Boot Fitting

There are two key things to know about hard boots: how to find the correct size, and how to adjust them for the best fit.

Sizing

When buying snowboard hard boots, do not order a size based on your street shoe size, or the boots will wind up being the wrong size. Instead, measure the mondo point of your foot, which is the distance in centimeters from the back of your heel to your longest toe (using the same measurement technique as the guy in the shoe store). All hard boots are sold in mondo point. Order the size that you measure. Round down to the nearest size or half-size - it's easier to pack out the liner or punch out the shell than it is to deal with a boot that is too big. Another reason to round down is that when you put your foot on a flat surface to measure it, it tends to flatten out and get a little longer. Just to emphasize:

• There are size charts on the Internet that convert street shoe size to mondo point. Do not use these charts. Measure your foot.
• There are some rules of thumb about sizing boots for certain manufacturers based on your street shoe size, like adding or subtracting 1 from your street shoe size. Do not use these rules of thumb. Measure your foot.

Don't size a boot based on how it feels when you try it on at the store. If the boot fits great in the store, it will wind up being way too big after it packs out. Sadly, a lot of hard booters ride in boots that are too big for them.

Other details:

• The size of the boot is the size stamped on the outside of the inner liner. Which means that in order to determine the size of the boots, you need to pull out the inner liner and examine it for size. The exact size of a boot is often not printed on the outer plastic shell. Don't get distracted by the size ranges stamped on the inside of the plastic pieces that make up the boot shell. For instance, Raichle Size 27 AF700 boots have "25 - 27.5" on the tongue and "25 - 27.5" on the upper shell. What this means is that the "25 - 27.5" tongue and upper shell can be used with Raichle boot sizes 25, 26, and 27, and the size of the liner determines the actual size of the boot.
• Manufacturers vary the "size" of the liner either by making the liner bigger/smaller, or by changing the thickness of the footbed. For instance, if the lower shell is stamped with "27-27.5", then the boot can be either size 27 or 27.5, depending on the liner size. There are 3 possibilities:
  • The exact same liner and footbed are used for both 27.0 and 27.5, in which case the two sizes are actually the same size: they are both size 27.0. This is the case for later models of Raichle boots.
  • The liner for the 27.0 boot is thicker, taking up more room, but the footbed is the same. In this case, the size 27.0 really is smaller, but only if you use the liner that takes up more room. The 27.0 boot fits foot lengths of 27.0 to 27.49999 cm, and the 27.5 boot fits foot lengths of 27.5 to 27.9999 cm.
  • The liners are identical, but the 27.0 liner has a thicker footbed that takes up more space. In this case, the size 27.0 really is smaller, but not really, since you will be throwing away the footbed and using your own custom molded footbed. As a result, the two different sizes are unintentionally the same. This example applies to Head Boots.
• When you buy new boots, do a shell test to verify that you have the right size: remove the liner and put your foot in the shell: move your foot forward until your toes just touch the front of the shell. If you have 1 to 1.5 finger thicknesses between the back of your heel and the inside of the back of the shell (fingers stacked on top of each other, not side-by-side), then you have the right size. If not, return the boots and get another size. If the finger test works, the boot will probably feel too tight when you first put your foot in it: this is good, because it will pack out after a few days to the perfect size. You can wear the boot while watching TV to get a jump on the pack-out time.
• If you are lucky enough to find a shop that sells hardboots, be sure to get sizing advice from the staff to cross-reference your own sizing.
• Of course, it's bad if your toes are hitting the front of the boot shell, because your toenail will turn black and fall off.
• The width of your foot can help you decide which brand to get (Burton = narrow, UPZ = wide), however, once you decide on a brand, your foot width should not determine the size, because a bootfitter can punch it out to any width for you.
• If you get boots that are too big and can't return them, there are a few options:
  • Insert Bontex shims under your liners, which provide a few mm of thickness. These are available at Tognar
  • Tognar also sells ankle wrap pads and narrowing pads. These are self-adhesive pads that attach to the liner to create a tighter fit.
  • You can see a bootfitter, who will most likely recommend that you toss the boots and buy the right size, since nothing can really be done with boots that are too big.

Bootfitter Paraphernalia. Top left is the ankle wrap pad from Tognar that goes around the ankle of the liner to prevent heel lift. Shown at the bottom is the V pad that comes with Burton boots, which does the same thing. On the right is a Bontex shim that goes under the liner, in an attempt to make the boot have a tighter fit.

