Alpine Ski Boots

The ski industry is a little different. Where else can you go spend $600 or more to buy the necessary boots for the sport and then still have to spend $200 or $300 and several hours more to get them to fit? Walk into any retailer who sells skis and you can see the proof of the argument. Every ski retailer has a wall full of orthotics and straps and prices on getting your boot to fit your feet. There is even a standalone store, Superfeet that does nothing but boot fittings. The Snowsports Industry Association is full of new straps, orthotics, daily ski boot clinics and lists of master boot fitting clinics being advertised for the next year.

And we expect the consumer to buy it. It almost appears that the ski boot manufactures don’t care about fit, knowing the consumer is going to have to spend more money to have their product fit right. For most customers fit right means they are not in agony!

My concern with this issue is we are creating a nightmare for the consumer. Based on the “growth” in the alpine skiindustry, customers are not buying it either.

Image via Wikipedia

We expect the elite of any sport to have custom made equipment. However in alpine skiing, every skier appears to need custom equipment. Working in a rental shop, that is the complaint 99% of the time: “my boots hurt!” To accommodate the renter, low tech easy use equipment is sold, hoping the consumer does not need a better boot.

Rental shops still thrive on rear entry books, no matter how bad they are to ski in because they fit most people’s feet.

Telemark and AT gear is growing and one common answer why is because the boots are comfortable. You can buy a telemark boot or an AT boot and wear it on the slopes right out of the store. Any orthotic needed is to increase performance, not to stop pain. The same can be said about snowboarding. I’ve talked to dozens of over 30 snowboarders who switched because the gear was warm and not painful.

Not Painful! The adverbs and adjectives we use to describe our clothing should not include the words Not Painful! The middle ages and coats of armor are gone, why can’t we do the same with ski boots.

If we expect people to come to and enjoy the sport, we just can’t concentrate on that small percentage of people whose feet perfectly fit the narrow selection of ski boots currently available.

Image via Wikipedia