J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

I think the nearest ski area to Malpensa is Mottarone http://www.mottaroneski.it/it/index.php above Stresa, which is about an hour's to drive from the airport. From there a small two section cable car http://www.stresa-mottarone.it/home_eng.htm takes you up to Mottarone at 1500m. It has 7 lifts, including a couple of baby lifts http://www.dovesciare.it/sites/default/files/skimap-mottarone.jpg and 21km of pistes. If you would prefer to drive up from Stresa it will take an extra 40 mins. To see what it looks like search in Google images for sci mottarone. I've only been there in summer so I can't tell you anything about the skiing, but the views are spectacular.

The toe and heel lugs on children's ski boot soles are smaller than the ones on adult boots so they aren't compatible with most adult bindings.

Afraid not, the procedure is not as simple as the video makes out. The boot fitter first pads any pressure points, places toe caps over the toes, puts the skiers sock back on and then places the feet in foot shaped plastic bags to make getting into the boot easier.

IMO the process Pavelski describes is unnecessarily complicated. A boot fitter normally just take the liners out of the shells place the footbeds centrally in the empty shells ask the customer to stand on the footbeds and then molds the boots to the feet.


The fitter then buckles the boots and adjusts the cuffs until the legs are central.
I have found that loosening the screws and flexing forward a few times automatically centres the cuffs on boots fitted with eccentric alignment devices.

Cuff alignment is only one part of ski boot setup; ideally the foot should first be supported using a decent footbed, then the boot / binding ramp angles should be looked at followed by forward lean, then cuff alignment and finally canting.

As you bought the boots online I suggest you do a shell check to make sure that they are not too big, before doing any of this.

Women's sized boots usually start at size 22, but because there are no half sizes the shells will probably be size 22.5. Some are even larger as some manufactures put a blocks in the toe boxes of larger boots to shorten them, which saves them the cost of a mold.

As your wife's feet are so small she really does need to see a good boot fitter if she wants boots that fit properly. The measurements you have given suggest that a junior racing boot might be her only option.

A junior boot might be a better bet as all the design, prototyping and testing of adult ski boots is done in size 26 / 26.5, after which a model is sent to a toolmaker who reverse engineers it and scales the design up and down to get the other sizes. As far as I know they don't take allometry (the change in size-related proportions due to growth) into account.

The Head Challenger is a new model, so your chances of finding someone who also has a pair are pretty slim. If I were you I would contact the local Head distributor http://www.head.com/ski/contacts/?region=eu

How are you going to mold the liners? As part of the fitting process the liners in these boots are heat molded to your feet.

Pretty handy isn't he, he'll be 60 in February. Before becoming a professional singer he won 6 world cup races, the overall GS world cup and a silver medal at the 1974 world championships.

If you want practice at home before you go on holiday



Don't overdo the leg rotation.

Insiders wrote: Its a great start point to go for a bigger boot and have infilled feet if necessary :) i'm going to buy them next week so looking forward to some REALLY aggressive skiing this coming season.

Insiders I think you might have misunderstood my post, this is NOT what you want to do! The boots should fit your feet and if necessary the cuffs should be reshaped to fit your calves. If you buy a boot that is far too big it won't function as it should, any extra padding will soon compress, the boots will become sloppy and you will likely have to buy a second pair. Read my first post, go to a good boot fitter and get the job done properly.

Don't underestimate the safety issue, ski bindings don't release to the rear if you are already being pushed back you are more likely to fall backwards perhaps sustaining an ACL injury. Women are twice as likely to suffer a knee injury whilst skiing than men.

Surefeet are very expensive and their fitting procedure gives mixed results.

Tony_H wrote:Well I was only trying to get Colin some business......

And I'm only trying to get her to get some boots that fit correctly, but has you can see it's an uphill struggle. Colin may even have some women's boots in her size, I think some of the Head women's boots accommodate large calves.

For every 25 mm in circumference that Insiders calves are bigger than the size that manufacturer designed the boots to fit her knee will be pushed 9 mm further forward from where it needs to be for her to be balanced over the centre of the ski. As her knee is pushed forward she will be forced to sit back in order to get centred over the ski. This will result in excessive use of the quadriceps, and reduce the range of motion in the ankle joint. There will also be an increased risk of injury. Stretching the back of the boot to accommodate the calf muscle is the best solution, there are other ways of dealing with large calves but they're not as effective. The easiest thing for a shop to do would be to sell here a boot that fits nicely around her calves but was too big everywhere else.

These days a lot can be done to alter the shape of ski boots to make them fit.



But the equipment is expensive and it takes time to acquire the necessary skills. Most resort shops and shops that are part of the large chains only have skills and equipment to deal with simple problems.

Sadly Hamish Wolfenden the owner of Profeet died in 2012 and some of the more experienced boot fitters have left. AllyG got her boots fitted there and from what she's posted previously they seem to be too big.