• If you have really huge feet, you may have problems finding hard-shell snowboard boots for your size. There are a few options:

• Try finding a ski boot that fits. If you have trouble finding boots at your local ski shop, Strolz and Dale make extra large ski boots. Strolz offers a hybrid ski/snowboard boot.
• A bootfitter can sometimes punch out a boot to be a half size bigger, especially in combination with a Thermoflex liner.
• Search on eBay for large size snowboard boots; It's not uncommon to find sizes in the vicinity of US-11, 12, and 13.
• Because of the construction of Burton and Head boots, even if you have the correct size, it can be very difficult to get your foot into the boot, especially if the boots are cold.

There are a few boot sizing guidelines on the web, which basically repeat all the information presented here:

• Eric has a Boot sizing guidelines page.
• Fin has the Bomber sizing guidelines page, and a PDF

Footbeds

Footbeds (also called insoles) are the inner soles that come inside boot liners. The cheap footbeds that come with new boots are useless. You should immediately throw them away so that you don't accidentally use them. The two lower footbeds in the photo show these "stock" footbeds. You should replace them with either generic footbeds (10× better than what comes with the boots - the footbed shown at the top of the photo), or get custom footbeds molded at your local bootfitter (5× better than generic footbeds). Custom footbeds will make sure that the bones in your legs are in proper alignment when you ride. Even snowboard boot manufacturers recommend replacing their crappy footbeds with custom footbeds.

There are several methods of making custom footbeds:

• Non-weight bearing vacuum molding: In this method, your hold the footbed under your foot, then put on a thin ski sock to hold it in place. Then, the bootfitter wraps a plastic bag around your foot, and uses a vacuum to apply pressure to the footbed after it is heated. The footbed molds to your foot as it cools.
• Weight bearing: You place your foot onto a heat-moldable footbed, which in turn rests in a heated gel-filled mini-waterbed that molds around the footbed.
• Some bootfitters like Surefoot use a matrix measurement system, which consists of a metal platform with a grid. You place your foot on the grid, and then retractable pins rise up through the grid to measure the contour of the bottom of your foot.

Also of note:

• Footbeds made out of cork are a bit more comfy, but cork footbeds do not last as long as non-cork footbeds. If you get cork footbeds, ask about the longevity.
• You only need one pair of footbeds, which you can use in all your boots: You may have to trim the footbeds to fit your smallest boot.
• You can even get DIY (do it yourself) moldable footbeds. You, too, can become an expert bootfitter by watching the how-to video on their website (320x240, 16MB, 3:14).
• Orthotics are a type of footbed that provides structural support, made from a cast that is molded by your podiatrist. They are generally not meant to be used as footbeds in snowboard boots, buy you might be able to get your insurance company to pay for it. See GMOL for details

Liners

Intuition heat-moldble liners.

Fully heat-moldable liners are highly recommended for any brand of boots: The bootfitter first heats the liners in a convection oven until they take on the consistency of jello. Then, the liners go into your boots, and you wear the liners on your feet. As the liners cool, they mold to your foot. It works great. There are several brands:

• Raichle Thermoflex CPD liners. Wrap-around, no tongue. They are the low-end version with the red cuff, for use primarily in the SB series of Raichle boots. They are not as durable as either the HPD liners or the Intuition liners, and the interior foam in the liner tends to crack over the course of a few seasons.
• Raichle Thermoflex HPD liners. Wrap-around, no tongue. They are the high-end version, all gray, for use primarily in the AF600 and AF700 series. They have a taller cuff than the CPD liners.
• Intuition liners. Wrap-around, no tongue. This company holds the original patent for the Thermoflex type liner. A lot of bootfitters have started to sell these instead of the Raichle liners. The Intuition Power Wrap liners have extra material around the heel for a stiffer fit, and also seem to have the following advantages over the Raichle Thermoflex liners:
  • They use Ultralon foam, making them lighter weight than the Thermoflex liners
  • They are warmer
  • They have fewer seams
  • They don't stick up as ridiculously high out of the boot as Raichle Thermoflex liners.
  • They are less expensive
• Conform'able makes the Confor'fit Mountain Thermo liner, an oven-moldable liner that includes a separate (not wrap-around) tongue and Velcro strap.

