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Vincent_Diesel

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There is so many things wrong there. :nono:

Have you been taking lessons from the Austrians again?
Bend zee knees, five dollars please.

Hmmm. New instructor in my near future I take it...

I am getting the vibe that I should be flexing/hinging the ankle to control fore/aft. That being said maybe my boots are too stiff?

What would be the downsides to a boot that is too soft, especially for a heavier person like me?
 
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Vincent_Diesel

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Don’t overthink the article. Its a marketing piece to help sell product.

Are you feeling pain or clicking in your ankle when walking in your daily shoes?


I actually feel pretty good when I walk in daily shoes, not much pain there. I feel it clicking when I do some stretches, really closing the angle of shin to ankle, like bending down to tie shoes. Sometimes a sharp pain (image attached marked with a red box). The sharp pain happens every once in a while and cannot pin point when it happens.
 

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Vincent_Diesel

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Discomfort in ankle is likely caused by hitting or rubbing on the shell. Extra work in balancing will cause muscle tiredness or soreness in calf and maybe quads. Mostly former unless your backseat.

Technique aside and going back to my boots, I forgot to mention that my boots were fitted towards more of a comfort fit NOT a performance fit. After skiing in them for 10 days they do feel less snug combined with wearing thinner socks as of late. Perhaps this is what is the root cause to pain in my ankle.
 

EricG

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I actually feel pretty good when I walk in daily shoes, not much pain there. I feel it clicking when I do some stretches, really closing the angle of shin to ankle, like bending down to tie shoes. Sometimes a sharp pain (image attached marked with a red box). The sharp pain happens every once in a while and cannot pin point when it happens.

Have you talked to a podiatrist about the foot pain during that flex? If not I’d start there. Maybe there is stretches or strengthening they could recommend.

Technique aside and going back to my boots, I forgot to mention that my boots were fitted towards more of a comfort fit NOT a performance fit. After skiing in them for 10 days they do feel less snug combined with wearing thinner socks as of late. Perhaps this is what is the root cause to pain in my ankle.

Boots do packout with use, if your in the wrong size that will need to be addressed. But address the foot pain with a trained professional before worrying if the boot is too stiff, too soft, too big, etc.
 

neonorchid

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Knees to skis, ten dollars please! :D

‘Knees to skis’ is what Eileen Schriffin told little Mika.
In inline speed skating it goes, Nose Knees to Toes = the proper skate position.

WRT ski boots I believe it's, in ski position, bend the knees, with nose in alignment to the knees flex forward, if knees go past the front of the boot the boot is too soft.

That said a softer boot (but not too soft), will be more forgiving of mistsakes, more so when you start doing bumps and trees.
However, I honestly don't know what a 100 flex would be like at the OP's weight.
An alpine boot 100 flex has not been a problem at my weight (140lbs). My Nordica Speedmachine 110 boots were adjustable to either 110 or 100 flex. I kept them at 100 and honestly couldn't tell the difference when I went to the next boot with a 120 flex (Salomon X-Max 120). In a more descent-oriented touring boot, 100 flex could be iffy, because they tend to be softer at a stated flex rating than an Alpine boot, typically, not always.
 
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RuleMiHa

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One of the worst experiences of my life was a weekend of skiing in 55* weather. I didn't get the support from my boots that I usually get in cold weather and I ended up with horrible ankle pain. I have limited dorsiflexion but that weekend, without boot support my ankles killed me. I'd gotten around 30 days in those boots before that and have skied about 50 days after that with no problems, but always in cold weather. I do blame soft boots for that ankle pain.

I don't know what's going on with you, but.................
 

rusifizio

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i think its because of your trying to compensate your backseat - you move your feet up and thus tense them
 

Andy Mink

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How much flex do you have in your ankles? Do you have a very limited range of motion or are you very flexible? At either end of the range, at your weight, a stiffer boot may be the ticket. Limited ROM means you need the boot to work with you for that limited range so you can get pressure to the ski. A very flexible ankle (me) means a softer boot will just crush because of your weight (I'm 220ish). You'll spend a lot of time way forward trying to get back over center with no help from the boot.

Another question is did you even injure your ankles? Could that be coming back to haunt you?
 

Andy Mink

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One of the worst experiences of my life was a weekend of skiing in 55* weather. I didn't get the support from my boots that I usually get in cold weather and I ended up with horrible ankle pain.
My Raptor 140 turn to mush during warmer weather. I actually end up putting the extra bolts in the spine to bump them to 150. When it's cold 130 is fine. PU shells, at least the ones I've used, seem to be very temperature sensitive. The newer materials don't seem to have such a problem.
 

dbostedo

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Just FYI, It's been almost a year since the OP last posted on the site... I wonder if he'll respond?
 

Andy Mink

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Just FYI, It's been almost a year since the OP last posted on the site... I wonder if he'll respond?
HAHA! Digging up the oldies! That's good. People are searching and going deep.
 

markojp

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The thing that doesn’t make sense to me is why would anyone want flex in a ski boot anyways? except for moments when I am out of my skis and headed to the bar. Isn’t that what walk mode is for...

If we are taught to carve, by angulating our knees, and to control fore and aft by shifting our weight back and forth along the forward axis, again using our knees, then why do we need to use our ankles? Our knees do all of the work correct? Doesn’t this negate the need for boot flex, specifically the ankle area.

It's good to be able maintain and control and close one's ankle to maintain cuff contact with the front of the boot and be able to keep your feet under you. At higher levels of skiing, subtle fore/aft adjustments inside the boot are critical to high performance skiing... even not so high performance. There are many threads that talk about this in the instruction section, or you could go straight to someone like Tom Gellie's website, sign up, and get the full meal info.
 

Wilhelmson

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Could be a coincidence with a different cause of injury. Skiing doesn't hurt my back but the long drive does.
 

hbear

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The thing that doesn’t make sense to me is why would anyone want flex in a ski boot anyways? except for moments when I am out of my skis and headed to the bar. Isn’t that what walk mode is for...

If we are taught to carve, by angulating our knees, and to control fore and aft by shifting our weight back and forth along the forward axis, again using our knees, then why do we need to use our ankles? Our knees do all of the work correct? Doesn’t this negate the need for boot flex, specifically the ankle area.

Contrary to the above, it's the ankles that are the key....kness come after being locked out in front of the boot. Being able to fully flex the ankle allows one to have enough shin pressure to really drive the front of the ski....then makes it easier to flip on edge and then creates some big angles to add kness in, etc. If the boot is too stiff, no power to the front and hate to say it (backseat) vs being way in front of the binding and actually putting big pressure on the tips.
Only moving the kness will only go so far, missing a big part of the puzzle if ankles aren't involved in a big way.

For context, if our racers don't have their knees way in front of the toe binding, they aren't flexed enough.
 

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