LENGTH

All ski boot manufacturers, except Lange and Raichle, have in the past few years begun manufacturing their boots in mondopoint sizes. That’s simply a tech term for the metric length of the innerboot cavity, expressed in centimeters.

To find you mondopoint size, place a metric ruler on a hard surface floor with the “zero” end against the wall.

Place one heel against the wall and read your foot length at the tip of your big toe to closest millimeter mark. That’s your mondopoint size. (To determine your corresponding U.S. size, add together the first two digits of your mondopoint size. If your mondopoint size ends in.5 add ½ to the result. The formula works up until 29.5. A size 30 is U.S. 12.) Then measure your other foot. Left and right foot lengths often vary by half-size (a difference of more than a half-size may be the result of leg length discrepancy, which could require medical attention). If your feet indeed measure to different lengths, always try to fit the smaller foot, and have a boot technician customize the other boot accommodate the longer foot. That ensures maximum control.

Remember, the mondopoint size of your foot only represents a starting point for your search. Because of the other last characteristics (the “last” refers to the shape of the liner) and type of padding used, you should always try on boots smaller than your measured foot size, and never buy boots larger than your street shoe.

A good gauge for weather a boots is in your size range is to slip your foot into the shell with the innerboot removed. Slide your foot forward until your longest toe just touches the front of the boots. If you have ½ – 1 inch of space behind your heel (for top experts, ¼ – 3/8 inch), you’re in the ballpark.

WIDTH

To find your width, stand with the metric ruler centered beneath the ball of your foot. Read the width to closest millimeter, and check the chart below.

Read down the first column of the chart to your mondopoint length, and read across to find the closest measurement to your metric width. Read up to determine whether your foot is narrow, medium or wide.

TOE SHAPE

The arc of your toes dictates how easily you’ll fit into the toe box of a ski boot. Most ski boots are designed to accommodate rounded toe lies (see illustration).

To achieve the best performance fit, skiers with angular toe lies should start with snug-fitting boots, and have a boot tech stretch the bit toe area of the liner and/or shell. Skiers with square toe lies should look for boots with wider toe boxes.

It’s fairly common for the second toe to be longer than the first (this is called a Morton toe). In this case, your fitter should put you in a shell designed to accommodate your big toe and stretch the liner and/or shell to make room for the elongated second toe.

INSTEP HEIGHT

Instep heights is perhaps the most crucial fit area in a ski boot. Skiers with excess volume in the instep area, for example, tend to clamp down tight on the second buckle to secure the foot. This can compress veins and nerves on the top of the foot, causing numbness, cold toes or pain under the ball of the foot.

The easiest way to gauge whether your instep is high, normal, low, is to compare your foot with illustrations below, and make a visual assessment.

To determine your arch height, sprinkle a generous layer of baby powder on the floor. With bare feet, stand still and relaxed in the powder on the floor. Then step back and check your prints against the illustrations below. Take prints of both feet: they can differ. A big difference between heights of the two arches can be the result of a leg length discrepancy or injury. The problem can usually be solved with custom footbeds and/or properly sized hell lift, but the device should be prescribed by an orthopedist, podiatrist or chiropractor.

THE HEEL REGION

The area from your ankles rearward is a crucial fit region if you’re to maximize on-hill performance. A loose fit in the rear permits the heel to lift during turn initiation and slip forward during the finish of a turn. To determine your rear-foot shape, stand up and look straight down at your heel.

With most feet, the ankle nodes and heel base are nearly identical in width. A wide ankle, for example, normally accompanies a wide heel, and the Achilles tendon will be almost invisible to the eye. A wide heel tends to mask the ankle nodes, which will appear plump and round. If you try to place a foot with a wide heel in a boot with a narrow heel pocket, it won’t sit properly, and this permits heel lift.

A low-volume heel has a thin Achilles tendon, which usually protrudes from the foot and creates a deep sculpting between it and the ankles as it drops to the heel base. The ankles protrude noticeably from the foot.

CALF SIZE

Most boots have buckle adjustments to accommodate a wide variety of calf shapes, but skiers with exceptionally large or slender calves may need custom adjustments. A cuff that doesn’t wrap the calf securely creates impulse lag time between leg and ski movements. A cuff that won’t accommodate a beefy calf can be an instrument of torture that prevents the foot from sitting flat in the boot and makes it impossible to close the boot. A good boot technician can customize your boots with cuff padding or, in severe cases, relocation of buckles.

To test for calf size, check the chart above and, at the height specified for your mondopoint size; encircle your calf with both hands using your thumbs and index fingers.

If your fingers just touch, your calf is in the normal range. If your fingers overlap, your calf is narrow. If they overlap so much that they meet at your index finger’s first joint, your calf is extremely narrow. If your fingers can’t touch, your calf is wide.