First off, my credentials. I spent nearly a decade working in a busy shop in a busy town, and fitting boots was not only a passion but something I prided myself in doing well. You don't have to take my word for it, because it doesn't really matter, but just in case you were wondering where any of this crap was coming from, now you're plenty confident. Oh and if you disagree with anything you're about to read, please resist the urge to write me and tell me about it, because frankly, I just don't care.
The first thing you need to know about fitting boots, is that you can't spend enough time on it. Your boots are absolutely the most important part of your set-up. You can be riding the best board and bindings, and even the best boots, but if they don't fit properly, your day is going to suck. There are dozens of boots by dozens of brands, they all fit differently and your feet are different from anyone else's. All you can do is try as many on as you can until finally the slipper fits. That or find yourself a good bootfitter.
The guy standing in front of the boots with a name tag and a doped-up grin on his face is not necessarily a good bootfitter. Many of those guys are “bootgetters”. Their day goes like this: “Hey shopkid... Hey, hey douchebag! If you're not too busy watching that video part for the 30th time, could you get me these in a 10?” If he does, he's a bootgetter. See how that works?
No, what you need to do is establish what kind of rider you are and what boots will match your riding style. Soft boots are for beginners and park kids, or just plain people who like soft boots. Stiff boots are for riders who charge fuckin' hard and need a boot that will stay strong when their ankle should have long-since collapsed. Think of boots like the shocks on your car. Soft boots are like a cadillac, cozy and cruisy. Stiff boots are like a porche, shred that bitch like you stole it, because you probably did. The other thing to consider is that soft boots are more forgiving, and stiff boots are more energy efficient, meaning more of the energy you put into them goes to the edge of your board. Most people are somewhere in the middle, your happy place.
A bootfitter should help you establish what kind of rider you are and what boots are built for you. Then you have to look at your foot. Some boots are narrow, some are wide, some are wide in the front but narrow around the ankle. Hopefully, your foot is somewhere in there too. With fit and performance all in mind, your bootfitter will be able to narrow your selection down. If they're not the sick leather ones that look like timberlands... Well, fuck it, if you wanted boots based on that, buy them, and go look as cool as you can standing beside your board at the bottom of the hill.
Shopguy will get you a selection of boots to try on. He might measure your foot, he might not, I don't because boots all fit a little different anyway and you can usually narrow it down pretty good based on your shoe size. Your shoes are a bigger size than your boots. Just... They are.
If shopguy doesn't first tear the liner out of the boot right away, cease taking him seriously and proceed with the rest of the fitting yourself. Pulling the liner out gives you great insight on what's going on inside the boot, which is the most important part of the boot, because that's where your foot goes. The shell, the liner, the footbed, and the lacing all work in a symphony of comfort and performance to make you shred harder and longer. Or at least they should.
Then step into the shell, and only the shell. It's not going to be comfortable, but don't be stupid. What you want to do is stand in the shell with your toes touching the front. See what you have for room behind your heel. You're looking for one to two fingers' width of space. This is the best way to fit the boot, because liners are soft and weird and are all different thicknesses and pack out differently (we'll get to packing out). One finger's width of room is good for a performance fit, two is a comfort fit. If you shred hard and don't mind spending a couple weeks with sore feet to get a really snug, tight fit, because you're aggressive and can't have extra space in your boots, the performance fit is for you. If you're a cruiser and just want your boots to fit nice, comfort fit is for you.
If you're in range, jam the liner back in and shove your hoof in there. It's gonna be tight, don't be a bitch. When you lace it up your foot will slide back and actually feel better, so do that. You want your toes to be between just brushing the front, and curling up. If you're any good at the shell-fit, you should be right there. This is also a good time to check out the flex of the boot. With the boot laced up, and flexing, you should not get any heel lift. Heel lift is the product of poor fit and is the worst ever. If you try to pull your heel up, you'll be able to no matter what, but if that's how you ride you have bigger issues. If your heel stays down when you're just flexing the boot like normal, dynamite. This is also when any major pressure points will make themselves abundantly evident. Sometimes you can deal with them, sometimes you have to move on to another boot.
So your toes are getting sore? Good. Liners are built out of a heat-sensitive foam that's designed to get softer as it heats up, and anywhere your foot is pushing on it, the foam will give. This is called “packing out” and how the boots “mold” to your feet. Some higher-end liners will even expand a little where your feet aren't touching them. This is called the Full Reach-Around. The process takes usually 5-10 rides. If your boots are extra, extra tight you can strap 'em up at home, while you're playing Modern Warfare and waiting for the snow to fall, to speed up the process. Sometimes bootfitters will use a heater to artificially heat up the boots and mold them right away. I don't, I call bullshit on those shenanigans. First of all, heating up a boot that much right away and blowing the whole liner out all at once is no good for them, and kills the life of the boot. Next, your foot is a way different shape strapped into a binding and shredding than just standing awkwardly in a shop listening to shit music with some kid staring at you asking “how do they feel..... now?” I feel that boot heaters are a cheap trick to make girls like boots because they're warm and cozy so they'll buy them right away. But hey, do what you want.
We can only dream
Footbeds - If you have an arch that looks like the Lion's Gate Bridge, it might be a good idea to look more closely at what's holding it up. A couple companies out there that I'm not sure if I'm allowed to name... Ah fuck it, Vans and 32 ship their boots with a footbed that someone actually designed on purpose. There may be other companies with quality footbeds, but if the rest of the boot looks ugly I probably didn't dig that deep into it, kinda like the mentality you ignore at the end of the night in the bar. Anyways, Vans and 32 have different levels of footbeds, they get better with the higher-pricepoint boots, but they all offer some kind of firm-but-flexible support under the arch. They also cup around the heel to keep your natural padding under the bone where it should be instead of oozing out leaving that long-healing bone exposed. There's usually some additional padding under the heel like foam or gel. If you're into ripping apart the boot anyway, pull the footbed out and see how much the brand really respects you. If it's just a thin piece-of-junk strip of foam, toss that at your bootgetter and look at aftermarket replacements. Or, better yet, throw the whole boot at him and go for something from a company who knows what they're doing!
Someone might mention 1:1 lasting, which refers to how the boots are sized and built. If you're a half-size kinda person, this is important to you. Just know that if they don't do 1:1 lasting, your 9.5 is really a 9.5 liner inside a 10 shell. It's how most ski boots are made, it's cheaper, and it means your boots will pack out more. That's all I have to say about that.
Something else to keep in mind is that your feet are probably different sizes. Haha freak!!! Most people's feet are a little different. I used to fit to my smaller foot and make the bigger one work. Then I got old and tired and sick of all that pain and started fitting my bigger foot. Figure out what works for you, I can't do everything for you.
