Black toenails

Strange title and not even sure if this has anything to do with technique but I wanted to see if anyone else has the same problem.

Not me, Mr Nelly comes home with a black toenail (big toe) EVERY year after a weeks skiing, which eventually drops off (eew).

So what is he doing that's making this happen? Just bad habit of lifting a toe? Not leaning forward enough? Anyone else get this?

Boots not long enough so toe bangs repeatedly on front of boot?

Keep toenails short for skiing!

This used to happen to me when I played Netball. It's seemed to be to do with the sudden stopping and changing direction and the impact that caused my toes against the end of my trainers and consequently the hard surface of the court.

I suspect Old Andy is right and his big toenail is being banged against the end of the boot constantly.

Can he take the boots to a fitter to get them checked? It may be just a case of more padding in the ends?

Maybe they aren't quite right then. Annoyingly he had them fitted when he bought them, but these are relatively new boots and he had the same problem with the last boots too.

Toenail chopping is a ritual pre ski hols in our house :)

I don't have any problem with my ski boots, but could not keep my toenails with trainers when playing sport (same as Mr Nelly, went black and fell off), so it has to be a padding/room issue.

Dead toe nails after skiing must be down to pressure on the nail unless there is some bizarre illness thing going on - but I can't think of any!!

So - if toenail chopping is a family activity :lol:
and the boots were fitted by someone,
and the problem existed with previous boots......
then;

All I can think of is that the foot is slipping down inside the boot and hitting the front when being skied on and not when standing in a shop being checked?

Which suggest to me that the boot is not being tightened/clipped up correctly? The heel is not being held back in the cup as it should and the whole foot is sliding forward?

Aside from cutting toenails very short, there might be some boot fit issues, or use issues. It may be he needs a shorter boot for overall fit, but that doesn't leave room for the toes. Every boot is not only unique in shape, but will have slightly (or not so slightly) different lengths for a given size. So a different boot might be the answer. A boot fitter might be able to change the way the foot sits in the boot, or punch out the toe box. A custom footbed might create more room.

Another issue might be style of skiing; with weight back, or too much time spent walking and standing.

Yeah..I have the same problem. Its not a mystery in my case though because I have one of those 'orrible fungal nail infection things. It means that one big toenail is slightly thicker than the other one and there just must be a tiny bit more pressure on the nail because of it being thicker. It does n't really hurt when I'm skiing to be honest..just slightly sore in the evening. Then sure enough a couple of weeks after I come back I loose the nail and by the time it grows back its time to go skiing again! You'd think I'd be able to solve it but I've tried various chemists potions and they do n't work.
Anyway..I'd suggest your fella has damaged his nail bed (possibly from one instance of a badly fitting ski boot?..or he's got a nail infection) and it just keeps getting re-triggered.
Sorry to be no help..probably needs some sort of doctor type to look at it.

Shipjack