Moulded Ski boots
Discussion
I’ve always struggled with rental ski boots, and am considering buying my own so I can get them moulded, hoping it sorts the problems I usually experience, and I’m looking for advice...
Rental boots have always been incredibly uncomfortable, I always end up with big sores from boot rub near the top of them after 3 days. I know they’re not supposed to be that comfy, but the level of pain I experience seems to be way above what everyone else has.
I did try out some retro rear-entry boots one holiday which were actually way better and didn’t give me the usual problems. But no-one really makes rear entry anymore.
Has anyone got custom moulded boots, and where did they go? Are snow & rock ok or are they the halfords equivalent of the ski world and best avoided for something custom?
I’m an intermediate skier, no parks, a little bit of off-piste, and budget is around £250. Comfort more important than performance really.
Rental boots have always been incredibly uncomfortable, I always end up with big sores from boot rub near the top of them after 3 days. I know they’re not supposed to be that comfy, but the level of pain I experience seems to be way above what everyone else has.
I did try out some retro rear-entry boots one holiday which were actually way better and didn’t give me the usual problems. But no-one really makes rear entry anymore.
Has anyone got custom moulded boots, and where did they go? Are snow & rock ok or are they the halfords equivalent of the ski world and best avoided for something custom?
I’m an intermediate skier, no parks, a little bit of off-piste, and budget is around £250. Comfort more important than performance really.
Greshamst said:
I’ve always struggled with rental ski boots, and am considering buying my own so I can get them moulded, hoping it sorts the problems I usually experience, and I’m looking for advice...
Rental boots have always been incredibly uncomfortable, I always end up with big sores from boot rub near the top of them after 3 days. I know they’re not supposed to be that comfy, but the level of pain I experience seems to be way above what everyone else has.
I did try out some retro rear-entry boots one holiday which were actually way better and didn’t give me the usual problems. But no-one really makes rear entry anymore.
Has anyone got custom moulded boots, and where did they go? Are snow & rock ok or are they the halfords equivalent of the ski world and best avoided for something custom?
I’m an intermediate skier, no parks, a little bit of off-piste, and budget is around £250. Comfort more important than performance really.
If you get well-fitted boots, they will not only hold your heels firmly, but they will feel as comfortable as your favourite pair of shoes. There is no need for the skiboot to rub or cause pain.Rental boots have always been incredibly uncomfortable, I always end up with big sores from boot rub near the top of them after 3 days. I know they’re not supposed to be that comfy, but the level of pain I experience seems to be way above what everyone else has.
I did try out some retro rear-entry boots one holiday which were actually way better and didn’t give me the usual problems. But no-one really makes rear entry anymore.
Has anyone got custom moulded boots, and where did they go? Are snow & rock ok or are they the halfords equivalent of the ski world and best avoided for something custom?
I’m an intermediate skier, no parks, a little bit of off-piste, and budget is around £250. Comfort more important than performance really.
The rear-entry boots you tried would just be more comfortable as the shell might have been a better fit for your feet. For example, if you have a wider foot, and you are hiring a boot with a narrow shell, they will be very uncomfortable to wear.
There are three main levels to the custom boot fitting - you can take a standard shell and liner and get it adjusted by adding padding - they can also make minor adjustments by heating the shell if required.
The next level above that is to get a custom-fit liner. There are different ways of fitting the liner but injecting foam around your foot is a good method.
The next level above that is to get a custom shell and liner. This is where the fitter picks the correct shell components to get as close a fit as possible to your foot, which then minimises what they need to do with the liner.
You can also go for custom foot-beds with all of the above options if you choose to.
I'm not sure how much custom-work you can get for your budget of £250. I've recently bought a new pair of custom-fit Strolz boots from Glide and Slide in Leeds to replace an older pair of Strolz boots which had worn out and I paid circa £750. Although Strolz are fairly expensive they will solve the problem you are finding. However, I'm sure you can find cheaper options - I would recommend Strolz though as they give a superb fit.