In addition to the Thermoflex liners, DeeLuxe also offers boots with a Thermofit liner and a classic liner:

• The Thermofit liner was offered starting in '04. These liners are not the same thing as a Thermoflex liner. Thermofit liners cannot be heat-molded using a convection oven, but they do have areas on the heel and tongue that self-mold to your foot. They have a Velcro strap. When buying DeeLuxe boots, it's important to determine whether you are getting the Thermoflex liner or the Thermofit liner.
• The Classic liner is the standard liner that has always been available: it has no moldable areas. Wrap-around, no tongue, and a Velcro strap. Even though it is not heat-moldable, it has higher rigidity, and can provide better power transmission to the boot.

Other liner issues:

• In addition to providing a better fit, Thermo liners are usually warmer than regular liners.
• Thermo liners can still pack out over the course of the season. You might need to re-mold at the end of the season if your buckles are maxing out on tightness.
• If one foot is larger than the other, you might be able to avoid any bootfitting tweaks by using Thermo liners.
• With all the benefits of the Thermoflex liners, some carvers still prefer the standard liners (Thermofit or Classic) because they are stiffer and have better power transmission.
• Another benefit of heat-moldable liners is that you can mold the Intec cable.
• An alternative to heat-moldable liners are custom injection-molded liners. The most popular are Conform'able foam-injected liners, which sell for around $375. The foam sets up more firmly than heat moldable liners, so you can get better power transmission. They can also provide additional cuff height and stiffness.

Bootfitting Techniques

• Be aware that before you start doing bootfitting tweaks, you should have a custom footbed that provides an anatomically stable platform for your foot.
• Some people have nerves in their foot that are more sensitive than normal. These folks need extra space in the liner or shell around the nerves to prevent pain and irritation.
• If you have Burton boots, it is recommended that you trim the plastic tongue around the edges so that it doesn't dig into your instep. You can trim as close as 1/8" from the stitching.
• A booster strap tightens the boot around the cuff and provides more stiffness and support, while reducing shin bang. You can get the booster strap in various degrees of stiffness - go with the Standard or the Pro. A booster strap is especially helpful if there is no buckle near the top of the boot, which is the case for the low-end Raichle boots, as well as some of the UPS/UPZ models. Some boots come with slots in the back shell, which provide a handy way to secure the booster strap. You can attach a booster strap to the back of the shell cuff using either a rivet or a T-nut.
• An alternative to a booster strap is to add a new buckle at the top of the cuff with rivets or T-nuts.
• Ideally, you should not feel any heel lift. If your ankle is lifting more than 1/2 an inch in the liner, then:
  • Double-check the size of your boots to make sure they are not too big
  • You can buy self adhesive "L-pads" and "C-pads" from Tognar that attach to your liners, behind the ankle, to tighten things up.
  • Burton boots often came with "V-pads": in the shape of a V. You stick the V pad, upside-down, to the heel of the liner to help prevent heel lift. They don't work as well as the L-pads or C-pads.
  • Add a heel lift shim inside the boot. See a bootfitter.
• If you have boots with Intec heels, you may feel pain from the Intec cable, which snakes up between the liner and the shell. You can put sticky-backed foam strips on the inside shell, on each side of the cable to smooth off the pressure point. This fix is sometimes still needed even after molding Thermoflex liners around the cable.
• Stiffer race tongues provide more responsiveness for racing or aggressive carving. Some boot manufacturers sell racing tongues, but if you can't find any, you can stiffen your existing tongues with strips of stiff plastic, or by riveting the bottom portion of the tongue to the boot shell. You can also get custom injection-molded tongues.
• Use thinner socks: thick socks will bunch up and cause problems.
• Trim your toenails. In carving, every millimeter counts.

Shin Bang

Shin bang is a condition where your shin rubs or pressures against the cuff every time you flex forward. As a carver, shin bang is your nemesis. Once shin bang starts to happen, the pain will increase exponentially over time. In order to recover from severe shin bang, you may need to avoid carving for several weeks. If you get shin bang and your shin becomes bruised, it will continue to hurt for a week or two even if a bootfitter fixes the problem immediately. Which means you won't know if a bootfitter's modification works until you go carving after the bruise goes away, which could be a week or two. If you start to get a bruise, ice it every night. You must eliminate shin bang as soon as it starts, using several remedies:

