Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Ok,bought some boots about 3 wks ago,wore them around the house for a week and decided that they needed tweaking as were giving me numbness in my toes.
Took them back and was seen by another fitter who was suprised that I had been sold the Soloman Mynx boots as they were far to narrow for my large square feet !
So he suggested that I swap them for the Saloman Divine 10.
These new boots felt a little roomier around the toe area, however I did notice a cramp like sensation after wearing them for about 10 mins. I continued to wear the boots around the house for 20 mins each day in the hope that they would give a little.
I thought that the best way to see if they were suitable were to give them a real test, so booked an hour session at castleford escape.
I managed about 25 minutes before I had to come off the slope due to terrible cramp across the width of my feet.
Sorry for the long tale lol, i'm getting to the point now .
So, I cut short my hour so I could pop into the shop so I could tell them ,and show them the problem area.
I was told by the staff that due to the time, they wouldn't look at my boots as they would be closing in 55 mins.
I can understand that they would'nt want to start a boot fitting from scratch at this time, but felt it was pretty poor when I had alraedy spent £250 with them and wanted to ask about having the boot blown.
Anyway, been to another shop today to look for snowboard boots for my kids and happened to mention my problem with the new boots.
The boot fitter, who I have to say was vey helpful,measured my feet and has said that I am a size 27.
The boots I was sold are a size 26 !
So, what do I do ?
Who is right and who is wrong ?I was told that despite being a UK 8 i was a size 26 as they should be snug fitting
Should I ask to be measured again at the place I bought the boots ?
Will blowing the boots solve the problem ?
I'm just so fed up with the damn boots now . I really struggled to pay for them, but hubby knew how much pain I was in with rental boots so told me I could get them.
What should I do ?

Ok without seeing your feet it is impossible to say what is going on...BUT........the difference between the minx and the devine is about 4mm in width [quite a lot in ski boot and pain terms] the best thing to do to start with is to carry out a shell check, remove the liner from the boot, and place you foot in the empty shell, with your toes just tickling the front how much space do you have behind your heel 6-10mm race fit 10-15 performance fit 15-25 comfort...anything more bucket. width wise a few mm is enough as the liner will pack down

ignor the guy saying you measure 27 therefore you need 27 the size is purly a starting point, it is nothing more than a number on the box besides the devine is pretty roomy as boots go.

have you got a footbed of some description it may be that your foot is collapsing in the boot and causing the cramp, it could be that you have a lack of flexion in the calf and this is casuing your foot to rotate in the boot and cause the cramp..... stretching the boot might help, but only if the foot is tight in the shell, if there is space when you do the shell check then stretching the shell will only serve to allow your foot to slide into the stretch, you would have much more success with a footbed and adjusting the cuff canting of your boot to align it with your leg

as i have said it is impossible to say without seeing the foot and the boot but it sounds like shop 1 needs to educate it's fitters and teach them to sing off the same hymn sheet as regards to measuring feet and their knowledge of selecting boots to suit foot shapes, they could also do with a customer service lesson... and shop 2 well their staff need to go back to boot school

hope this helps

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated

Lizzisnow- Going to pop back to shop today and try and get this sorted once and for all !

Colin- Thankyou so much for your input, I was hoping that you would see my post and offer some advice
I have heat molded footbeds in,and when the shop fitted me and did the shell check, I had about 15 ml gap at back and maybe a couple of ml each side.
I have quite high in-steps so don't know if that has anything to do with my problems.
When I've had boots on for about 10 mins my feet kind of feel like i'm putting my weight through on the outside edges.
Maybe the foot beds aren't quite right for me ?
When my feet were aching and crampy,I managed to transfer my weight so it was more on the insides of my feet and it did ease the cramp to some extent(not sure if I've explained that right !)
I know it's difficult for you to comment without seeing my manky square feet lol ! ,but is it likely that I will manage to get my boots sorted and have a comfortable week ski-ing in March ?

Rach- Blimey ! It's a nightmare this boot malarky- all we want is some boots that are comfy. My daughter was measured last night for snowboard boots and apparently her feet are massively different in size-a 1/2 a size in fact so her boot nightmare is about to begin.
Good luck in your quest for comfy boots too !

comfort in ski boots is not something you should have to fight for, it should come as standard with every boot fitted, the size of your boot sounds about right much less and you were aiming towards a high performance fit but 15mm is a great shell check.... the boot may be a touch narrow but more likely is either you have a lack of flexion at the ankle caused by tight calf muscles or your foot is rotating you onto the outside edge due to your biomechanics...... the high instep may be a clue to the calf being tight but again this is suposition, to solve these is probably beyond basic boot fitting but getting the footbed correct and stretching the calf is a start, you may require a heel lift and the footbed will need to either be adjusted or repaced to help support the foot in the way it should. where are you baesd, i may have someoen near by who can help

if i read correctly your daughter is 1/2 size difference in her feet...beleive me that is not a lot, it is seldom i see someone who has two feet the same, when it gets to a difference of 1 & 1/2 sizes then start to panic

Hi Colin,
Went back to shop last night and walked around in my boots for about 20 mins, then the fitter had a look at my feet. They were pretty red along the outside edges where the pressure is greatest,so it was decided that they would stretch the boots a bit to see if this helps.
They fitter gave me a 100% guarentee that he would ensure that my boots are comfortable for when I go to Bansko-so lets see !

The footbed has a grey thing attached to it that has been molded and filed down in places. Is this a heel lift ?
If it is a flexion problem,how will I know ?
Will I have any pointers to it being that ?

I live in Wakefield West Yorkshire ,so if you can recommend someone nearby that would be great.

Thanks for your time and help, I really appreciate it

the grey bit which is ground down is the stabiliser block for the footbed, so not it is not the heel lift, if can be used as one if it is not ground as much, but normally a heel lift is added in addition to this.

how do you know if you have a flexion problem??? well can you squat down and sit on your calves without your heels leaving the ground. the pointer is the redness and pressure on the outside of the foot...depending on how much space there is in the shell, if there is 6mm or more of width in the shell for your foot then it may be that the foot is rotating into the side of the boot to compensate for the lack of flexion, if this is happening then the key is to stretch the calf, lift the heel and rebuild the footbed to accomodate this rotation

who are you seeing at present, i can't think of anyone in that area