Boot flex

J

Justyle

Member
I dont understand why everyone seems to think you want a soft boot for park. To my understanding, if your a good enough skier to rock a stiff boot, it will outperform a softer boot. From what i understand.. stiffer boot = easier butters, more control on rails because your foot is more secure so your feet dont move insider the boot and on landings you wont go thru the front of your boot. WHY would you want a soft boot for park??
 
its more comfortable and forgiving. a stiff boot does preform better, but in park it doesnt matter nearly as much; as long as you can buckle them down, you get a pretty good connection to your ski, and soft boots are actually easier for butters, from what i have found; you can get farther forward over the tips. but mainly, if you screw up a little bit, a softer boot is more forgiving, and allows more knee bend forward for those hard landings.
 
Your feet moving inside your boot has nothing to do with the flex. It has to do with the fit. And how did you accrue all these understandings? A lot of it is personal preference anyway. I like soft boots for the reasons stated above combined with the fact that I don't throw down very hard.
 
If you want the ideal flexing boot (for any style or condition), it ultimately has to match your weight, the range of motion in your ankle/Achilles tendon, and what stiffness you are used to. If your boot does not match any or all of those, you will have problems. The worst problem to have is a boot that is too stiff for you, as you will be constantly forced into the back seat and you'll be fighting the boot all day long. You solve this problem by getting your boot softened to the exact flex you need. If a boot is too soft for you, it will be unresponsive, cause you to work harder to make the same turn (or butter or press etc), and risk more shin bang since your leg is constantly moving back and forth. You solve this problem by stiffening your boot by adding rivets/screws that fix the cuff to the shell (far less tunable than softening a stiff boot).

For sure there are other problems associate with each extreme but the right flex allows for some forgiveness, but is responsive and stiff enough to do what you need it to do. And ideally, this appropriate boot flex should be selected based on your weight, range of motion, and what you are used to, not where you ski.
 
I like my park boots a litle softer because I think that you can hit jumps a little more stable. This is only my thory but When I used to have race boots It was really easy for the lips of jumps to kick me off in wierd directions. Where as my SPKs kinda absorb the lip instead of throwing you off balance. I also agree they are more forgiving to. From a racing background, Softer = more comfortable too
 
you'll know when you put some boots on and start flexing them. If you can't get your knee past your toes without jumping on the boot, it's probably too stiff for you. Conversely, if you flex forward and constantly bellow out the lower shell, it's probably too soft for you. Start at around 100 and go from there.
 
Ic, well i picked up some salomon ghosts, they're arround a 130 flex but i can pop some rivits out to drop the flex if need be, gonna try em out this weekend.. stoked
 
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