• It's somewhat counter-intuitive, but if you experience pain from shin bang, the best way to eliminate it is to tighten the cuff, not to loosen it. You can tighten the cuff of the boot with a booster strap. Tightening the cuff may prevent your shin from banging against the cuff every time you flex forward.
• The Shintronic is an ankle cuff that "actively eliminates pain"
• Use an "Eliminator shin pad," a foam insert that goes behind the tongue and provides a cushion for your shin, sold at Tognar. If it still doesn't cut down the pain, cut a hole in it where the pressure point is killing you. Or, you can get a custom-molded tongue at a bootfitter.
• Try adjusting the boot lean to reduce cuff pressure.
• When using a booster strap or a thicker tongue, it will likely reduce the forward lean of your leg, so you may need to compensate with more forward lean on the boot.
• Try lower binding angles. Depending on your riding style, the lower angles will allow you to take better advantage of the natural fore/aft flex of hard boots.
• Try playing with the binding cant and lift to reduce shin pressure.
• Add a heel lift shim inside the boot. It can change the fulcrum point of your lower leg and spread out the shin-to-tongue surface over a larger area.
• If the shin bang happens on one side of your leg, try tweaking the boot cuff cant.

The most diabolical of scourges is phantom shin bang, which inflicts unspeakable pain while carving, but then completely goes away when you get off the slope and walk into the ski shop. You will be unable to locate where the pain was coming from, while the bootfitter will look at you like you're a nitwit.

And finally, acute shin bang causes the hair on your shin to wear off.

Heat molding liners

These instructions apply to liners that can be heat molded in a convection oven, such as the Raichle/DeeLuxe Thermoflex liners or Intuition heat-moldable liners. Do not use these instructions for liners that are meant to be hose-heated, such as Raichle Thermofit liners, or the liners that come with Head boots. The newer Virus UPZ boots can be heat-molded, but not the older UPZ boots.

Warning: The liners will have their greatest uncompressed thickness before they are heat-molded for the first time. Which means that even if you have the correct size boot, you probably won't be able to get your foot into the boot until after you heat-mold the liner. You have to take the leap of faith that you will have a good fit after the liner is heat molded. Once the liner is heat molded, you can't return the boots.

Do not use a hard boot specific heat moldable liner for soft boots, otherwise the liner will get torn apart from all the flexing of the soft boot. Instead, use only a heat moldable liner specifically designed for soft boots, such as the one sold by Intuition. The ThirtyTwo Forecast soft boot comes with such a heat-moldable liner.

It's not a good idea to heat mold Thermoflex liners without a footbed. If you mold the liners without a footbed, the liner is not going to provide enough rigidity for your foot, and your foot is likely to twist inside the liner.

Here are the unabridged instructions for heat molding liners. After molding the liner at a bootfitter, make sure you get a bag containing all the boot fitting paraphernalia that was used (foam patches, etc) so that if you wind up needing another molding, you can bring back all the stuff and resume from a known starting point. You can re-mold the liners up to 6 times (and probably even more than that). Every time you heat mold the liners, the liners shrink a little bit, they get a little stiffer, and it takes a little more heat to do the job. The HPD Thermoflex liner is thicker, stiffer, and for the same size will take up more space than either the regular Thermoflex liner or the Intuition liner. If you have weird shaped feet, or need to fill a lot of volume around a skinny ankle, go with the HPD liner.

• In the past, some Thermoflex liners came with plastic pieces, which were meant to be put over the liner instep, to prevent the shell from pinching the liner.
• The inside sole base of each boot shell usually has a ribbed plastic structure for greater rigidity. You must make sure that this ribbed structure is covered with the thin plastic sole cover that comes with the boot, otherwise the liner will warp in the wrong way as it molds.
• Prevent the liner from tearing by covering sharp areas inside the shell with duct tape.
• Find a bootfitter who has a convection oven that circulates air to avoid hot spots. It can be any convection oven - it doesn't have to be the official Raichle oven.
• Put the liners in the oven at 200º-250º F for 12-13 minutes, with the liners upright, facing you. Do not use hot air hoses to mold the liners.
• Just like normal baking at high altitude, the amount of time needed to heat the liners varies depending on altitude: at 6000 feet, you need 20% more time than at sea level
• If you have any sensitive areas on your foot that could result in rubbing/pressure problems, cut out a patch using 1/8" thick bootfitting foam, and stick it directly on your foot: The patch will create extra room in the liner. Be sure to bevel the patch at the edges.
• If you are using Intec heels, make sure the cable is in place, and tape it to the shell so that the liner molds around the cable.

