Feet Don’t Lie
With every new ski season, I’m treated to a parade of pedal extremities, a fresh flotilla of feet, a bonanza of bony protuberances and collapsed arches. That’s right, I actually look forward to the next lost soul who has found his or her way to my boot bench. I want...
How Not to Buy Ski Boots
Of all the nefarious practices in our little business, none is more inimical than a consumer shopping a website for price while extracting the vitally important technical expertise from a talented bootfitter. It’s like eating a five-star meal, then...
Fit the Whole Skier
We bootfitters are naturally obsessed with feet, but the best bootfitters don’t just fit feet; they fit the whole skier. The “whole skier” includes more than just a quick survey of the lower leg and how it’s connected to the foot. It’s even more than all of the skier’s physical attributes, which include not only height and weight, but seated posture, stance, kinesthetic wiring, arch health and stiffness throughout the kinetic chain; the whole skier also includes his or her history with the sport and, most importantly, what sort of skier he or she wants to be.
One of the most obvious traits about almost all boot customers is his or her gender. (Please forgive me if I don’t overcomplicate what should be a simple point about body type.) The first step in a sales process that consists of winnowing all possible boots down to one is picking from the pile of unisex boots or the alternative world of women’s boots.
No-brainer, right? Not so fast. What if a particular woman were tall, with a long tibia and a tapered calf? Let’s add to her profile that she’s a good athlete with a background in dance. Up to now, she’s only been an occasional skier who rented her gear, but a new beau has persuaded her to take a deeper dive. She already has her season pass.