Ski boots are in my opinion the most important piece of ski gear. They, along with the bindings, create the connection between the skier and skis. During a normal ski day your feet spend several hours inside the boots. It is possible to ski a full day with skis that don’t fit your style or size well, but it’s impossible to keep skiing for a long time with boots that don’t fit your feet. Ski boots that don’t fit cause your feet in a lot of pain, whether too large or small. Buying the wrong set of ski boots can also severely restrict your skiing performance… so when I was recently shopping for a new pair of boots, I thought it’d be more than appropriate for us to have an article about buying ski boots. The following are general guidelines that should help you find a good ski boot, even if you don’t follow the guidelines too religiously.

Buying ski boots – finding a good bootfitter

The first and most important step in buying ski boots is to find a good bootfitter. They’re professionals who have done a course or have a lot of experience in fitting ski boots. Good bootfitters can normally be found in smaller specialty ski shops, not in the big chain sports shops that sell several types of sports gear. They should patiently guide you through the process of buying ski boots, as it takes some time to find a pair that fit your feet well and are suitable for the style and level of skiing you do. If you run into a salesperson that immediately tries to convince you to buy the first or second pair of boots that you try on it would probably be better just to leave the shop. Not every town has got a good bootfitter; ask about your friends experiences or search the internet to find one.

Ensuring that you get the right kind of a ski boot

One of the most distinguishing factors between ski boots is their flex, or in other words how stiff they are. Each manufacturer has their own flex scale, ranging usually from about fifty to a hundred and fifty, with stiffness increasing towards the high end of the scale. Do note that these scales do not correspond with each other, which means that a Salomon ski boot with a flex rating of 90 might well be stiffer than a Lange ski boot with the same rating. Usually the lower end of the scale is used for kids ski boots, after that the ratings up to 90 or 100 are mostly preferred by recreational, “normal” skiers. Those that like high speeds or are into hard freeriding and demand a lot from their ski boots usually look at boots with a flex rating of 100 to 130.  Boots with a rating of 130 or higher are normally only used by ski racers. Softer boots usually offer more comfort than stiffer ones. When deciding what kind of ski boot to buy, ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly:

• What kind of a skier am I?
• Do I prefer to ski slow or fast?
• What kind of conditions do I normally encounter? (those
• What flex rating did my previous boots have and did I feel the need for a softer/stiffer boot?

Flex your feet forward while they’re in the ski boots and try to feel their stiffness. Are the boots too stiff or soft? Does the flex feel natural with no sudden stop and no hot spots along your shin when you flex the boot? Also ask your boot fitter about the plastic material used in the ski boots that you’re trying on – some boots have plastic that turns stiffer in colder temperatures.

How to get the best fit when buying ski boots

This is the hardest part. You should preferably go to the ski boot shop in the afternoon, since feet have a tendency to swell a bit during the day. Bring a pair of the ski socks that you’re planning to use, although the shop should have some to borrow also. I personally recommend thin sock liners, but some prefer thicker ski socks that have a bit of added padding along the shin area.  The bootfitter should guide you through this part, and an experienced boot fitter should be able to tell you what ski boot brand or model could fit you just by looking at and measuring your feet. Some brands only fit one kind of foot well while some brands offer several models with different fits.

• The first thing the boot fitter should do is to measure the shell fit of the potential boot candidate, that means inserting your foot into the shell of the ski boot without the liner in it.  Then, with your toes slightly touching the front of the boot the amount of space left behind your heel should be measured. If there is space for more than two fingers (more than 1 inch or 2,5 centimeters) then the size is probably too big for you. A two-finger fit is often called a “comfort fit” while a one-finger fit is called a “performance fit”. If you ski a lot and are willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort for performance then you should probably go with the performance fit.

• Next, put the liner back into the boot and insert your foot into the ski boot. Kick your heel to the ground a couple times. This will ensure that your foot is in the proper place in the boot.  Buckle up the boot, be careful not to crank the buckles down too tight. Cranking the buckles can result in deformation of the boot plastic and  the blood flow to your feet can be cut can be affected. If you need to crank down the buckles for the boot to feel snug then the boot is probably too high a volume for your foot. The liner of the ski boot will pack down after usage and thus your boots will only get bigger with time, never smaller.

• After buckling up the fit of the boot should feel snug but not uncomfortably tight. You should not feel any “hot spots”, spots where you feel pain or too much pressure. When leaning forward into a “skiing position” your heel should not rise up. If you can lift your heel easily it means that the boot has got too high a volume at some place. It is OK for your toes to slightly touch the end of the boot while standing upright as long as they are not cramped. When leaning forward your toes should not touch the end of the boot, except maybe slightly. Your toes should have enough room so that you can wiggle them a bit. That won’t compromise the performance of the boot but will help in keeping your toes warm during those cold days.

• Keep in mind that it is hard to modify a boot to become smaller, but heating and punching the shell at certain points to create more space can be done by an experienced bootfitter. Beginners often buy boots that are too big because they are afraid of getting painful boots and big ski boots feel comfortable in the shop. Do not make this mistake! Ski boots that are too big result in a lot of problems as your foot can move inside the boot while skiing, rubbing the skin and banging up especially your shins against the boot. If the fit is not snug enough and your feet have space to move around, they will get banged up against the sides of the boot. Most boot problems stem from skiers buying too big of boots to begin with.

• Try on several different ski boots. Be honest with yourself about what kind of boot you’re looking for. The general trend at least among my experienced skier friends has been to buy softer boots than what they used before. Since the ski boot technology is advancing you can get the same performance with a softer boot than what you might have been used to. You don’t need a race boot anymore to be the toughest kid on the block.

• Most of the liners in today’s ski boots are thermo-moldable. This means that the liner can and should be heated, which makes it softer until it cools down again. When the liner is warm a foot is inserted into the liner it’ll mold into the shape of the foot. Bear in mind though that this is not a magic trick that would make any ski boot fit your feet. A ski boot should already have a good snug fit “out of the box”. Ask your bootfitter about the model that you’re trying on and if it has a thermo-moldable liner.

• Do not buy your ski boots online unless you’re buying the same model that you’ve already used. It is also not nice to go to a ski boot shop to try a bunch of boots and use bootfitters’  expertise to help you and then buy the boots online for a bit cheaper. When buying ski boots at your local ski shop you might be paying a bit more but you also pay for their expertise and time and in the process you support a local business.

• Do not try to save money on ski boots. As mentioned above the boots are in my opinion the most important piece of ski gear you’ll ever buy. My ski boots cost me more than my skis and bindings combined and I don’t consider that strange.

If you have weird feet like I do it might take couple days and several hours of trying on ski boots to find a pair that fits your feet and your needs as a skier. Remember that you won’t be able to cast the “final verdict” on the ski boots before having skied them for a few days. And if you just spent a lot of time finding a pair of boots that you thought would fit you and then find your feet in a lot of pain on the first day, don’t despair! Try to ski for a few hours to get the boots “broken in”, and if you’re still having problems go back to your shop and the bootfitter. He/she should be able to modify the boot by punching out hot spots or grinding the shell to help you. Most bootfitters offer a “fit guarantee”, which means that if you have problems with your ski boots after buying them then they’ll modify the boots for free. Ask your bootfitter about this.

I hope this guide helped you through the process of buying ski boots!