A Weekend of Boot Fitting.

Here at Colorado Mountain College, there are a lot of courses, many in the Ski and Snowboard Business Program, that include a weekend lab once during the semester along with the weekly lectures. This past weekend was my lab for Accelerated Boot Fitting. I would have written about this earlier but this week has been pretty hectic with homework, tests, and a trip to Keystone on Wednesday (which I will definitely be blogging about shortly).

Day 1: Insoles
The lab started bright and early at 9am Friday morning. During the lecture times on Mondays from 1-3, we have begun making our custom insoles using various materials and techniques. Each student had at least one pair of insoles started going into the lab, so a lot of the first day was spent working on those, and starting new ones. On top of that, Tim had a couple brief lectures refreshing us on how to use some of the machines as well as the techniques for getting the foot in the best position for riding. We got a break for lunch from 12-1, and even though we were scheduled to be in the lab until 5:50pm, we were done with what we were working on by 4:30.

Day 2: Liner Alterations
A huge part of boot, bigger than making your customers custom insoles, is making adjustments to their ski or snowboard boot so that they are as comfortable as possible. On day 2, we learned a number of ways to make the liners of ski boots fit all different shapes and sizes of feet. Through heating and using a small hydraulic press, we were able to stretch certain areas of the liner to fit wide feet or longer toes, as well as remove material or add material to accommodate the foot sizes. Between projects we were also able to keep working on our insoles, since we will each have three pairs by the end of the semester.

Day 3: Shell Alterations/Alignment
Sunday, the final day of the lab, consisted of quite a few different projects. Some people finished up working on liners from the day before, while others began doing similar alterations to the shell of ski boots. On top of stretching the plastic like in the liners, we had to remove material using dremel tools to grind it away, cut V's into the inner plastic to increase the flex of the boot as well as add rivets to stiffen the boot, and also remove and replace buckles, which turned out to be the hardest part. The shell adjustments took quite awhile, so at the end of the day, we touched on how to properly align a skier in the boot, and what to do to correct bad alignments, and then called it day.

I only ended up finishing two of my insoles by the end of the lab, but I have the rest of the semester to finish up the last one so there's plenty of time. It was definitely an overall fun and interesting weekend lab, and especially worthwhile if you're looking to work in a shop that does boot fitting. This Monday, we plan on visiting Surefoot where Tim used to work to check out the machines and techniques they use, as well as hear from professionals what its like working in a custom boot fitting shop, so it should be a pretty fun class on Monday. Peace.