Agree with the above, and would also add that many liners these days are heat-mouldable so you can get a really good fit without having to go for a full custom liner. Most fittings will also include a custom footbed as well.
However you will struggle to get a custom fit boot for £250. I think I paid £100 for the fitting, which took a couple of hours and included the custom footbed and heat moulding of the liner. I tried on maybe ten different pairs which was really useful as it became obvious which ones were a good fit initially and which weren't. The boots of course are on top of that and realistically you're wasting your money going for a custom fit and then buying a bottom-end boot for £150. I'm far from an expert skier but count the £450 I paid for boots and fitting as being by far the best money I've ever spent on skiing.
However you will struggle to get a custom fit boot for £250. I think I paid £100 for the fitting, which took a couple of hours and included the custom footbed and heat moulding of the liner. I tried on maybe ten different pairs which was really useful as it became obvious which ones were a good fit initially and which weren't. The boots of course are on top of that and realistically you're wasting your money going for a custom fit and then buying a bottom-end boot for £150. I'm far from an expert skier but count the £450 I paid for boots and fitting as being by far the best money I've ever spent on skiing.
I have a pair of Salomon X Pro boots with the custom shell technology and they are fantastic. Like you I had previously struggled to find boots which did not leave me in agony by the end of the day and these are the ski boot equivalent of a comfy pair of slippers.
The moulding process is fairly simple, the shop puts the boots in the oven for around 10 minutes and then you stand around in warm boots which mould to your feet as they cool down.
Snow and Rock are a bit marmite but from experience they do honour their boot fitting guarantee if you find they are uncomfortable on the slopes.
The moulding process is fairly simple, the shop puts the boots in the oven for around 10 minutes and then you stand around in warm boots which mould to your feet as they cool down.
Snow and Rock are a bit marmite but from experience they do honour their boot fitting guarantee if you find they are uncomfortable on the slopes.
Most stuff is mentioned before. I think most boots these days come with the possibility of heating the liners to speed up the process of them molding to the shape of your feet. You mention the problem is having sore spots on the top of you feet? This could also could be say over-tightening the buckles on the boots. Just doing it too tight in general, or are you sliding around in the boot and so trying to hold the foot in place with pressure from above?
You need to try a bunch of different boots to see what can work best, and give them a bit of time on your foot. Forget about colour etc. Different brands often have different general fits - Italian are often narrower etc. Also when putting the boots hit the heel on the floor to make sure your heal is at the back of the boot, tighten the buckles in same order etc. If you can slide forward after making sure the heel is at the back then boot is too big etc.
You need to try a bunch of different boots to see what can work best, and give them a bit of time on your foot. Forget about colour etc. Different brands often have different general fits - Italian are often narrower etc. Also when putting the boots hit the heel on the floor to make sure your heal is at the back of the boot, tighten the buckles in same order etc. If you can slide forward after making sure the heel is at the back then boot is too big etc.
Sorry, just to clarify the boot rub where I end up getting sores (gross) is at the top of the boot, around the calves. But also everywhere because rental boots seem to be created as torture devices!
Advice so far suggests I should go for heat moulded liners. Does anyone have any suggestions for good knowledgable shops near london/ south east? Or I’ll have to try my luck with the teenagers at snow & rock.
Advice so far suggests I should go for heat moulded liners. Does anyone have any suggestions for good knowledgable shops near london/ south east? Or I’ll have to try my luck with the teenagers at snow & rock.
So I e fed up going to snow & rock which was closest to me...
The guy said I’ve got quite wide, but small feet. Tried a few boots, all of them felt pretty uncomfortable but that’s skiing hey.
I did ask about custom foot bed and heat moulding... he said he didn’t think it was worth it for me, as I have quite flat feet so off the shelf footbed is fine, and that just wearing the boots I’m around the house should do the same as heat moulding.
Unusual for a salesperson to advise you against spending money... unless he was just feeling very lazy that day.
So I’ve just got a standard pair of Solomon X-Pro 100s
I’m considering going for a fitting at Ellis Brigham to see what they say, as I feel like these boots aren’t going to be any better really than rentals, at least they don’t feel so.
