Ski Boot Fitting in Minneapolis & the Twin Cities

George, one of The Ski Monster's founders, grew up skiing and racing in Minnesota. The obsession with ski equipment that eventually became The Ski Monster started here.

After opening our Boston store in 2014 and fitting tens of thousands of feet, bringing The Ski Monster back to Minnesota made a lot of sense.

And ski boot fitting is a huge part of what we wanted to bring with us.

We don't start by asking for your shoe size and pulling three boots off the wall.

We start with you.

How We Fit Ski Boots

Before we start trying on ski boots, we want to understand your feet and your skiing.

That includes:

    •    Why you're looking for new ski boots

    •    Foot length and width

    •    Instep and overall foot volume

    •    Ankle mobility and dorsiflexion

    •    Pronation and supination

    •    Foot structure and rigidity

    •    Previous injuries or surgeries

    •    Existing boot problems

    •    How and where you ski

    •    What you want your new boots to do better

Only then do we start narrowing down boots.

Length and width matter. They're just nowhere close to the whole story.

How Should Ski Boots Fit?

Closer than most people think.

Your heel should feel secure and pressure should be relatively uniform around the foot. We want you connected to the shell without creating unnecessary pain.

We describe it as a firm handshake around your foot.

One of the most common ski boot problems we see is simply a boot that's too big.

Extra space might make a boot feel comfortable when you're standing in our Plymouth store, but it becomes a problem when you're skiing. Your foot moves, your heel lifts and you start trying to stabilize yourself inside the boot.

That can contribute to toe bang, arch pain, shin pain, fatigue and a general lack of control.

We can make a ski boot bigger where your foot needs more room.

Making a ski boot smaller is considerably harder.

The Right Flex Isn't Just About Ability

You'll see a lot of ski boot flex charts that basically say:

Beginner = soft.

Intermediate = medium.

Expert = stiff.

We think that's an oversimplification.

Your ankle mobility, anatomy, size, skiing and the construction of the boot all matter.

Regardless of ability level, the ski boot still needs to keep you balanced and transfer energy into the ski.

A boot that's too soft can require excessive movement before the cuff properly engages the shell. A boot that's too stiff for the skier can create its own problems.

We're looking for the boot that works with you, not the number a generic flex chart says you should buy.

Footbeds and Ski Boot Modifications

The right ski boot is the starting point.

From there, our Twin Cities bootfitters can address specific fit issues through footbeds, liner work, heat molding and shell modifications when they're needed.

The order matters.

We don't want to start punching and grinding a shell until we understand what your foot is doing inside the boot. Stabilizing the foot can change its position and completely change where pressure occurs.

The goal isn't to modify as much as possible.

It's to do what's actually necessary to make the boot work.