. If I chucked them away, they were done.)

I just don't get wrapped up in ski technology, I never have. I have all sorts of techy skis in my wee collections. I just ski them differently. In Austria, I guess I ski 60% of the time on longish Vokle straights. I paid £49 for them, new, in Scotland.

In Scotland, depending on conditions, I mostly ski an oldish pair of Heads, given to me by my deceased ski buddy,Mel, a great Niederau skier.

My ski lengths vary from 160 to 200. And from straights to carvers.

Boots, I bought 2 pairs from Frankfurt on the internet. They both fit well. But ~ you do have to know what you are doing. I would not advocate this approach for all.

Wow, Dave. Amazing. Yet another post about anything other than a certain Austrian resort, and you manage to get said resort mentioned in your response. You must be on some kind of retainer?

Heres what I did with regards to buying ski boots ONLINE:

You know what size you are form previous boots and trying some on in this country, so once you have got your size, I did lots of research into reviews into how the boots fitted, how they skied, what level they were, etc and came down to a shortlist of 3 boots, in this instance 1x head, 1x Fischer and 1x Dalbello - all pretty much within the same perameters of what I wanted, a stiffer all mountain boot.

I ordered all 3 from an online company who had them all on special offers, and spent 3 days trying them on and wearing them around the house to work out which were the perfect fit. I dismissed the Dalbello straight away as they had a hot spot on the ankle, but it was a toss up between the Fischers and Heads, and I plumped for the Heads as they were getting rave reviews online, plus they felt absolutely wonderful on, had a higher spec, and were a stiffer flex rating which was what I was looking for. I then returned the other 2 pairs together to save on shipping costs, cost me about £10 to Spain, but I saved over £150 buying these boots that way.
I guess you need to know exactly what you're looking for, but its possibly the best way to save a good amount.

Want to ensure you get the worst possible deal on snow equipment?, then purchase it on a ski vacation.

Unless the equipment is having a 2nd birthday on the shelves you will pay full retail and then some. End of season sales seem to be the best both online and in shops.

And don't cheap out on your boots. Good boots for you and properly fitted.
Happy feet, happy life !!

Some people think it's "happy wife, happy life", it's really happy feet.

Skiing in 2 weeks!!

It's impossible for someone to know their ski boot size, the sizing is very inconsistent, not only does it vary from make to make but also from model to model. There can be up to a 7mm difference (nearly a full size) in the internal length between the boots in a manufactures range.

It's essential to get the fit around the ankle right, if they don't fit well in this area there is very little that can be done.



The manufactures don't give any sizing info for this area, so it has to be checked visually. If the boots are a bit too narrow or short it's easy to make them a bit bigger, but if they are too big the only solution is a new pair.

Wearing them around the house is a waste of time, if they are comfy indoors they are probably too big. After a short time the liner will 'pack out' and the boots will feel sloppy.

Lots of skiers seem to confuse comfort with fit, an ill fitting boot might well be comfortable, but it won't perform anywhere near as well as a well fitting boot, which will also be comfortable.

As I said above there's a lot more to boot fitting than most people realise.

Tony_H wrote:

Admin wrote:

Tony_H wrote:USA tends to be cheapest, but you have shipping to worry about.

And tax/import duty - which can remove your saving over the Euro-zone. :evil:

Not relevant when your son lives in USA and brings your purchases home ;-)

Perfectly relevant however, if ones son doesn't live in the US. Irrelevant if you buy your boots from cheap European warehouses.

With the euro at 1.42, anywhere in Europe will see you getting great value for money.
If in Andorra, Espunyes in el tarter has a huge selection and you will get a great pair of top of the range boots for about 300e. £210 in real money!