A boot-fitter's window

A boot shell is a very secrete place. You can see it from the outside, but it's very hard to imagine what's going on inside of it. It becomes especially hard when something is wrong with the fit and when there is a comfort issue.

In that case, you take off the boot, take off the inner-boot and the boot-fitter attempts to guess what's going on. Upon a hunch or a scientific deduction, that's when the heavy stuff gets used and the Dremel tool begins eating up that extra polyurethane that stands in the way of a sensitive small toe or an ankle bone that has grown much bigger than it should have. 

All along though, it's merely guess work that's as good as the capacity of that foot owner's to communicate and of the boot-guru to interpret!

Yesterday, as I was riding the chair after a few turns at Deer Valley Resort, I realized that my new ski boots have a see-through top cap that allows an investigative boot-fitter to see the liner and check that the toes, most of us still have, can wiggle when allowed to.

I found it to be a huge technical break-through and though it is a wonderful window into the aching feet. Now, just a clear toe box isn't nearly enough; we should demand total foot transparency!