Experiment in boot modification

[Gary]

I"m a wreck ......I came back from Portillo relaizing that my Head Raptor LTD's, although are the best ever fitting boots I've ever owned, that my normal stance in the boot is weight on the balls of my feet, very tongue weighted oriented.

I've skied in boots this way for many years....awesome on hardpack and still manageable on soft snow and powder. Where my eyes opened was skiing steeps in Portillo. The instructors I was with noticed my turns in the steeps had the tails coming up off the snow loosing connectivity with the snow surface. I could feel this but never really gave it any thought....I was still making solid turns. This also may contribute to some initial difficulties I was having skiing in the bumps.

I could always manage to ski the skis flat in broken snow but realized it was an effort to stack my self centered in my boot directly over the arches of my feet. Now this may not be important to some of you but since it's me and I'm so anal about this kind of stuff, I thought....hey...go tta do something.

So...went to my boot fitter and had him check my stance out. He took pictures of me standing in my boots with relaxed knees. He noticed how far forward my hips were, not at all stacked and centered in my boots. We played with all sorts of combinations and I did not want to change anything inside the boot. We opted for a 5mm lift to be added to the toe or the appropriate combo between toe and heel to accomodate that 5mm adjustment. In standing in the boots with the 5mm lifts, for the first time I felt centered in the boot, skelletally stacked. In this position, I could move fore and aft in the boots with equal pressure...nice. They should be ready next week.
Now I'm nervous about getting out there and trying them first snow fall....hoping that I've made the right move....Will keep you all posted on the results.

Geez Louise....its' my ski boots.....I feel like a first time father waiting for twins!

G

[Ron]

you need to either start to meditate or find some other things to keep you occupied or both......

[jim-ratliff]

Welllll, I'm hoping you get twins ............  because having only one boot would make for challenging skiing.

[jbotti]

Gary, as I remember you are 5 8"? I am 6 3" with very long legs. My anatomy is such that I can use large amounts of forward lean in my boots and it works great. I actually struglle when there is too little. On my Raptors I have an additional 5mm of lean added to the canting strips on the boots. I am not surpprised to hear at your height that you need to dial back the forwrad lean some. You can see skiers on the lift line that are slammed too far forward by their boots. If the boot has one flexed so far forwrad that you can't actually stand upright in theboot then they are too forward. It sounds like this is where you were. My guess is that the new stance will work well for you. Usually BTW, being slammed forward has the opposite effect on skiers in that they fight the feeling of being too far forward and it keeps them in the back seat. Actaully being able to lift your tails on every turn is a great ability, and a clearly forward position.

[Gary]

Thanks John....I know there is some mechanics of leverage etc...in there.

I think the only thing for me is that when skiing the crud, pow, bumps....I like to feel the entire ski making contact with the snow, being able to ski it flat in the float allows excellent transition.? Having control over the shovels on the skis in the past 5 years has not been a problem....for me, the idea of limited movement in a boot to? affect maximum fore and aft pressure and performance is an ideal stance.

AND you are correct...I was never able to stand tall in my boot without applying awkword pressure to the rear cuff.

I might disagree with you on the tails lifting? in the extreme steep...my recent experience demonstrated I had better speed management and turn shape keeping the skis connected and for sure find this is key for me in skiing bumps. Hard charging slalom and gs turns, not a problem.

Thanks for your thoughts and encouragement.

Yes Jim....skiing one boot would not be a matter of choice....go twins!

Ron....this is the OTHER thing that keeps my mind occupied....oh yeah!
I have a need to ski.....g

[Ron]

its gonna be alright, I promise....... If all else fails, i buy you some dalbello's 

[Gary]

Dalwholow?

Thank you ROn.....a mench you are.

Thinking that I'm heading down the right road.....but thank you for the back up plan!

G

[Ron]

its a good idea really, get dialed in now!!!!  Just think , about 70 days,,,,,

[Gary]

Thanks Ron...yup...skiing just around the corner....boots should be ready this week....

Will post my first impressions when I snap in dry!!......Ok...I know that sounds weird.....just go easy on me!

Now...do I breath in or out when putting my foot in the boot? 

G

 

[Ron]

the sad truth is that you would actually analyze and then torment yourself on whether or not to breath when putting on boots.......

[jim-ratliff]

Thanks Ron...yup...skiing just around the corner....boots should be ready this week....

Will post my first impressions when I snap in dry!!......Ok...I know that sounds weird.....just go easy on me!

Now...do I breath in or out when putting my foot in the boot??

G
 

While putting the boot on, you moan and groan in agony/ecstacy like Lynn showed you how to do a few years back.? Then you breathe OUT while you snug down the buckles (sort of like when you put the saddle on a horse, you don't let the horse hold his breath while you saddle him).

[Ron]

holy crap! I forgot about that... too funny, yes, too funny........

[Gary]

Ok boys.....you be breaching the veil of X rated breathing.....Lynn does ,even in total innocence....have the rights to that sound track!
 

G   

[midwif]

Thanks Ron...yup...skiing just around the corner....boots should be ready this week....

Will post my first impressions when I snap in dry!!......Ok...I know that sounds weird.....just go easy on me!

Now...do I breath in or out when putting my foot in the boot??

G
 

While putting the boot on, you moan and groan in agony/ecstacy like Lynn showed you how to do a few years back.? Then you breathe OUT while you snug down the buckles (sort of like when you put the saddle on a horse, you don't let the horse hold his breath while you saddle him).

No problemo guys.
I have the whole kit. Includes heating element and pincers. I just apply traction to the "boys" to simulate what a laboring woman experiences every 2-3 minutes in active labor. You'll LOVE breathing thru that!!
And Jim, you get to go first since you love the BOOT story so much!



JRR - cleaned up your quote boxes.

[Gary]

The nice thing about the new boots...they use a softer plastic which allows for easier entrance and removal of ones foot which in Jims case, has just entered  his mouth... atta boy Jim!

Now.....this is one experiment in boot modification that has broken new ground.....you gotta love it! 

G