Last month I went to my friend, Dan Baber, at Jans Sports in Park City, when it was time to replace my ten year old boots. Dan has been custom fitting ski boots for about 15 years, so he told me that his fit was "guaranteed." I told Dan I wouldn't hold him to it, all I wanted was some boots that didn't kill my feet at the end of the ski day.
Wow, was I amazed. It started by Dan putting me in a boot that was about 1.5 sizes smaller than my old boots. The length was OK, but the fit was tight - I could barely get the bales to snap on the first slots. He told me to ski the boot for a day, then come back.
After day one the boots killed my feet. I was thinking that Dan was a goof ball, but when I took them back he asked exactly where they hurt. He then proceeded to carve out plastic on the inside of the boot to make the boot cavity bigger at the exact points of pressure. After the carve out work, he sent me back out to ski them again. I came back again and he did more carving and a bit of stretching.
After about 10 days and 4 total adjustments, I have a pair of boots that fit like a firm handshake. The firm handshake fit, which is what a custom fit is all about, instantly improved my skiing. Imagine that, 40 years of making turns, and a custom fit improved my ability.
