Moulded Ski boots

[Greshamst]

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.

[Greshamst]

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.

[Greshamst]

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.

[Greshamst]

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.

[Greshamst]

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.

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.