Buying ski boots isn’t like buying shoes. Your boots are your most important ski equipment, and they need to fit your feet very precisely to give you the performance and comfort you want on the slopes. It’s rare for a customer to find a great-fitting boot straight out of the box without needing any kind of customization.
If your boots are a good fit for both your skiing style and foot, your movements transfer to your skis much more smoothly, and your skiing becomes noticeably easier. All of your movements become more graceful and efficient. We know you already love skiing, but skiing on professionally fitted boots for the first time is something else — you just have to experience it.
To give you the best fit, Tygart Mountain Sports uses a thorough ski boot fitting process that takes all the details of your feet into account.
How Ski Boots Should Fit
There have been a tremendous amount of technological advances in skiing and ski boot manufacturing over the past decade. As a result, some of the old rules for boot fitting no longer apply. We ask you to keep an open mind during the boot fitting process, even if you already know a lot about ski boots.
The old-school approach to boot fitting was to cram skiers into the smallest boot possible to maximize power transfer to the skis. From there, shops would try to modify it enough for the skier to make it through the day. Today’s most advanced materials hadn’t been developed yet, and the “best” options of yesteryear weren’t always as comfortable as the new options.
While we can still do race fitting at Tygart Mountain Sports, we specialize in recreational boot fitting. Current-day recreational boot fitting focuses on all-day comfort. The goal is to make the everyday skier comfortable without sacrificing their ability to perform to their highest ability. We believe that if you’ve been forced to sacrifice comfort for performance, you’ve had a very unsuccessful boot fitting.
Regardless of what kind of skiing you do, you need a boot that fits your instep height, around the midfoot, and around the heel. Your foot shouldn’t be sliding around inside the boot while you’re on skis. A professional boot fitter can help you understand what to look for and check for potential issues.
The Ski Boot Fitting Process
1. Make an appointment.
A good boot fitting takes time. At Tygart Mountain Sports, we no longer offer walk-in boot fittings because they created a situation where the boot fitters felt like they needed to rush to keep customers from waiting a long time. That kind of pressure isn’t ideal for a proper fitting.
We want to make sure you have the proper time and attention for a great fitting without distractions. Once you arrive, your boot fitter dedicates 100% of their time to your fitting.
2. Let us measure your feet.
When we say “measure,” we don’t just mean using a ruler or trying on standard sizes. We use a Vandra digital foot scanning system to get an exact, 360-degree profile of your foot.
Your best fit depends on not just a length and width measurement, but also your heel shape, forefoot, instep, arch height, ankle wrap, and calf measurements. We also need to know your height and weight. All of this data allows us to give you a much more accurate fitting than you would get at another shop.
3. Tell us about your skiing.
Your best ski boot depends on the type of skiing you enjoy and how aggressively you ski. If you tend to do a lot of on-piste, trees, bumps, or park skiing, let us know.
Your past ski boot experiences inform the process, too. Your boot fitter will want to know what boots you currently use and what you like and dislike about them.
4. Talk with us about your options.
At this point, we start to advise you about how all of the information we’ve gathered will affect the fitting process. Your boot fitter will have a mental profile based on their years of experience and training, and they can show you some options that might work well for you.
In ski boot fitting, small details make a lot of difference. For instance, a high-volume boot like the Tecnica MACH1 HV 120 doesn’t necessarily have an especially high-volume instep area, so it’s often a better fit for customers who don’t need a lot of room for their instep.
Each of our boot fitters has intimate knowledge about how all of the ski boots in our inventory fit. We also have the ability to stretch boot shells and liners, grind out any hot spots, create room in instep areas, widen calf areas, pad loose areas, and make many other adjustments. That knowledge and technical ability allow us to make you comfortable in your boots while optimizing your performance and control.
5. Try on the boots that match your profile.
Now it’s time to try some boots on! We’ll usually have you try on the boot we’re most confident in first. In most cases, that first boot is a pretty good fit, but we always encourage trying on more pairs so you can have perspective. We’ll talk you through proper fitting and buckling procedures so you know what to look for.
We will never push you into a boot that isn’t right for you or that you’re not confident in. If we don’t have the right options in stock, we can either order the boot we think you need or recommend another shop in town that we work closely with. Our mission is to help customers get the best equipment for them, not just sell whatever we need to sell.
