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Bigtinnie

Formerly 'sbooker' in another world.
Skier
Joined
Aug 20, 2016
Posts
221
Location
Brisbane Australia
We're tourist skiers from sub tropical Australia and we usually rent boots and skis but we've been doing a fair bit of skiing the last few years so it makes sense to buy boots (for us adults anyway - not so much the kids as they are growing).
Our next time skiing isn't until January and we're heading to Europe this year after a number of years skiing Canada and the US. Would it be wise buying boots in Europe knowing that we won't be in any one area for long? Would this make boot fitting difficult? Or should we wait until we go a a skiing holiday where we'll be in one locality for an extended period so we can have adjustments made to the boots by the one boot fitter? Or is it acceptable to buy boots from one place and have different boot fitters do adjustments.
Sorry if this is a naive question.
 

James

Out There
Instructor
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,442
It's best to have time for adjustments when you'll be some where for a bit. But, if you're always moving around, get some when you can. Early season is best for stock.
It's ok to have adjustments made by someone else. (Plenty of prima donnas available worldwide).
 

Magi

Instructor
Instructor
Joined
Apr 8, 2017
Posts
404
Location
Winter Park, Colorado
It's best to have time for adjustments when you'll be some where for a bit. But, if you're always moving around, get some when you can. Early season is best for stock.
It's ok to have adjustments made by someone else. (Plenty of prima donnas available worldwide).

Seconding this.

I'll also add that you should go in knowing the basics of how to fit a boot (what is mondo size, how to do a basic shell fit, reasonable flex range for you).

Some personal lessons:
Boots should be purchased from and fitted by someone whose sole job, for at least the winter, is bootfitting (and who ideally lives/works at a mountain, not in a city). You should (ideally) have a recommendation for, and an appointment with someone by name. You should be incredibly careful (aka reschedule) if the person recommended to you by name is not the one that fits you. Recommendations from local racers/instructors/patrollers on where they go and who they see is also a good idea.
 

PTskier

Been goin' downhill for years....
Pass Pulled
Joined
Jun 16, 2017
Posts
583
Location
Washington, the state
If you can have the seller do the adjustments, expect (or negotiate) the adjustments at no additional charge. If you have someone else do the adjustments, expect to pay for the service. As noted above, the knowledge and dedication of the individual doing the adjustments is critical and really difficult to know in advance.

There are some good basic rules for buying boots when an informed buyer knows more than an uninformed sales person.
Here's some information to get you started:
http://lous.ca/
https://goo.gl/yAuWN2
 

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