Local
2 February 2010, 13:31
Did a search on boot fitting, no matches. Thought I'd make a post about this since I only learned about this process myself recently.
I've been snowboarding for about 8 years now and my number one complaint was always heel lift when toe siding and foot pain after a few hours of boarding. Most of my gear was hand me downs so I always chalked it up to slightly improper fit.
I tried all kinds of things, putting an ankle sock over my Burton socks to increase the size of the bottom of my foot, i tried adding dr. scholes foot beds to my boots and all kinds of tight v. loose tying configurations for the inside boot liner and outside straps. I thought my mods were making a difference but I still felt held back by feel and fit of my boots.
Recently on a trip to the white mountains a friend of mine that had spent a year in vale as a ski instructor mentioned going to a specialized boot fitter and told me how much a difference it made for him.
Low and behold, there is actually a "school of boot fitters" and "ABB Approved boot fitters" (See link). (http://www.bootfitters.com/) I was very intrigued.
Finally I manned up and bought a pair of Burton Ion's from last year, finally in about the right size for my foot. After getting them I went straight to the wilderness house on com ave to see a guy named Dexter. He's not an ABB approved fitter but there isn't exactly one close to me - and he had some excellent reviews from people I trusted.
The whole process for fitting snowboarding boots is much less involved than it is for ski boots - where they go as far as to heat mold the plastic ski boot around your toes / calfs and some places much farther. No matter what you ride though, proper fitting boots are the key to sking or boarding pain free and getting as much feel as possible out of your ski or board.
The first step was custom foot beds. Some shops will reccomend A-line inserts, and they are about half as expensive (60 vs 140) as a full custom job but they felt wrong for my arch and I've read a bunch of bad reviews about them online.
I went the full custom route which takes a mold of your foot, and creates the foot pad around your exact foot for proper arch support and heel cup.
I added some padding inside the boot, under the toes in between the boot and the liner. Slightly less padding on the left side as my left food is larger than my right.
Slightly more padding was added right over the instep on the outside of the liner to keep the heel down
finally, inside the liner we added two L-shaped pads to create a vice grip over the achillies tendon. Getting these placed properly so that they didn't hurt when the boot was tightened all the way seemed to be the hardest part but man my foot felt locked in tighter than I'd ever felt before. I was worried they would rub my skin off through the sock, but since there is no up and down movement against them (except when you take on and off your boots) there is no rub. 5 hours of boarding and my ankles weren't even red.
I got home, and every night for a week I'd put my Burton socks on and walk around my building in my boots doing lunges. I admit I got some odd looks.
I finally got to try them out on sunday at Sunapee mountain in NH.... and all I can say is WOW.
I had to re-adjust my whole style of riding. I've never been able to make such minute weight adjustments and have such and effect on the board. My feet were locked in like never before - and ZERO pain. It was like going from shaving with a dull rock to a Gillette razor. I couldn't be more happy.
Many times I found myself in situations were I would have gone down before but was able to stay up through control of the board I never had before - particularly in the park or jumping off drop offs. Tight carving was simply a matter of very small weight changes.
Total cost was just under $150 + tip for the amount of time the boot fitter spent with me - and it changed snowboarding for me.
If you enjoy winter sports but suffer from pain or feel like you don't have as much control as you might want I highly suggest finding a well respected boot fitter in your area and paying him a visit. Nothing has made this much a difference for me in my enjoyment and ability in the sport.
For reference I ride a shaun white park board, 2007 Cartel low back bindings (impossible to find low back bindings anymore but I wouldn't ride anything else) Burton Ion boots and a Bear lined helmet.
Couldn't be happier on the trails and looking forward to Switzerland.
- Local
I've been snowboarding for about 8 years now and my number one complaint was always heel lift when toe siding and foot pain after a few hours of boarding. Most of my gear was hand me downs so I always chalked it up to slightly improper fit.
I tried all kinds of things, putting an ankle sock over my Burton socks to increase the size of the bottom of my foot, i tried adding dr. scholes foot beds to my boots and all kinds of tight v. loose tying configurations for the inside boot liner and outside straps. I thought my mods were making a difference but I still felt held back by feel and fit of my boots.
Recently on a trip to the white mountains a friend of mine that had spent a year in vale as a ski instructor mentioned going to a specialized boot fitter and told me how much a difference it made for him.
Low and behold, there is actually a "school of boot fitters" and "ABB Approved boot fitters" (See link). (http://www.bootfitters.com/) I was very intrigued.
Finally I manned up and bought a pair of Burton Ion's from last year, finally in about the right size for my foot. After getting them I went straight to the wilderness house on com ave to see a guy named Dexter. He's not an ABB approved fitter but there isn't exactly one close to me - and he had some excellent reviews from people I trusted.
The whole process for fitting snowboarding boots is much less involved than it is for ski boots - where they go as far as to heat mold the plastic ski boot around your toes / calfs and some places much farther. No matter what you ride though, proper fitting boots are the key to sking or boarding pain free and getting as much feel as possible out of your ski or board.
The first step was custom foot beds. Some shops will reccomend A-line inserts, and they are about half as expensive (60 vs 140) as a full custom job but they felt wrong for my arch and I've read a bunch of bad reviews about them online.
I went the full custom route which takes a mold of your foot, and creates the foot pad around your exact foot for proper arch support and heel cup.
I added some padding inside the boot, under the toes in between the boot and the liner. Slightly less padding on the left side as my left food is larger than my right.
Slightly more padding was added right over the instep on the outside of the liner to keep the heel down
finally, inside the liner we added two L-shaped pads to create a vice grip over the achillies tendon. Getting these placed properly so that they didn't hurt when the boot was tightened all the way seemed to be the hardest part but man my foot felt locked in tighter than I'd ever felt before. I was worried they would rub my skin off through the sock, but since there is no up and down movement against them (except when you take on and off your boots) there is no rub. 5 hours of boarding and my ankles weren't even red.
I got home, and every night for a week I'd put my Burton socks on and walk around my building in my boots doing lunges. I admit I got some odd looks.
I finally got to try them out on sunday at Sunapee mountain in NH.... and all I can say is WOW.
I had to re-adjust my whole style of riding. I've never been able to make such minute weight adjustments and have such and effect on the board. My feet were locked in like never before - and ZERO pain. It was like going from shaving with a dull rock to a Gillette razor. I couldn't be more happy.
Many times I found myself in situations were I would have gone down before but was able to stay up through control of the board I never had before - particularly in the park or jumping off drop offs. Tight carving was simply a matter of very small weight changes.
Total cost was just under $150 + tip for the amount of time the boot fitter spent with me - and it changed snowboarding for me.
If you enjoy winter sports but suffer from pain or feel like you don't have as much control as you might want I highly suggest finding a well respected boot fitter in your area and paying him a visit. Nothing has made this much a difference for me in my enjoyment and ability in the sport.
For reference I ride a shaun white park board, 2007 Cartel low back bindings (impossible to find low back bindings anymore but I wouldn't ride anything else) Burton Ion boots and a Bear lined helmet.
Couldn't be happier on the trails and looking forward to Switzerland.
- Local