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I need the best boot fitter in the northeast!

Ndpitch

Booting up
Skier
Joined
Jan 24, 2023
Posts
7
Location
Boston
Long story short, I’ve been skiing with painful feet for 30 years. I’m always the guy that is a buzzkill because he has to go inside to take off his boots to let his feet stop hurting. Been through many pairs of boots. I have wide feet and they’ve always been an issue for me.

At 36 years old I made the decision last year to try to put the issue to bed for good. Went to Surefoot in Killington, VT. Dropped a LOT of coin on their boots. They measured me up in some Lange’s and went through their whole custom fit process. They seemed like they knew what they were doing? After a few return trips all the way up there for adjustments (I’m in the Boston area) and they’re still not right. Had to quit after 3 runs at Wildcat in NH because my foot cramping and numbness was unbearable. Heard similar stories from others that tried Surefoot. I don’t want to waste time going back up there for adjustment after adjustment. The whole point was going once to trust their “no break in period” guarantee. I might just cut my losses with them.

Is there any other better option around? Does anyone know a specific person somewhere in the northeast, either in the Boston area or the North Conway NH area that can fit a boot based off the symptoms you have, and knows what they’re doing? I’ll try anything at this point to try to get boots that allow me to ski pain free. We ski in the Conway area. One recommendation I had was Stan and Dan’s. There’s another guy named Tink who works at Sport Thoma by Attitash that I’ve heard is good. Open to any recommendations for someone who knows the anatomy of the foot and how to fit it to a boot well. Thanks!
 

surfsnowgirl

Instructor
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May 12, 2016
Posts
5,765
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Magic Mountain, Vermont
Torin at Totem Pole in Ludlow, VT is the man. I've a history of issues with my feet, mainly my larger right foot. Torin is a pedorthist in addition to being a bootfitter. He's the first true bootfitter I've been to that makes my ski boots almost "comfortable". I can now ski all day and don't have to unbuckle or take a boot off at lunch. @MissySki Referred me to him. He's amazing.
 

MissySki

Rogue Assassin of Bad Puns.
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Torin at Totem Pole in Ludlow, VT is the man. I've a history of issues with my feet, mainly my larger right foot. Torin is a pedorthist in addition to being a bootfitter. He's the first true bootfitter I've been to that makes my ski boots almost "comfortable". I can now ski all day and don't have to unbuckle or take a boot off at lunch. @MissySki Referred me to him. He's amazing.
Same experience here. I’ve been going to Torin for probably a decade now. He always made boots I bought from others pain free after they couldn’t. Then I finally bought a new pair from him last season, and same deal from the get go. He knows my feet (wide forefoot, skinny and super low volume everything else, hyper flexible joints) and which adjustments I need. Mostly it is putting me in an aggressive fit in a very low volume boot and making appropriate room for my forefoot width and other boot specific tweaks as needed. Sounds simple, but every other place I’ve ever gone has done the exact opposite of what he does in that regard and would leave me in almost unbearable pain. I even had bone growth in the “sixth toe” area due to a previous incompetent fitter I used who made me feel like I just had to deal with the pain because there was nothing else to be done. I know better now thankfully.

He’s right near Okemo, I live in MA and ski at Sunday River in Maine.. so definitely not convenient, but I don’t trust anyone else with my feet now and he is well worth the travel when needed.

I’ve heard good things about Stan and Dan’s too.. so might also be worth a shot since that is close to where you ski. No personal experience with them though.
 

Phatboy64

Booting up
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Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Posts
64
I have been to a lot of boot fitters in the NE over the years and I recommend going to Rogers in Lincoln NH.
 

KevinF

Gathermeister-New England
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Nov 12, 2015
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3,345
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New England
I’ll throw out a recommendation for Paul Richelson at Feet First in Plymouth, NH.

Race Stock Sports in Waterbury, VT is also good.
 

zircon

Out on the slopes
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Feb 23, 2018
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802
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I can’t believe it’s not England!
At the risk of everyone just recommending the bootfitter they personally use… Adam Greenier at Sport Thoma (I think he’s in Lincoln, NH 2 days and Bethel, ME 2 days). He’s a L3 instructor as well as a pedorthist.

