Unbuckling boots for the lift ride

14364665:Session said:
My boots fit....so no.
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You can't get the full performance out of the boot unless you ski a 190 flex with the liners taken out and no socks.

**This post was edited on Dec 16th 2021 at 5:20:19pm
 
I usually ski lifts without a line so no. Also my feet feel just fine with my massive technica Mach 1 HV. I don’t even have booster straps(I should get some haha)
 
For me it's not so much circulation, but my feet just start to ache after enough skiing. Especially if I hike a rail for a while. Even in boots that fit me very well, it still happens just slower
 
Yeah I undo them every lift. And its not about having a good or bad fit, I assure you my boots fit well but I like them tight for skiing and there is zero point keeping them that tight on the lift. I loosen them up and let the blood flow more freely. Look at ski racers, first thing they do at the bottom of a run is undo all the buckles and that is not because of a bad fit.
 
14364682:tomPietrowski said:
Yeah I undo them every lift. And its not about having a good or bad fit, I assure you my boots fit well but I like them tight for skiing and there is zero point keeping them that tight on the lift. I loosen them up and let the blood flow more freely. Look at ski racers, first thing they do at the bottom of a run is undo all the buckles and that is not because of a bad fit.
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This is exactly what i do. I like having them pretty tight for each run but i dont see the point on keeping them that tight for a 7 minutes lift ride so I normally unbuckle so they dont start to hurt after a while
 
I tend to like a pretty snug fit if I am skiing seriously, and my toes will start to get cold from having the lower buckles that tight, so yeah. But I have kind of a routine of starting my day with the buckles just barely snug and stepping it up to the next notch after each run and then releasing them on the lift if it gets uncomfortable. Idk I’m weird about it
 
Depends on the day, usually not but sometimes if I’ve skied for like 3+ days in a row my shins will hurt or my soles will just from wrecking or landing hard continuously for those days.

a thing I noticed that if you don’t dry boots out enough between ski days then they’ll hurt more, no idea why but it is a trend.

my boot dryer broke so I had to go without for the beginning of this season and just take the liners out and use a tan or someshit
 
Yes. Every single time - unless I am hot lapping the park - I'll just go till my feet start to cramp up then take a small break.
 
Nope. Boots fit. If anything I buckle them down if they popped off during the run.

Bringing blood back into them is gonna make them swell and hurt even more

And racers wear boots way smaller then a normal skier would. Your feet fucking hurt.
 
Honesty, if i wanted to bend down and buckle something every time I got off the lift. I would just snowboard.
 
No I crank my boots mad tight so it’s a pain in the ass to tighten them every time I get off the lift
 
I always unbuckle for lift rides. I always crank my boots to buckle as tight as they'll go comfortably, but they definitely cut circulation if I leave them like that for long periods of time. I just like having the most control I can get, so yeah, unbuckling is a necessity.
 
Most people I ski with don't, but I do cuz I have weird and wide feet with one foot slightly wider than the other. Even with heat molded boots my feet start hurting after hours in boots.
 
14365070:Drail said:
Yes. Every single time - unless I am hot lapping the park - I'll just go till my feet start to cramp up then take a small break.
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14365134:Session said:
Honesty, if i wanted to bend down and buckle something every time I got off the lift. I would just snowboard.
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So after some thinking as to why I unbuckle, here is where I'm at. When I properly got into touring, I got into the routine of loosening my buckles for the up, which eventually transitioned into keeping the habit for chair laps.

Combine that with riding with mostly snowboarders over the years, I figure: if I gotta wait for them to strap in at the top pf the lift, I might as well join the party.

All that said, my feet are not 'normal' and getting a boot that is a) stiff enough, b) has my preferred buckles/walk mode, and c) actually works with my feet - it's very hard. Pre ski touring proper I only fucked with Salomon, but when I transitioned to touring boots Salomon didn't have what I needed. I am now 4 boots deep into a touring boot, and none of them have actually fit me the way they should - leading to me having to get creative with my shell, liner, footbed combos to make it work. Mostly this has lead to boots that 'work', but mostly I gotta crank em unnecessarily tight for the down, needing me to open them up as soon as I get to the bottom of a run.

My feet not being normal is: size 13 (29.5), wide last, high arch, my right ankle broke and didn't set properly so it's a bit fatter and doesn't have the same range of motion, as well as large calfs that are quite pronounced down close to my ankle.

I also have frostbite issues in both my big toes. I have always been a very aggressive skier and demand a tight fitting, stuff boot. Boot fitting has always been a nightmare and I have yet to actually find a touring boot that fits me the way Salomon alpine boots did in the past - the past was also when I was younger and my feet weren't as fuckered as they are now (I am 37 for the record).