Getting the toe cap and footbed in place:

• If you have a footbed, hold it on the bottom of your bare foot.
• Then place a toe cap over your toes and the footbed. The toe cap provides room in the liner for your toes so they don't get crowded. Raichle ovens come with neoprene toe caps of various sizes (small, medium, large). However, if you don't have one, you can make one by cutting the top off of a thick woolly sock: The cap should cover your toes and come down to the ball of your foot. As an alternative to using a toe cap, you can wiggle your toes like crazy while the liner cools, but this method is not recommended. If you need a lot of extra space in the toe box, you can put bootfitter's foam between your toes. It's not important for your toes to have a tight fit, since you will be balancing on the ball of your foot.
• Put a tight thin ski sock over all of this, so that the sock holds the toe cap and footbed in place. Make sure there are no wrinkles in the sock. You need a tight sock to keep the footbed and toe cap from shifting around.

Liner molding:

• The liner will be hot enough when it has the exact same consistency as breast implants.
• Take the liner out of the oven and wrap it around your foot like a burrito. Then sit down and stick your leg out horizontally so that the bootfitter can shift the liner around so that the seam on the bottom of the liner sole goes exactly down the center of your foot.
• Stand up in the liner and pull up gently on the liner cuff to make sure your foot is all the way in. Then put your foot (with the liner) into the shell while someone holds the boot shell open for you (it's a two-man job). When heat molding Intuition liners, It is recommended that you put a plastic grocery store bag over the liner before you insert it into the shell - otherwise, the liner can catch on the inside of the shell and get squashed. This problem does not seem to happen with Thermoflex liners.
• If you are having problems with wrinkles in the liner, have the bootfitter hold down the shell, and lift your heel and the liner up about 1 inch. Then while pulling gently up on the liner, push the liner back down into the shell with your foot. Don't pull too hard, otherwise the liner may get stretched and extend far above the shell.
• Before you tighten the buckles, you can compress the liner around the cuff a little to keep it from sticking too far above the cuff.

Cool-down:

• Tighten the buckles half-tight, so that the liner just molds to your foot. If you tighten the buckles less, you will get a tighter fit after the liner cools. If you tighten the buckles more, you will get a looser fit.
• Hit your heel on the floor several times, and flex a few times, to get your foot into the heel pocket of the boot.
• The boot will feel looser as the liners cool, but do not tighten the buckles any further during the cooling process.
• Do the process with the other foot. Then Wait 10 minutes while standing with your toe elevated about 1.5 inches above your heel to make sure that you correctly mold the heel pocket - a shop will use a bootfitter's angled platform. Make sure you have even weight in both boots: don't cock your foot side to side. Then stay in the boots for another 10 minutes until the liner cools completely.

Tweaking

• If there are still some pressure points or rubbing, you can heat gun the liner and then crush it in a press. The liner can be compressed down to 1/8" thickness.
• Normally, convection oven molding followed by heat gun tweaking is supposed to provide a perfect fit with no additional bootfitting needed. However, some carvers still need major adjustments, like punching out the shell or adding/removing liner material.
• You can also heat mold the liners in a non-convection kitchen oven. Preheat the oven to 250º F, put the liners in the middle of the oven, then turn off the oven to prevent scorching, and cook the liners for 10 minutes.
• For people who ask "Can I just do it myself?": If you have seen a bootfitter go through the process of heat molding the liners, you are probably clueful enough to do it yourself in your own oven. Otherwise, it's going to take a quantum leap of common sense to get it right.

There are other guides on the internet that advise how to heat mold liners:

• Fin's instructions
• YYZCanuck's recipe
• Telemarktips.com has a 3 minute video showing how to cook thermoflex liners in your oven. It's called "Cooking with Big Tim"

Bootfitters

You may require the services of a bootfitter for such things as heat molding, shell punching, custom footbeds, custom liners, etc. The good news is that you don't have to seek out a "hardboot-specific" boot fitter. An expert at fitting ski-boots will be just as effective with snowboard boots. If you need something simple like Thermoflex heat molding, sometimes a 6-pack of beer is the only currency you need. However, a lot of carvers find that they need to keep going back to do follow-up fine-tune heat moldings. A lot of bootfitters at ski resorts charge a one-time bootfitting fee that includes any number of tweaks over the course of as many days as necessary until your boots fit. Some bootfitters even provide lifetime tweaking - they put stickers on your boots (that don't come off) to identify them. You should avoid, if possible, bootfitters that charge per hour.

