Fitting tele boots vs. alpine

[Woodserson]

How do you guys fit tele boots?

I have the Crispis and I got them in a 47 because that's my hiking boot and shoe size for the most part. I have slightly-larger-than-12.5 feet so I tried on the 46 but the toes were super close to the end for my right foot, I would not have been able to wear a thicker sock with an after-market insole, for instance.

Now that I've been skiing them a bit, I find the left foot (my smaller foot) is a little behind in the boot and this is affecting my skiing in left turns. My right foot seems dead on, I get good BOF pressure and it feels right. I think I should size for the bigger foot.

1. Any shims recommended to move my left foot forward a bit? What are your solutions?
2. Should leather boots be tighter than hiking boots? Should I have gone for the 46?
3. How does one fit plastic tele boots? My Alpine boots were often several sizes smaller than my shoe size because I'm a skinny guy and a forceful skier (at one time) and I'd pack out the liners, so I go small and pack them out to my size, but I think this would be a bad idea for plastic tele boots, primarily because of BOF/Bellows issues and the fact that we're not pounding tele boots like alpine boots.

[MikeK]

A couple things:

Which side is your weak side? You should be able to feel just but standing in your tele stance i.e. I feel more comfortable turning to my right side.

I tend to wonder if that has more to do than with your shoe fit, but just a thought...

All my boots fit a bit different, but nothing like an Alpine boot. I'm talking about leather here of course. Even if I lace them up tight to where they hurt me a bit, and I do this on occasion, they'll loosen up a bit as I ski them.

I used to have to ski my Alpine boots a little looser than recommended because my feet wouldn't tolerate. They'd just go into knots. So I'm used to skiing a bit of a sloppy fit.

With leather even if you are tight, there is some other slop down the line that will get you. I typically ski mine tight enough that I can comfortably K+G but still have some semblance of control. Play with it. I don't notice a huge difference if I go super tight.

Did notice my last ski I was scrunching my toes. Big no-no. Used to do this with my Alpine boots if they were too loose. If my toe box is a little too loose I'll do it. Easy to fix with an extra sock or a little shim under the insert.

[Woodserson]

More of a length issue than a lateral issue... When I drop my left knee I feel like I'm not flexing the BOF at the right place, like I'm driving the boot from behind. My left foot is every-so-slightly shorter than the right foot, the kicker is my second toe, which is longer than my big toe, so that affects the size of footwear, which throws off BOF since everything else is a little further back anyway.

Anyone have a 46 right foot and a 47 left foot? We can probably come to an arrangement! hahaha

[MikeK]

Try shimming your heel forward. See if if helps. Probably easier to do with plastic boots though... I mean with a thermo liner you can probably just move your foot forward.

[Woodserson]

I'm going to some consignment shops this weekend... how should Tele boots fit? Man, what a newb/gaper question.

Should my toes be brushing the end, a little room, what?

[MikeK]

I'll bite seen as how no experienced plastic skiers have.

When we fit my wife up for boots it was pretty obvious which fit her and which didn't. Put them in a ski and flex the bellows all the way forward and see how it feels. If it's pinching or crushing your toes, that's probably not good. You might be able to get a moldable liner or if the boot has one, remold it... but for me, I'd rather it be pretty damn close with the stock liner. Last time I didn't follow that rule I wound up spending a lot of money trying to fix a pair of boots that are sitting in my basement and I actually skied about 10 runs with, all of which sucked.

[Woodserson]

OOooooooh put them in a ski to flex... that's a pro tip!

I fixed the antarctics by shimming the heel with a cut-up cheapo stock footbed from a shoe, worked great, no abrasion on the up or down, two solid days on them.

[Cannatonic]

all I can say is good luck! There's no answer to these problems. I skied the 47's for a winter and thought I might fit into 46's, I tried 46's and they were too small. So it goes! You could try a thicker insole on the small foot but that would put one leg slightly higher, not good for your hips & knees.