The guy said I’ve got quite wide, but small feet. Tried a few boots, all of them felt pretty uncomfortable but that’s skiing hey.
I did ask about custom foot bed and heat moulding... he said he didn’t think it was worth it for me, as I have quite flat feet so off the shelf footbed is fine, and that just wearing the boots I’m around the house should do the same as heat moulding.
Unusual for a salesperson to advise you against spending money... unless he was just feeling very lazy that day.
So I’ve just got a standard pair of Solomon X-Pro 100s
I’m considering going for a fitting at Ellis Brigham to see what they say, as I feel like these boots aren’t going to be any better really than rentals, at least they don’t feel so.
A bit late maybe.. but ski boots do not need to be uncomfortable. How many different boots did you try in the shop? Were they from different brands? As each one tends to suit a different shape foot a bit more than others. I've had good success with technical as they tend to suit larger feet better... (11.5)
My ski boots are as comfortable as slippers, I had them fitted at Ellis Brigham in Castleford. It took maybe 3 return visits to get them just right with some sessions on the indoor slope to bed them in and get a feel for where they needed tweaking. The current ones I’ve had for a little over a year and have done maybe 70 days skiing so far and I’ll probably get the rest of the season out of them before I need to think about new ones.
Had a very good experience at Snow and Rock in Birmingham when I bought my last and still current pair of Salomons about 5 years ago. Heat moudable external shell and custom footbeds and never had any issue with them. In fairness I've skied enough to know the pressure points my feet seem most susceptible to, so took time to make sure I was happy with the fitting process (think we did 3 bakes before I was happy) In fairness the fitter was happy to take our time and get it right, I certainly wouldn't have an issue going there again when I need a new pair
I recently had a pair of boots fitted from Solutions for feet at Bicester.
I had tried Technica Cochise boots at the ski show and went with these firmly at the top of my list . Once measured Colin immediately dropped 2 sizes from my current boot but I was sure these were to small . I wanted to go up a size but he maintained these were to big and flatly refused to sell me a pair and suggested I was wasting his time. (a little short on charm maybe !)
With limited choice as I needed tech inserts for touring bindings it looked like a wasted journey The only model left was a Scott full touring boot which felt right as soon as I put them on . Even Collin seemed reasonably happy and agreed to allow me to buy them , He added a thicker heat moulded footbed and heat moulded the liner adding some packing around my malleolus which causes problems after a breakage.
The end result is a super comfy boot but I had a 5hr drive round trip to get them and paid iirc £620 for the privilege .
But you can't put a price on comy ski boots !
I had tried Technica Cochise boots at the ski show and went with these firmly at the top of my list . Once measured Colin immediately dropped 2 sizes from my current boot but I was sure these were to small . I wanted to go up a size but he maintained these were to big and flatly refused to sell me a pair and suggested I was wasting his time. (a little short on charm maybe !)
With limited choice as I needed tech inserts for touring bindings it looked like a wasted journey The only model left was a Scott full touring boot which felt right as soon as I put them on . Even Collin seemed reasonably happy and agreed to allow me to buy them , He added a thicker heat moulded footbed and heat moulded the liner adding some packing around my malleolus which causes problems after a breakage.
The end result is a super comfy boot but I had a 5hr drive round trip to get them and paid iirc £620 for the privilege .
But you can't put a price on comy ski boots !
Edited by R TOY on Monday 27th January 20:33
An update on my boot saga...
Went to Ellis Brigham who seemed to be a bit more knowledgable... they put me in a pair of salamon S-Max 100s, with a custom footbed, and some shell moulding as the toes were quite tight.
Tried them out... they were excruciating. The few minutes on the button lift at the end of every run was torture!
So now I’ve got to try and take them back, even though they’ve had some heat moulding. I thought getting my own boots would solve my problems, just gonna have to keep trying.
Went to Ellis Brigham who seemed to be a bit more knowledgable... they put me in a pair of salamon S-Max 100s, with a custom footbed, and some shell moulding as the toes were quite tight.
