Recommend me a pair of all mountain boots?

quixotic

quixotic

Active member
Right now I'm rocking six year old salomon SPK's. They are packed the fuck out and softer than wet noodles. I'm looking for a boot that is stiff enough to crush hard pack and have quick response times with my skis in powder, but still with a little bit of give for in the park. I have a pretty wide foot so if you know of wider models that fit the description let me know!

tl;dr: 6 year old wet noodle boots, want stiffer yet with a little give all mountain boots that fit fat feet
 
There is no way that you have 6700 posts and are asking what fucking boots you should be in. There is, and always will be, only one answer to this question no matter how many times it is asked. GO TO A BOOTFITTER!
 
Clearly I can pick out a boot. I guess asking what has worked well for other people and gathering a general concensus on top of me doing my own research and talking with people at stores before I spend ~$500 I earned at $8.25 an hour as a Lifty is a terrible thing to do and I should feel bad. I'm deeply sorry AJizzle. Won't happen again.
 
don't go to a fitter with a pre-concieved notion of what boot you are looking for. You should know that too.
 
Well FT morrisons. Or some other boots. I have only liked my FTs all of the other boots I have had I hated them. I really like my brothers boots which are Atomic HAWX 80s. Solid boot, but shit liners.
 
I guess that came across harsh, but other people's opinions and experiences have nothing to do with what boot you should ski in. You should not be the one "picking out a new boot". If you want to put your money to good use, do reasearch on who is the best bootfitter in your area, not random shit about different models if boot, take your money to the bootfitter and have them do a full proper fit. Start out with them building a custom insole, then selecting a boot for your foot, lower leg and lower leg mechanics. Have them do whatever work is necessary before you ski in it. It may not feel perfect immediately, but they will explain exactly what you need done, then fit the boot before skiing in it. Ask lots of questions so you understand what is going on, and why you are in a specific boot. Don't waste you hard earned money by going in to a non-specialty store with a preconceived notion of what you want and just trying boots on until you find what you think is good. You are wayyyyyy more likely to have serious issues that way, and you will not reap the benefit of a proper custom orthodic (which is necessary in nearly all cases).
 
Absolutely agree, but I can also support OP because I had a great fitted boot (despite being only a tad too big) and I had everything done that needed to be done to the boots and I loved the boots for the first 2 months of skiing, but then all of a sudden I had problems with the boots that I cannot even explain or rather feel like explaining. Either way, I don't think its a bad idea to do research and just get a good idea of quality products because it may not alwyas work out the way you want.
 
Your boot would have not been working out for you because of a fit issue though. If they felt good for a couple of mint but then just packe out an felt shit it means the fitter do not do a great job. To avoid this you could have researched the best fitters around and researched what garentees shops offer. This would have been more usefull then researching what liner a particular boot uses.
 
I can promise he is one of the best fitters I have ever had, and that is saying a lot. It isn't that he did a bad job because I would go in after every problem would arise then he would fix it but more problems would come up. The boots were physically falling apart and breaking. The liners had packed out, but in a strange way that I have never seen before. I got them warranteed because the boots were that fucked up from defects. THey were 100% the boots and the fitter did an amazing job helping me cope for as long as I did. It might just be me but it seems a little insensitive to say that he was bad and that I should find another bootfitter when I said that fitting wasnt the problem.
 
It certainly sounds like he was helping so that is good. What was actually wrong with th boots out of interest. I have never seen a boot which had to be warrantied due to fit issues. And sorry if it sounds harsh but generally fit issues will be the fault of the fitter so it's a natural assumption.
 
When I first bought them, they were stiffer than I was used to, but that was what I wanted. I liked how stiff they were (Head Caddy 2013)and I loved everything about them. I had a few minor hotspots that were addressed before first use and canting and such. Everything was going great even with hiking rails hundreds of times in the preseason. they continued to feel solid and comfortable and had amazing performance until I injured my back.

Anyway, After a week out from skiing, I came back and my boots had suddenly become insanely stiff. My dad could barely flex them (boots were rated to 90-110? but felt like 110 more of the time)I just assumed that it was because of the lack of use, so I just dealt with it.

Soon after, the boots started to pack out unbelievably fast. I have never had a boot pack out so much. The once plush and warm liner had become as thin as a piece of cardboard and had a very unusual feel to it, almost like its characteristics changed. Again, I am not sure what exactly happened or how to explain it. All I know is that it was abnormal. Then because of the liner, my fit had completely vanished. My foot was sliding WITH MY FOOTBED inside my boot. It was like there was an antifriction device between the footbed and the boot that wasnt there before I was injured. All of this made me beleive that maybe the boot had warped while I had been injured. I guess it isnt completely unreasonable because I put my boots near a fire to dry, but the fire was never close to my boots.

All of this happened and I kept going in to get adjustments with shims and extra padding to fill space and such. Then out of nowhere my feet started feeling sharp pressure pain near the cuff bolt on both feet. I assume this was also from the packed out liner. All of this was happeneing though, with my boots being wayyy too stiff for me to handle comfortably (I had done a flex comparison with a few 130 flex race boots of various brands, and all of them were much softer than my boots). I really don't know what happened to the flex of the boot, and still don't.

All of this happened and I had to ice my shins everyday between ski days and when I was inside during comps. I couldn't take it, so my Bootfitter helped me find a few other possible alternatives. We picked up the Rossignol TMX 120(hot pink ones) and they were very nicely fitted with incredibly minimal adjustments, and even the flex was beautiful, but the sizes were just a little too big or a little to small for me, so I had to pass those up. Then I picked up some Nordica Firearrow's, But they were just not working out from even being in the Shop. I went on to some Lange's which I have a personal grudge for, so maybe I was just biased and did not enjoy them as well as Some Technica's. None of them worked. We had tried every boot that fit me of every brand he carried, but Nothing worked.

I ended up going with some fulltilts that I dreaded buying right off the bat and I knew they were going to suck almost as much as my Head's. Used the FT's for the rest of the season then sold them off and Found a pair of Nordica's that fit and that I love and I think I will use them for as long as possible.

I just got incredibly invested into this Sorry

Sparknotes:some mysterious occurrence happened to my boots and they wouldnt fit, tried on a shit ton of other boots, but nothing worked out. Finally this year, found some boots. I think OP is not out of place for asking to see user opinions
 
get fitted first, and if your foot matches the specs, shoot for a boot in the lange RX series. I have the 130's and they are amazing. lots of people dog on lange cuz of the fit, but mine feel like slippers, and the performance is top notch. I ski about 50/50 park and all mountain, too. they are real solid every where. I had the 120's last year, too. A bit softer flex than the 130's for sure but they killed it.
 
Ok all of that tells me that fitter is not quite as good as they think. Those head boots were too big for you. That is why they packed out and also why they appear to stiffen. When the liner was new all gaps would be filled so when you flexed you were pushin the shell directly. Once they packed out there was a gap between you and shell so you end up having to work harder to flex the boot.

So overall it's as I was trying to say before researching and finding the best fitters around will be more beneficial then researching particular boots.
 
I knew that the boots were too big I bought them that way to grow into which happened to a certain extent. Even now though when they fit very nicely as far as size, I have trouble flexing them. I have used other boots that were labeled to be much stiffer and I can flex those comfortably. I already understood this when I bought the boots because he told me that they will pack out and become much stiffer, but there was definitely a problem with the boots. I even tried on a pair of Head race boots labelled for 120 or so and I was fine in those.

I do understand what you are saying though. It is something that I had taken into account when I was buying a boot to grow into.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I also tried a different pair of the Caddy's and I could flex those like any other boot.
 
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