The boot thread

[bksdds]

@benjinyc My right foot is longer than my left (downsized to 11). 1st large toe was crammed, but I feel the boots do pack out a little, but I have not experienced what coleslawed describes yet regarding K2. Take a look into surefoot insoles if you can. They're the lowest profile insoles I own so far that provide equal arch support like other brands such as remind or sidas. Right foot large toe is not jammed, especially when turning. I wish i could run reminds, but they take up too much volume and create weird painful hotspots.

[unsuspected]

Found a new pair Infuses on FB for cheap in my size so had to try them on and they fitted. Vans has really changed their fit, before I could barely put my feet in and then pressure pain immediately. Similar fit to my Adidas, toe box is minimally narrower but a bit longer. Heel hold feels pretty same as well. One hotspot on top of the foot, nothing some heat molding and boot fitting won't solve.
Bought them but then I realized Im a double boa guy because Im lazy so have to try the Verse and maybe sell the infuses.

IMG_2590.jpeg (3.38 MiB) Viewed 1625 times

[unsuspected]

Only downsize is that Vans hare a 1cm longer footprint.

[jota]

Found a new pair Infuses on FB for cheap in my size so had to try them on and they fitted. Vans has really changed their fit, before I could barely put my feet in and then pressure pain immediately. Similar fit to my Adidas, toe box is minimally narrower but a bit longer. Heel hold feels pretty same as well. One hotspot on top of the foot, nothing some heat molding and boot fitting won't solve.
Bought them but then I realized Im a double boa guy because Im lazy so have to try the Verse and maybe sell the infuses.
IMG_2590.jpeg

you can try to change the insoles. It has been a huge improvement for me

[tracer]

Anyone have experience/hot-takes on the Rome Libertine boots (or Rome boots generally)?

[kimchi]

Quick update on below, I got Acerras out for summer shred at Mammoth. I liked riding slush a LOT more in stiffer boots. Helped a ton powering out of slush bumps and sudden slowdowns, and saved a lot of effort in the legs. I think my overall takeaway from these boots is the worse I expect snow quality to be, the stiffer the boot I'll enjoy.

I wish I'd bought a backup Acerra in 10. I saw a set on eBay a couple months ago and planned to pull the trigger after I found a new job and income stream... now out of stock so I'll have to keep eye out.

I picked up a pair of barely used Adidas Acerras last off-season and finally got them to snow. Hadn't ridden a "stiff" (~8/10) boot inbounds in 10+ years, been on more like 6/10 boots like the Tactical. The Acerra's shin/calf height is also about 15-20 mm higher than the Tactical.

This was my first opportunity ever to test out two boots of different flex that fit equally well. I liked the stiffer flex more in some ways, less in others. More comfort and precision railing high speed turns, less heelside jutter, and powered out of a few iffy turns I might have fallen. But less feel, less fun at moderate speeds, and especially less fine-tuned ankle control. On Acerras I focused almost exclusively on fore-aft weight distribution, whereas on Tacticals I have added dimension of more ankle articulation.

Pretty standard, but like I said my first chance to test out these principles with boots that fit the same. In a perfect world I'd basically mix the two boots and end up with a single quiver boot: traditional laces, taller boot height of the Acerra, dial back the flex a bit to 7/10.

As is, I'll swap between the two boots depending on conditions. Probably 80% of days on the Tactical, especially in pow and on more crowded days when I don't feel safe going too fast. But Acerra on harder charging days with gnarlier objectives. I liked the Acerra enough that I'm going to try to track down one last set in addition to the spare Tactical Lexicons chilling in my basement.

I didn't mind BOA too much. I still prefer traditional laces, but Acerras these made me more open to BOA for non-backcountry boots. Maybe my opinion changes when I face my first on-mountain failure (and knowing me, only a matter of time lol).

[Vanni]

So, I finally brought my boots (Salomon HiFi) to a ski service, to do some boot fitting.
It was my first time, doing it.
The things I needed was to make a little more room in toes area (since I started wearing barefoot shoes, like I said in Creature Comforts 3d, my feet have grown in width and (a little bit) in lenght), and to fix the hankle area of the boots.
I have really skinny ankles, and even with Salomon boots, that are really narrow, sometimes my heels rise in the boots.

They made room for my toes, and I'm really happy with the results, but with the hankle - malleolus area I thought to fix, they would add a sheet of fitting foam on the external of the liner, but they opted instead to add a 4mm wedge under the heel, and to put a new insole on top of that. So, in this case, they removed some space in height in the boot, so the feet and ankles are placed higher in boots and they should stay locked better.
Is it a good solution? Is it a common practice?
Because in your boot fitting, through the years, I think I only saw you put some foam around ankle area.

thanks!

[jota]

So, I finally brought my boots (Salomon HiFi) to a ski service, to do some boot fitting.
It was my first time, doing it.
The things I needed was to make a little more room in toes area (since I started wearing barefoot shoes, like I said in Creature Comforts 3d, my feet have grown in width and (a little bit) in lenght), and to fix the hankle area of the boots.
I have really skinny ankles, and even with Salomon boots, that are really narrow, sometimes my heels rise in the boots.

They made room for my toes, and I'm really happy with the results, but with the hankle - malleolus area I thought to fix, they would add a sheet of fitting foam on the external of the liner, but they opted instead to add a 4mm wedge under the heel, and to put a new insole on top of that. So, in this case, they removed some space in height in the boot, so the feet and ankles are placed higher in boots and they should stay locked better.
Is it a good solution? Is it a common practice?
Because in your boot fitting, through the years, I think I only saw you put some foam around ankle area.

thanks!

I like to feel flat feet when I ride straight. If you put a wedge what you do is increase the drop of your boot. It's up to you, but I like to feel flat feet, otherwise it's like going on tiptoe. In my 32 large I put foam under the tongue but it didn't work very well. Currently, many boot brands seek to prevent the ankle from moving by squeezing the instep instead of squeezing the Achilles heel.
They made the same but increasing the drop

[eleveneightnate]

So, I finally brought my boots (Salomon HiFi) to a ski service, to do some boot fitting.
It was my first time, doing it.
The things I needed was to make a little more room in toes area (since I started wearing barefoot shoes, like I said in Creature Comforts 3d, my feet have grown in width and (a little bit) in lenght), and to fix the hankle area of the boots.
I have really skinny ankles, and even with Salomon boots, that are really narrow, sometimes my heels rise in the boots.

They made room for my toes, and I'm really happy with the results, but with the hankle - malleolus area I thought to fix, they would add a sheet of fitting foam on the external of the liner, but they opted instead to add a 4mm wedge under the heel, and to put a new insole on top of that. So, in this case, they removed some space in height in the boot, so the feet and ankles are placed higher in boots and they should stay locked better.
Is it a good solution? Is it a common practice?
Because in your boot fitting, through the years, I think I only saw you put some foam around ankle area.

thanks!

Personally, I don't like a noticeable drop in my boots like that. You should get the Tognar C foam inserts that attach to the outside of your liner, they'll take up that excess space and lock your ankle in nicely.

[Blessed420]

tognars are pretty thin, would try out burton j bars first, as getting them from sweden costs like 5$ and few tognar things cost about 30-40$