After being told by two different shops (one of which was a well respected bootfitter) that my previous boots were “the right boot,” he got me into a boot that fit and actually listened when I talked about what I was feeling and what I needed.

Edit: I ski mostly in Vermont these days but return to Lincoln for boot things and a tune I trust.
 

nemesis256

Patrick
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Apr 25, 2017
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North Conway, NH
At the risk of everyone just recommending the bootfitter they personally use… Adam Greenier at Sport Thoma (I think he’s in Lincoln, NH 2 days and Bethel, ME 2 days). He’s a L3 instructor as well as a pedorthist.

After being told by two different shops (one of which was a well respected bootfitter) that my previous boots were “the right boot,” he got me into a boot that fit and actually listened when I talked about what I was feeling and what I needed.

Edit: I ski mostly in Vermont these days but return to Lincoln for boot things and a tune I trust.
This is also who I went to several years ago. Highly recommended. He does/did Zipfit liners if you're after that too.
 

bbinder

Making fresh tracks
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We had a good experience at Roger’s in Lincoln, NH. John fit my daughter in boots and me in mimic professional liners. Daughter had similar problems as you with her previous boots (which were fit by another boot fitter who had a previous stellar rep). Two things that I especially liked about the shop: they fit a lot of racers and have a big stock of boots especially in narrower widths; many of their employees were somewhat older and more experienced than many shops I have been in.

A lot of good recommendations in this thread. My two cents: educate yourself on what a good fit is and what that might mean for your foot, and listen to your gut when getting fitted and being told things that don’t feel correct.
 

cantunamunch

Meh
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Nov 17, 2015
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21,888
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Behavioral sink
A lot of good recommendations in this thread. My two cents: educate yourself on what a good fit is and what that might mean for your foot, and listen to your gut when getting fitted and being told things that don’t feel correct.

QFT. Especially for someone coming out of the Surefoot 'process'.

Going to 'the best' after that might feel like a process let-down? And OP very definitely needs to be able to give a high level of feedback to the fitter.
 

markdel

In the parking lot (formerly "At the base lodge")
Skier
Joined
Feb 23, 2022
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5
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Boston
Another vote for Paul Richelson at Feet First. He's also got a shop in Bow and he's there a couple days a week.
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
Instructor
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Nov 12, 2015
Posts
6,697
Location
New England
Long story short, I’ve been skiing with painful feet for 30 years. I’m always the guy that is a buzzkill because he has to go inside to take off his boots to let his feet stop hurting. Been through many pairs of boots. I have wide feet and they’ve always been an issue for me.

At 36 years old I made the decision last year to try to put the issue to bed for good. Went to Surefoot in Killington, VT. Dropped a LOT of coin on their boots. They measured me up in some Lange’s and went through their whole custom fit process. They seemed like they knew what they were doing? After a few return trips all the way up there for adjustments (I’m in the Boston area) and they’re still not right. Had to quit after 3 runs at Wildcat in NH because my foot cramping and numbness was unbearable. Heard similar stories from others that tried Surefoot. I don’t want to waste time going back up there for adjustment after adjustment. The whole point was going once to trust their “no break in period” guarantee. I might just cut my losses with them.

Is there any other better option around? Does anyone know a specific person somewhere in the northeast, either in the Boston area or the North Conway NH area that can fit a boot based off the symptoms you have, and knows what they’re doing? I’ll try anything at this point to try to get boots that allow me to ski pain free. We ski in the Conway area. One recommendation I had was Stan and Dan’s. There’s another guy named Tink who works at Sport Thoma by Attitash that I’ve heard is good. Open to any recommendations for someone who knows the anatomy of the foot and how to fit it to a boot well. Thanks!
Go to Adam Grenier at Sport Thoma in Lincoln NH. It's on the other side of NH from North Conway.. Call first to make an appointment. He's the first and only bootfitter that got my boots right. He explains things carefully, evaluates your foot in depth, and takes a request for a performance fit seriously. Before finding Adam, I went to Richelson's, Roger's, The son of the owner fit me, can't remember his name), Stan and Dan's (Dan fit me once, as did Tink when he worked there; I bought two boots from them), and Bill Haight over in Vermont. I bought new boots from each of these people and had them fit and tweak them for me. All these boots ended up discarded after a season. Lots of seasons and $$ down the drain. But these guys get high recommendations consistently. I believe they are good bootfitters, just not for me. My feet are weird.

