Need Bootfitting Advice - numbness

[Near Nyquist]

@bbinder You took the course. Who you gonna practice on if not Daria? Time to step up and own your new knowledge. Buy a couple three NOS boots and go to work. My two cents.

You stay in a holiday in express too
We are hiring, you just need to work 5 jobs simultaneously
To live in Silicon Valley
Or …
Stock options

 

[Near Nyquist]

@cem everything you say is true. I am just venting . Unfortunately we have tried the “book the weekend trip for bootfitting” thing in the past and were not successful. Of course that doesn’t mean we won’t be successful if we try that route again. I have just been on a long hard road with getting ski boots sorted for the women in my life. And I am frustrated. So sending Daria to KG for a week is very tempting.

Drop her off with @KingGrump for a month
He needs construction help
Can she swing a hammer ?

 

[KingGrump]

She will probably take only occasional day trips during December and January, and then spend 2-3 weeks with us in Sandy Utah (working remotely and skiing most days). We will probably spend most of our time at Alta.

I will be happy to lend her to you so that you can offer that eloquent advise.

Your boot fitter is in Vermont, right? We have already done the drive 3 hours to Vermont to see the master boot fitter for new boots. The drives back and forth for tweaks were ... discouraging and tiring. Perhaps I will lend her to you to stay with you while she gets the boots sorted out. She is pretty good company, but doesn't really cook or clean.

Thanks for the offer of another indentured servant. However, we already have enough to fully staff the cleaning crew. BTW, I do most of the cooking. No help required there.

There are many good boot fitters in the NE. Our routine is to start and finish the entire fitting process with the same guy. A new guy introduce in the midst of the process generally will set thing back quite a bit.

I have just been on a long hard road with getting ski boots sorted for the women in my life. And I am frustrated. So sending Daria to KG for a week is very tempting.

Sounds like a plan.
If Daria doesn't mind hanging out with bunch of old people. She could stay with us if she doesn't mind slumming it. She can get her own lodging if that is her preference. We are 4 miles from the Stratton access road.

We usually ski Stratton in December. If the snow is good, we'll get up to Killington with the Ikon.

Usually we get our boots in late September or early October. Go up in December to dial it in.
Startingate and GMOL is 5 minute away. Nick Blaylock at Mount Snow is about 30 minutes.
Startingate is a Authorized Atomic boot dealer. They fit lots of the boots for the Stratton Mountain School racers.

Both Mamie and I used to belong on the list of difficult to fit ski boot people. I remembered Greg Hoffmann used to go, "Uh oh, Mamie is here again." It used to take about 10 or more passes before our boots are acceptable. Now, with heat molding, It's one and done. Sometimes a minor tweak is required after couple days of skiing. Sometimes not.

 

[Tony S]

Thanks for the offer of another indentured servant. However, we already have enough to fully staff the cleaning crew. BTW, I do most of the cooking. No help required there.

There are many good boot fitters in the NE. Our routine is to start and finish the entire fitting process with the same guy. A new guy introduce in the midst of the process generally will set thing back quite a bit.



Sounds like a plan.
If Daria doesn't mind hanging out with bunch of old people. She could stay with us if she doesn't mind slumming it. She can get her own lodging if that is her preference. We are 4 miles from the Stratton access road.

We usually ski Stratton in December. If the snow is good, we'll get up to Killington with the Ikon.

Usually we get our boots in late September or early October. Go up in December to dial it in.
Startingate and GMOL is 5 minute away. Nick Blaylock at Mount Snow is about 30 minutes.
Startingate is a Authorized Atomic boot dealer. They fit lots of the boots for the Stratton Mountain School racers.

Both Mamie and I used to belong on the list of difficult to fit ski boot people. I remembered Greg Hoffmann used to go, "Uh oh, Mamie is here again." It used to take about 10 or more passes before our boots are acceptable. Now, with heat molding, It's one and done. Sometimes a minor tweak is required after couple days of skiing. Sometimes not.

There is an opportunity for some documentary filmmaking here.

Or even just radio.

I'm messaging Ira Glass right now.