Tried them out... they were excruciating. The few minutes on the button lift at the end of every run was torture!
So now I’ve got to try and take them back, even though they’ve had some heat moulding. I thought getting my own boots would solve my problems, just gonna have to keep trying.
Greshamst said:
An update on my boot saga...
Went to Ellis Brigham who seemed to be a bit more knowledgable... they put me in a pair of salamon S-Max 100s, with a custom footbed, and some shell moulding as the toes were quite tight.
Tried them out... they were excruciating. The few minutes on the button lift at the end of every run was torture!
So now I’ve got to try and take them back, even though they’ve had some heat moulding. I thought getting my own boots would solve my problems, just gonna have to keep trying.
Sorry to hear that. Honestly, there will be something specific relating to your foot which isn't been addressed in the fitting. If you want them to fit properly, I'm afraid you are most likely going to need to use one of the more expensive solutions, unless you want to go through a lot of trial and error.Went to Ellis Brigham who seemed to be a bit more knowledgable... they put me in a pair of salamon S-Max 100s, with a custom footbed, and some shell moulding as the toes were quite tight.
Tried them out... they were excruciating. The few minutes on the button lift at the end of every run was torture!
So now I’ve got to try and take them back, even though they’ve had some heat moulding. I thought getting my own boots would solve my problems, just gonna have to keep trying.
Hehe. Similar to me.
I took some solomans from EB, moulded, shaped, insoles the lot. Wore them for 3 days "they'll bed in" they said. Managed to damage nerves in the top of both ankles, took a year for feeling to come back to top of my feet
EB were pretty cool about it though, let me change to technica and moulded those to me, 3seasons in them and they are 'OK'.
Comfy slippers they are not, BUT I can ski a week with zero blisters and only mild discomfort on outside of toes. Compared to rental issues and the horror shown with Solomon, I can't complain.
If I want slippers, I go boarding for a day. That's comfort.
So stand your ground with EB and try and get some other boots, but I feel for you. Weird shaped feet make skiing a pain!
I took some solomans from EB, moulded, shaped, insoles the lot. Wore them for 3 days "they'll bed in" they said. Managed to damage nerves in the top of both ankles, took a year for feeling to come back to top of my feet
EB were pretty cool about it though, let me change to technica and moulded those to me, 3seasons in them and they are 'OK'.
Comfy slippers they are not, BUT I can ski a week with zero blisters and only mild discomfort on outside of toes. Compared to rental issues and the horror shown with Solomon, I can't complain.
If I want slippers, I go boarding for a day. That's comfort.
So stand your ground with EB and try and get some other boots, but I feel for you. Weird shaped feet make skiing a pain!
Greshamst said:
An update on my boot saga...
Went to Ellis Brigham who seemed to be a bit more knowledgable... they put me in a pair of salamon S-Max 100s, with a custom footbed, and some shell moulding as the toes were quite tight.
That doesn't sound at all right. How many pairs did you try on before they 'put you in' the Salomons? If it's less than 10, they weren't doing their job.Went to Ellis Brigham who seemed to be a bit more knowledgable... they put me in a pair of salamon S-Max 100s, with a custom footbed, and some shell moulding as the toes were quite tight.
And you shouldn't have accepted anything that felt anything other than totally snug and comfortable in the shop. Definitely, anything being "quite tight" would be a massive red flag. Although, if it's just the toes - are you doing up the boots too tightly? Your toe buckles in particular should be closable with no effort at all; if you need more than a light push with one finger then it's too tight.
At the end of the day, a boot fitting is all about the fitter. Many do it badly, some do an OK job, and a very few do it exceptionally (and charge accordingly).
deckster said:
That doesn't sound at all right. How many pairs did you try on before they 'put you in' the Salomons? If it's less than 10, they weren't doing their job.
And you shouldn't have accepted anything that felt anything other than totally snug and comfortable in the shop. Definitely, anything being "quite tight" would be a massive red flag.