Adam grew up training as a racer. Then he coached race kids. He has instructed in the past and is a certified Level III instructor by PSIA. That's the highest cert level before going into examiner territory. At this point in his career he has made bootfitting his professional choice. He's a certified pedorthist, and he makes his own tools when the right one for the job can't be bought. He knows what he's doing.

Sport Thoma in Lincoln has a race room. Adam does the racer's boot fitting at the start of the season, then he works mostly with recreational skiers and the occasional racer. What a racer needs for a good performance fit can be a demanding challenge and Adam is the right guy to do this. He used these skills for recreational skiers.

I highly recommend him to anybody in the area. Call to make an appointment before going. Take your old boots, take your ski socks, and wear pants that you can roll up above your knees. Be ready to spend a couple of hours if necessary.

The shop is a good one too, and it carries a large selection of boots.
https://www.sportthoma.com
 
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Ndpitch

Booting up
Skier
Joined
Jan 24, 2023
Posts
7
Location
Boston
Go to Adam Grenier at Sport Thoma in Lincoln NH. It's on the other side of NH from North Conway.. Call first to make an appointment. He's the first and only bootfitter that got my boots right. He explains things carefully, evaluates your foot in depth, and takes a request for a performance fit seriously. Before finding Adam, I went to Richelson's, Roger's, The son of the owner fit me, can't remember his name), Stan and Dan's (Dan fit me once, as did Tink when he worked there; I bought two boots from them), and Bill Haight over in Vermont. I bought new boots from each of these people and had them fit and tweak them for me. All these boots ended up discarded after a season. Lots of seasons and $$ down the drain. But these guys get high recommendations consistently. I believe they are good bootfitters, just not for me. My feet are weird.

Adam grew up training as a racer. Then he coached race kids. He has instructed in the past and is a certified Level III instructor by PSIA. That's the highest cert level before going into examiner territory. At this point in his career he has made bootfitting his professional choice. He's a certified pedorthist, and he makes his own tools when the right one for the job can't be bought. He knows what he's doing.

Sport Thoma in Lincoln has a race room. Adam does the racer's boot fitting at the start of the season, then he works mostly with recreational skiers and the occasional racer. What a racer needs for a good performance fit can be a demanding challenge and Adam is the right guy to do this. He used these skills for recreational skiers.

I highly recommend him to anybody in the area. Call to make an appointment before going. Take your old boots, take your ski socks, and wear pants that you can roll up above your knees. Be ready to spend a couple of hours if necessary.

The shop is a good one too, and it carries a large selection of boots.
https://www.sportthoma.com
I’ve been to Sport Thoma. It’s right next to where we rent up there. I think Tink works there now as well. If Adam is the man, out of all the recommendations that would probably be the most convenient because it’s right across from where we stay.
 

Henry

Out on the slopes
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Joined
Sep 7, 2019
Posts
1,229
Location
Traveling in the great Northwest
Nd, could the problem be your feet and not the boots? Does any other footwear cause you discomfort? If you think this might be an avenue to explore, check with a good podiatrist.

If there is something odd about your feet, how about booking a ski trip to Utah, and before you go to the hill get some custom made boots from DaleBoot...or a Northeast outlet for them: https://daleboot.com/north-america/
https://daleboot.com/daleboot-technology/
 

no edge

Out on the slopes
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Joined
May 17, 2017
Posts
1,300
I think, without a doubt, Nick Blalock. He is near Mt Snow but on the state road not at Mt Snow. Call him or better send an email and give an explanation of what's going on with your feet/boots.
 

James

Out There
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Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,428
I wouldn’t totally dismiss Surefoot adjustments. You paid for it. You may ultimately move on, but at least trying to fix things you’ll learn something about the process. Best to get it skiable. Then in round 2, bring it to the next search. Your not the only one to go through this, Surefooot or not.

You are currently in “.the best guy” will fix it. The best guy for you may not be for someone else. If you know nothing, it’s hard to give feedback.

In the meantime, go to one of these others and get an assessment, what they’d do differently, what boot, blah blah. Maybe go to a couple and see what makes sense, who you might want to work with.
A little dart practice before throwing the final one.

Fwiw, there’s a lot of new boots coming out next season.
 
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