The perfect ski boots by Amie Henderson
Months spent squatting in readiness. Weeks spent dreaming of first lifts. Days spent selecting and packing your very best ski socks. Yet there’s nothing like a painful pair of ski boots to drain the enjoyment from your ski holiday. I’ve been waiting for a revolution in ski boots for years, as it happens. How come snowboarders get these soft, comfy, apres-ski-friendly, trainer-esque boots and us skiers get hard, heavy lumps of plastic with buckles? “Ski boots rarely fit straight out of the box, Amie” Sebastian Rouget of Caribou Sports in Morzine tells me. “But we absolutely do not need to reinvent the wheel!” Sebastian’s father Michel opened the very first ski rental shop in Morzine. For more than 60 years the family have been renting skis and boots for a variety of ability levels and budgets. But when it comes to custom ski boot fitting, Michel is the famous one. It’s fair to say that the design of ski boots makes it impossible to judge whether they fit you correctly - or not. Adjustment, fine tuning, shaping and stretching is often required on the actual boot, before you even get started on your custom insole. At Caribou Sports Michel, Sebastian and their team use the much-coveted but rare Fischer ski boot fitting method, which allows the plastic hull to be moulded to your feet. “Fischer are by far the experts in this field,” Sebastian explains. “Our machine is one of only six in France.” Can it be true that investing in a personalised fit for your ski boots will improve your comfort and performance on the slopes? 3.7 million pairs of ski boots were sold globally during the 2018/2019 winter season, packed inside were identical (usually black) foam insoles; standard, pre-moulded foot beds for the average foot. But there is no average foot. If we consider the ways in which two pairs of feet may vary - in length, width, arch height to name just a few, it seems crazy to imagine that these stock insoles might ever suit your feet - or anyone elses for that matter. Welcome to the world of custom insoles. Here’s the science bit. Custom insoles better support your feet in your ski boots. A better supported foot suffers less from fatigue as you spend your days smashing fresh powder in Avoriaz or piste bashing on Pleney. Custom insoles also stabilise your foot, reducing movement inside 60
the perfect ski boots
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