 

[DebbieSue]

Bumping this thread because my daughter Daria has decided to start from scratch with ski boots. And she wants me to help her. Anyone familiar with the women in my life knows that I am probably having an incredible case of deja-vu right about now.

I know what I need to do: a) find a talented bootfitter who is willing to work with her and her idiosyncrasies, and b) work with that bootfitter until things are right for her.

After last winter when she spent a couple of weeks with us when we were in Utah, I think that she needs to buy a boot near where she will ski, because I sense that she will need more than the average amount of tweaks to get the fit she wants. The problem is that living in Boston and having limited time for skiing on the east coast makes this less than convenient for her. And that assumes that we can fulfill the items mentioned in a) and b) above.

Since we plan to be out in Utah again this winter, it would tempting to wait until she comes out to visit us to begin this search. But I worry about the availability of stock when we arrive in February. Part of me is encouraging her to take a weekend trip to Alta in November and work with the bootfitter at Alta who was patient, seemed to know what he was doing, and helped her as much as he could with her current boots. But then: possibly swollen feet after a plane ride and arriving at altitude, etc. and so on.

I guess that I am just venting here. Comments/suggestions are welcome, but not expected. I know what she needs to do, and she needs to commit to doing it.

I have had GREAT experience with Dylan at SkiMonster in Boston, tweaking my NOS boots worn off the shelf for several years at rate of 8-10 days/year. He listened a lot. I was very specific in reporting my issues (complaints). New footbeds and small heel lifts utterly solved my outer 2 toes numbness (my diagnosis: peroneal nerve/vessel compression). Only used chemical heaters 2 days during this rather cold winter, and numbness, tingling, reentry problems all gone. I returned this year because instructor said I need less recreational boot even though I'm in 100 flex tecnica. I was ready to move to Speedmachine, Mach 1, Atomic etc etc. Seems there was space in the cuff (astutely identified by @LiquidFeet). He could've sold me new boots, but advised moving buckles on the cuff to tighten, as the boots were "otherwise appropriate" . . . duh!!! I guess the cuffs packed out a bit after 80days. I'll ski on them at Xmas and if not happy, then I'll buy new boots . . . from him. He is a co-owner, and salesperson, and it seems, bootfitter. Is it easy for her to get in to SkiMonster over by Boston Garden/TD Garden? All visits are appt only! You can book specifically with Dylan.

 

[bbinder]

I decided to purchase a pair of mimic professional liners for myself. Calling around at local shops, I found a number of shops that said something like: "sure,we'll do it - just find a pair and bring them in. The process can't be any different than foaming other boots". I ended up expanding my search and Roger's Ski and Sport in Lincoln, NH was quite knowledgeable about these liners. It was reassuring that they fit a number of racers and carried a lot of boots with 98 last or narrower. When Daria found that I was going to go up there she asked to come along and see if they could fit her. So we made an appointment for the two of us. It was interesting to see that when we arrived at the shop most of the boot fitters and employees were middle aged and/or mature adults. And instead of doing the fitting myself as @Tony S suggested, I could sit back and see if the fitter was doing the right things - so I guess that I used my expertise after all. We gave John (the fitter we worked with) Daria's entire tale of woe and he looked at her feet and the old boots and liners.

She tried on a number of boots including one race boot (Atomic redster STI - he didn't have any CS models in stock). Most felt OK, and she felt that the STI would have worked but would need some work, but she felt that the overall fit (secure, very snug,and and relatively comfortable) was in the Atomic Hawx Ultra 115W. She went back and forth for quite a while and even put her old boots back on (almost immediate numbness underfoot with too much room perceived over the instep). I think that she was not trusting that a boot could be very snug without being painful, but she eventually decided to buy that boot. She purposely bought the Mimic liner version and not the Professional, so if there are fir issues in the future she will have more options. At least if she has issues after skiing them, Lincoln is closer than Stratton or Stowe.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I used to have numbness in my 2 right toes in my right foot when I had my rossi boots. I got the rossi boots from Nick Blaylock at Mount Snow. I ended up having foot surgery as I had a pesty metatarsal issue on that right foot. Now I'm in some technicas fitted from Toren at Totem Pole in Ludlow and my feet actually sing in happiness every time I ski.

The right boot is worth every penny it costs.