Looking to buy Ski Boots? Success Starts with your Bootfitter
By Max Wilkie

Purchasing an appropriate ski boot is the most important decision any skier will make. Few other sports demand such a perfect marriage of equipment and bio-mechanics; and, in a retail marketplace driven by marketing hype, making the right choice has become increasingly difficult.

At The Ultimate Fit Centre, the Canadian Rockies only dedicated bootfitting center, our highly-trained professional staff takes a holistic approach to fitting our clients. Our success is directly tied to the comfort and performance experienced by local and
international skiers we work with every year.

Finding an experienced bootfitter greatly increases your chances of purchasing appropriate boots. We offer SkiCanada.com readers the following guidelines to finding a good bootfitter:

1) Good bootfitters ask a lot of questions first . . .

From the raw novice to the veteran expert, all skiers have individual needs and aspirations. A good bootfitter will ask about your physical size, skiing ability, fitness level and commitment to skiing. They should ask about the type of terrain you ski, or hope to ski. This is vital information to the experienced fitter.

2) Feet should be measured by volume, not size . . .

Recognized “shoe sizes” such as UK 8 or US 5 are non-quantitative measurements. A good fitter will measure your feet in centimeters and then examine the volume of your forefoot, mid-foot, instep, calf-height, and heel. Experienced fitters always remove the liner from the boot and place your foot in the empty shell. They should examine all of the aforementioned volumes, not just the distance behind the heel, in the shell. The boot should either accept these volumes or be easily customized to fit.

3) Stance and alignment adjustments are critical . . .

In skiing, the various bio-mechanical motions of the human foot can either be your ally or your enemy. Experienced bootfitters always examine these motions and suggest potential improvements. Poor dorsiflexion in the ankle, pronation and tibial rotation, for example, can often be safely corrected by a good fitter. Solutions can include orthotic support such as footbeds or heel wedges and appropriate upper boot cuff alignment. (Cuff alignment is often erroneously referred to as “canting”).

4) Every ski boot manufacturer in the world makes good boots . . .

Ski boots only “suck” if they don’t fit you or your skiing style. Fitters that belittle competitor’s brands are missing a critical link to good customer service. The fundamental differences in brands are related to fitting volume and bio-mechanical philosophy. At The Ultimate Fit Centre, our key brands are Lange and Salomon. There are times, however, when our fitters conclude our boots are inappropriate and we happily direct our clients to other ski shops in Banff for their boot purchase. Many of these clients return to us for after-market services such as footbeds, stance alignments and shell customization. We may have lost a boot sale. But, we gained a long-term client.

Max Wilkie has been a professional bootfitter for more than 10 years. He is a MasterFit certified fitter at The Ultimate Fit Centre in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

For questions about bootfitting:
www.ultimatebanff.com or call toll free: 1-866 Ski-Ride (754 - 7433)

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