LENGTH

All ski boot manufacturers except Lange and Raichle have in recent years started making their boots in mondopoint sizes. It is simply a technical term for the metric length of the boot’s inner cavity, expressed in centimeters.

To find the size of your mondopoint, place a metric ruler on a hard-surface floor with the “zero” end against the wall.

Place one heel against the wall and read the length of your foot from the ball of your big toe to the nearest millimeter mark. That is the size of your mondopoint. (To determine your corresponding US size, add the first two digits of your mondopoint size. If your mondopoint size ends in .5, add ½ to the result. The formula works up to 29.5. A size 30 is US 12.) Then measure your other foot. Left and right foot lengths often vary by half the size (a difference of more than half the size may be the result of a leg length discrepancy, which could require medical attention). If your feet really are different lengths, always try to fit the smaller foot and have the other boot customized by a boot technician to accommodate the longer foot. That ensures maximum control.

Remember, the mondopoint size of your footer only represents a starting point for your search. Due to the other characteristics of the last (the “last” refers to the shape of the liner) and the type of padding used, you should always try on boots smaller than your measured foot size, and never buy boots larger than your shoe size. street.

A good indicator of what weather a boot is in your size range is sliding your foot into the shell without the inner boot. Slide your foot forward until your longest toe touches the front of the boots. If you have ½ – 1 inch of space behind your heel (for the best experts, ¼ – 3/8 inch), you’re in the ballpark.

BROAD

To find your width, stand with the metric ruler centered under the ball of your foot. Read the width to the nearest millimeter and refer to the table below.

Read the first column of the table down to the length of your mondopoint and read from side to side to find the closest measurement to your metric width. Read to determine if your foot is narrow, medium, or wide.

TIP SHAPE

The arch of your toes determines how easily you’ll fit into the toe box of a ski boot. Most ski boots are designed to accommodate rounded toes (see illustration).

To achieve the best performance fit, angled toe skiers should start with snug fitting boots and have the toe area of ​​the liner and/or shell stretched by a boot technician. Square toed skiers should look for boots with a wider toe box.

It is quite common for the second toe to be longer than the first (this is called Morton’s toe). In this case, your technician should fit a shell designed to accommodate the big toe and stretch the liner and/or shell to allow room for the elongated second toe.

INSTEP HEIGHT

The height of the instep is perhaps the most crucial area of ​​fit in a ski boot. Skiers with excess bulk in the instep area, for example, tend to squeeze the second buckle hard to secure the foot. This can compress the veins and nerves on the top of the foot, causing numbness, cold toes, or pain under the ball of the foot.

The easiest way to measure whether your instep is high, normal, or low is to compare your foot to the illustrations below and make a visual assessment.

To determine your arch height, sprinkle a generous layer of baby powder on the floor. With bare feet, stand still and relaxed on the dusty ground. Then go back and compare your footprints with the illustrations below. Take prints of both feet: they may differ. A large difference between the heights of the two arches can be the result of a leg length discrepancy or injury. The problem can usually be resolved with custom insoles and/or a properly sized Hell Lift, but the device must be prescribed by an orthopedist, podiatrist, or chiropractor.

THE HEEL REGION

The area from the ankles to the back is a crucial fit region if you want to maximize performance on the hill. A loose fit in the rear allows the heel to lift during turn initiation and slide forward at the end of a turn. To determine the shape of the back of the foot, stand upright and look down at the heel.

In most feet, the ganglia at the ankle and the base of the heel are nearly identical in width. A wide ankle, for example, usually accompanies a wide heel, and the Achilles tendon will be nearly invisible to the naked eye. A wide heel tends to mask ankle nodes, which will look plump and round. If you try to fit a foot with a wide heel into a boot with a narrow heel, it will not seat properly and this will allow the heel to lift.

A low-volume heel has a thin Achilles tendon, which generally protrudes from the foot and creates a deep sculpture between it and the ankles as it descends to the heel base. The ankles protrude noticeably from the foot.

CALF SIZE

Most boots have buckle adjustments to accommodate a wide variety of calf shapes, but skiers with exceptionally large or skinny calves may need custom adjustments. A cuff that does not securely wrap the calf creates a boost lag time between leg movements and skiing. A cuff that doesn’t fit a beefy calf can be an instrument of torture, preventing the foot from laying flat in the boot and making it impossible to close the boot. A good boot technician can customize your boots with cuff padding or, in severe cases, relocation of the buckles.

To test for calf size, refer to the chart above, and at the height specified for your mondopoint size; Circle around your calf with both hands using your thumbs and index fingers.

If your fingers barely touch, your calf is in the normal range. If your fingers overlap, your calf is narrow. If they overlap so much that they meet at the first joint of your index finger, your calf is extremely narrow. If your fingers can’t touch each other, your calf is wide.