6. Get the right footbed.
We always recommend that you purchase a footbed for your boot. The standard footbeds that come with ski boots are typically paper thin, have zero support, and can actually end up having a detrimental effect on your fit. On top of that, most people do not have a truly neutral stance, and that needs to be accounted for if you’re going to have good performance.
If your footbed doesn’t support your stance, your feet or ankles will tip in (pronation) or out (supination). You won’t be as comfortable in your boots, and it will be harder to ski at your best.
After you choose your boots, we go over your footbed options. We offer everything from off-the-shelf, drop-in footbeds to completely custom orthotics we manufacture in-house. After you make your decision, we’ll create the footbed you need.
7. Set up a follow-up appointment if needed.
Depending on the modifications we make to the footbed, we may need to set up a follow-up appointment for a final fitting. You won’t need to wait long — in most cases, we can fit you in the next day. We will also fine-tune your ski bindings and ensure your skis are set for the new boot.
Why You Need Footbeds or Custom Orthotics
Your boot fitter’s main goal is to get you into a neutral (flat) stance in a properly fitting boot. You might not notice that your stance isn’t neutral when you’re walking, but it makes a big difference on skis.
Everyone has different anatomy, and 98% of people will never get the precisely neutral stance ideal for skiing without a footbed. If your feet aren’t neutral as you angulate your skis, you’re angulating at two different rates — one foot has to play “catch up” to the other.
A footbed lets you get a much more neutral stance so your feet can make angulations at the same rate. For many skiers, experiencing a neutral stance in a boot for the first time is a massive “ah ha!” moment. We often compare the experience to getting a long-needed alignment done on your car.
In extreme cases, we have the ability to change the angulation of your entire boot through a process called canting, where we perform a stance analysis and determine the correct angles for each foot. We then grind the boots to the correct angles and install new heel and toe lugs. Typically this process is reserved for racers or skiers with extreme stance imbalances.
What If You Have Foot, Ankle, or Knee Problems?
Here’s a little secret: everyone has “foot problems” of some kind. Everyone has differences in anatomy, and even the more serious problems aren’t as rare in skiers as you probably think. The right accommodations can make just about anyone comfortable in a ski boot.
A professional ski boot fitting can accommodate bunions, styloid issues, neuromas, and other issues, especially if you’re willing to invest in a custom footbed. We have the techniques to modify your boot and footbed as needed to place your feet properly.
Common Boot Fitting Mistakes
Mistake #1: Buying ski boots online or from a shop that doesn’t do fittings.
Ski boots need to be fitted in a way that shoes usually don’t. If you walk into a shop and the staff just asks for your shoe size, that’s a sign you should go somewhere else.
Getting professionally fitted boots helps you ski better and stay more comfortable throughout the day.
Mistake #2: Buying from non-professional boot fitters.
Professional boot fitting isn’t something you learn in a day. Boot fitters take a series of training courses and continuing education clinics and attend educational venues during the off season every year to stay up to date on boot material technologies, build construction, and other factors that affect fitting. Ideally, your boot fitter should have taken training clinics from multiple providers.
At Tygart Mountain Sports, we use a variety of education programs to stay up to date and often beta-test new boots from manufacturers. That typically means testing them to destruction, which is a lot of fun for us but also very educational. The process gives us a lot of insight into how different boots fit and wear.
Ski Boot Fitting at Tygart Mountain Sports
At Tygart Mountain Sports, our priority is making sure your ski boots fit you and your equipment stays in good shape. Since our staff don’t work on commission, there’s no incentive for them to sell boots that don’t fit you well. We don’t sell boots without giving you a proper fitting first.
When you buy a boot together with a footbed made for the boot, we guarantee the fit of the boot for life. That’s because we know you have been placed properly in the boot. If there are issues in the future, it will be easier to solve them if you’re starting from a neutral stance and a balanced base.
While we don’t allow returns after a boot has been modified, our thorough process and guarantee ensures you won’t want to. We go to enormous lengths to make sure you’re fitted properly and happy with your purchase.
If you love skiing, a professional boot fitting is worth the time. Call Tygart Mountain Sports for an appointment today at 802-228-5440 to get the best possible boots for your skiing.
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