I tried 3 different boots, however an added issue for me is I have tiny feet! (24/24.5) so I’m rather limited on boots. A lot of the mens don’t go that small, and as much as the right fitting boot is key, I also don’t want to wear purple boots with white fur... I tried a few of the women’s, and they had to order in the men’s equivalent which was the boot that hurt. And you shouldn't have accepted anything that felt anything other than totally snug and comfortable in the shop. Definitely, anything being "quite tight" would be a massive red flag.
Also I’m just quite bad at understanding what is causing discomfort or bad fit... boots have generally just tended to be ‘sodding ow’ all the time. And a boot fitter can’t feel the outside to feel where it’s going wrong like they could a shoe.
Anyway newest pair from Ellis Brigham been returned. The custom beds kept, and will go into the original pair of salamon s-pro100s that I got from snow&rock. Will try and test them out at hemel this week.
And yea the toe clips have been kept loose, can close them with my little finger as a general rule.
I know that this is outside the OP's boundaries but thought I'd document it in case others were interested.
15 months ago I had a set of boots 'made' by Heierling in Davos. They describe what they do as 'sportopedics' and their client list includes people like Carlo Janka, Lara Gut, Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn.
I needed custom boots for a few reasons. First, I have wide feet with a highish instep and the width is in an unusual place. Second I'm heavy, tall and quite powerful for my age so I needed a relatively stiff boot (which historically tend to be narrow). Third, my right foot is over a full UK size smaller than my left foot. My local boot shop tried a bunch of shoes without success and in the end recommended their custom boots (made by Strolz). I spoke to some of the racers and folks that I know locally and they recommended going to Heierling (I'm about 60 mins away by train).
The process took about 3 hours. They took various size measurements but most time was spent looking at posture (using laser alignment) and then pressure across different parts of the feet. For example they identified that one leg was longer than the other so were able to counter the problems in how I could apply pressure to the ski. We chose a shell which they could heat-treat, change the alignment and mill. Finally they created a new liner via a foam injection process.
All-in-all the boot is super comfortable even though I tend to wear my boots as tight as possible for precision reasons. Because of the additional control I have on the ski I'm far more confident, especially at speed on in difficult situations. They have helped make a huge improvement to my skiing.
The cost was about CHF 1200 (£950) so way outside the OPs budget. I live in a ski resort so get lots of use out of them. However if anyone does want to take their skiing to the next level I'd heartily recommend Heierling. If you go you need to book in advance and going at the beginning of the season will ensure you have the widest choice of boots to work from.
15 months ago I had a set of boots 'made' by Heierling in Davos. They describe what they do as 'sportopedics' and their client list includes people like Carlo Janka, Lara Gut, Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn.
I needed custom boots for a few reasons. First, I have wide feet with a highish instep and the width is in an unusual place. Second I'm heavy, tall and quite powerful for my age so I needed a relatively stiff boot (which historically tend to be narrow). Third, my right foot is over a full UK size smaller than my left foot. My local boot shop tried a bunch of shoes without success and in the end recommended their custom boots (made by Strolz). I spoke to some of the racers and folks that I know locally and they recommended going to Heierling (I'm about 60 mins away by train).
The process took about 3 hours. They took various size measurements but most time was spent looking at posture (using laser alignment) and then pressure across different parts of the feet. For example they identified that one leg was longer than the other so were able to counter the problems in how I could apply pressure to the ski. We chose a shell which they could heat-treat, change the alignment and mill. Finally they created a new liner via a foam injection process.
All-in-all the boot is super comfortable even though I tend to wear my boots as tight as possible for precision reasons. Because of the additional control I have on the ski I'm far more confident, especially at speed on in difficult situations. They have helped make a huge improvement to my skiing.
The cost was about CHF 1200 (£950) so way outside the OPs budget. I live in a ski resort so get lots of use out of them. However if anyone does want to take their skiing to the next level I'd heartily recommend Heierling. If you go you need to book in advance and going at the beginning of the season will ensure you have the widest choice of boots to work from.
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