I am giving my current boots (Scarpas) one more season, then I am hopefully gonna get a pair of Salomons that check all my boxes.
 
I ski in super super stiff fischer plug boots for muh performance and I fuckin crank the buckles down as tight as they'll go so usually I'll pop the powerstrap if nothing else. Lot of the time I leave the buckles done cause once they're undone it takes so much force/effort to buckle them again it just isn't worth it
 
first few runs usually then it depends, early in the season and near the end of the season as my feet get used to the boots and the liner packs out I gotta fiddle with the buckles to find the right snugness without compromising circulation but once I have everything perfect I usually don't have to mess with my boots much
 
14365897:Skibumsmith said:
Wanna know how I know your boots are too big?
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Hmmm, some rando on Newschoolers or my bootfitter who literally fits Olympic athletes? Who should I believe about my boot fit?
 
14365947:Session said:
Hmmm, some rando on Newschoolers or my bootfitter who literally fits Olympic athletes? Who should I believe about my boot fit?
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Yeah yeah I’m sure your guy is good but I kind of still want to hear from ski bum Scott or whatever
 
I remember hearing when I was a bootfitter that “it doesn’t matter how well your boot fits. Grab your arm and hold it and tell me what it does”(goes numb/tingly). I think Tom’s answer is a fitting response especially given what his job is. Usually I agree with your takes, Sessions, but I gotta disagree here.

14364682:tomPietrowski said:
Yeah I undo them every lift. And its not about having a good or bad fit, I assure you my boots fit well but I like them tight for skiing and there is zero point keeping them that tight on the lift. I loosen them up and let the blood flow more freely. Look at ski racers, first thing they do at the bottom of a run is undo all the buckles and that is not because of a bad fit.
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14365134:Session said:
Honesty, if i wanted to bend down and buckle something every time I got off the lift. I would just snowboard.
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14365947:Session said:
Hmmm, some rando on Newschoolers or my bootfitter who literally fits Olympic athletes? Who should I believe about my boot fit?
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I bet you're a 3-finger shell fit guy.
 
My feet are 105 last and 26.5 long, which means even 102 last boots are very snug after the initial heat molding. My last pair of boots took about 2 years to form enough for me to stop unbuckling them after every run. During the last year or so (5 year old boots by this point) I could finally crank them way down without my pain levels compromising my ability to ski.

My new pair has about 20 days and I am starting to be able to crank them down but I always unbuckle at least the lower buckles for the lift ride or I can't ski more than a couple runs at a time.

Everyone's feet are different and some people may have a perfect fit from the initial boot fitting while others may spend a long time suffering before finally getting the proper fit.

**This post was edited on Dec 19th 2021 at 10:42:27pm
 
14365965:Skibumsmith said:
I bet you're a 3-finger shell fit guy.
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Or I just had the necessary work done to the proper shell fit to eliminate discomfort. Not sure how being comfortable in your boots is analogous to having a poor shell fit in your mind. 12 years ago you would be right. But I have gone down 2 shell sizes since then.
 
14365897:Skibumsmith said:
Wanna know how I know your boots are too big?
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I've got plenty of friends who preach "size down" and I went from a 28 to a 27 like 10 years ago and it was an amazing change.

But telling someone their boots are too big because they are comfortable is a tired take, if you need maximum performance then maybe thats the right play, but for most skiers (including most in this thread) you don't need "maximum" performance, ski racers boots are tight and extremely uncomfortable because they need that kind of control and performance.

I've been skiing 110s that are comfortable for years, I used to spend a ton of time walking/filming in ski boots and I'm not the hard charger doing crazy shit, I just shred pow and cruise around the mountain. I tighten my boots up when I'm skiing more difficult terrain but I prefer comfort over performance, everyone has their own agenda with their setup and I don't think it's necessary to tell each other how your boots should be, especially if you've been fit/your boots work for you.

Plenty of people ski in the wrong size/wrong boot but its not like thats "comfortable" either.
 
14364682:tomPietrowski said:
Yeah I undo them every lift. And its not about having a good or bad fit, I assure you my boots fit well but I like them tight for skiing and there is zero point keeping them that tight on the lift. I loosen them up and let the blood flow more freely. Look at ski racers, first thing they do at the bottom of a run is undo all the buckles and that is not because of a bad fit.
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The unbuckled look on a ski racer chick is almost as sexy as slut strands on a park girl.
 
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