Bootfitter issues:

• Fitting snowboard hard boots is more difficult than fitting ski boots, because not only do you have to punch out the shell and trim the liner to get an exact fit, you have to make sure the fit remains exact even when the boot flexes. It's like building an articulated exoskeleton. What's more, you won't know if the bootfitter got it right until you carve a few runs. Which is why it's convenient to go to a bootfitter located in the resort so that you can do several rounds of fitting/testing during the day.
• If you feel pain and need the services of a bootfitter, you need to determine two things to help the bootfitter know what to do:
  • Right before you take your boots off, you need to determine the exact location of the pain on your foot, and the corresponding location on the liner and shell. It's not as easy as it sounds. Mark this point with a sharpie pen on your foot, chalk on the liner, and a dry-erase pen on the shell.
  • You need to determine whether you feel rubbing (in which case liner material must be added), or pressure (in which case liner material must be removed).
• When buying boots, one thing to bear in mind is that you may need to shell out $200 for custom footbeds and bootfitting, and this expense factors into the entire boot purchase: it may not make sense from a value standpoint to buy cheap low-end $50 used boots and then spend $200 on fitting.
• On selecting bootfitters:
  • A clueful bootfitter will refuse to do any modifications until you have custom footbeds. That's because it's a bad idea to start tweaking the boots until you have a stable platform for your foot.
  • You want a bootfitter who is brutally honest. Which means that if your boots are too big, the bootfitter should decline to do anything, and instead tell you to buy new boots. If your boots are too big, there is no bootfitting technique that will make them fit. Sadly, there are bootfitters out there who are far too nice.
  • And the mark of a true artiste: he makes subtle changes, and you can't tell the difference when you try the boots in the shop, but it completely solves your problem on the slope.

Several bootfitters are recommended:

Nationwide:

• Surefoot bootfitters. They have about 22 locations nationwide. If you get a pair of their custom footbeds (~ $185), you get free heat molding and lifetime boot tuning at any Surefoot location. They don't sell Thermoflex liners but they do sell Conform'able foam-injected liners.

Lake Tahoe:

• Elite Feet at the Resort at Squaw Creek in Lake Tahoe, and in the village at Northstar. Christian, Brian and Jeremy are veterans. Brian is a carver, so he knows the deal - make sure you bring your board so they can verify your stance. Elite Feet sells Conform'able heat moldable liners and has the Raichle convection oven, so they have a lot of experience ($50 for a heat molding). I you buy a custom footbed, then you get lifetime free boot fitting. They are also able to punch out shells in about 20 minutes, so you don't have to leave your boots overnight. Make sure you get your valet ticket validated. They also sell other custom liners.
• Cosmo's Custom Footwerks in Tahoe City next to Dave's Snowboards. Cosmo has the Raichle convection oven. He sells Intuition Universal heat-moldable liners, which includes the heat-molding. If you already have liners, he will heat mold them for $45.
• Village Ski Loft in Incline Village. They have a convection oven.
• Surefoot bootfitters. They have moved into the Squaw Valley village. They also have a location in Mammoth. If you don't buy a footbed, then a heat mold will cost around $50.
• See Corty at Footloose Sports in Mammoth.
• South Lake Tahoe: Sports Ltd.

East Coast:

• Vermont: Startingate on Rt. 30, on the access road to Stratton. See Gary. [Note: Startingate uses a .net domain name]
• Vermont: Green Mountain Orthotic Lab at Stratton
• Massachusetts: Summit Ski and Snowboard in Framingham
• New York: Mountain & Boardertown in Lake Placid
• Maine: Erik Beckman is an instructor at Sugarloaf, and he can provide some advanced tips on bootfitting to achieve perfect balance, including methods of optimizing regular ski boots for carving. Contact

Utah:

• Surefoot in Park City (see Steve Owen, the manager)
• Surefoot in The Canyons. (see Ted Cobleigh, the manager)

Colorado:

• Denver: Boulder Ski Deals and Colorado Ski and Golf have the convection ovens.
• Boulder: Larry's Boot Fitting (303) 402-6733.
  
• Summit County: Precision Ski in Frisco.
• Stefan Kaelin Ski and Golf in Aspen

Pacific NW:

• Seattle: Martin Rand, at Sturtevants, in Bellevue
• Seattle: Brent Amsbury (the owner) at World Cup Skier Service, in Bellevue
• Bend, OR: Randall Barna at Footform Performance Orthotics. He's a former ski shop owner-turned-pedorthist and designed is own contraption for taking imprints of your feet under load which he uses for shaping your footbeds. He's on several medical insurance plans, so if your feet are flat, your footbeds may wind up being covered by medical insurance. He's worked with a few big name snowboard racers including Chris Klug and Adam Smith, some big name skiers, and a number of NBA players. He's skilled in liner molding and shell mods as well as custom orthotics.
• Portland, OR: Mountain Shop
• Whistler: Fanatyk Co., or Summit Ski & Snowboard

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