Sunrises Boots

[nzlegend 1]

Hey Sunrise last month you had your long dilemma with boots. How did it all go in the end?

Did it all work out for you?

[sunrise 0]

Hey kamoshika,

 

I wrote a bit about it on the rusutsu thread after I got back, but just to fill you in, I hooked up with Higuma's guys at ICI in Sapporo (still eternally grateful for that as the Tokyo guys had me terribly confused due to my lack of experience in boot buying), I even got to meet Higuma for about 5-10 minutes cos he popped into the shop while I was there.

 

I wound up getting a pair of Rexxam Z95s - mens boots as they seemed to be the best compromise out of the choices I had. The guys in the shop felt that both types of Head boots I tried on were too small (shell wasn't, but liner seemed to be as my toes were sticking out the front of the liner), and the Technicas were just too wide.

 

After all that, the Rexxams turned out to be a tad big. Extremely snug when trying them on, but on the snow in the colder temperatures there was small movement in them, widthwise, and also in the heel and upper foot. After a week I went back to Sapporo and got them tweaked with extra padding, and this was a vast improvement, but still not perfect and especially in the last 10 or so days I had to unbuckle my boots everytime I got on the lift because I had to have them done up so damned tight while skiing. I was able to still enjoy myself and have a great time and make some good strides with my skiing - the boots were advanced skier's boots, but for sure I want to get properly fitted for a good pair of women's boots next time I buy, which will probably be next time I'm outside japan, since I've not seen any advanced womens' boots here in the shops (let alone finding them in my size here). In retrospect, now that I've learnt just how much more expanded your foot is in the ski shop compared to out in the cold on the slopes, I might have been more inclined to give the Head FR (mens) boots a go, or even the Head Edge's (womens), which were my other choices. But I'm kinda glad I didn't get the Edges because the flex was a fair bit softer and I found out that I definitely prefer a harder flexing boot (after trying out the hard and soft options on the Rexxams).

 

It's so hard to tell what's going to work on the slopes while you're in the shop. Especially since I just don't have enough experience with this, though I'm sure I know have slightly more of a clue than I did before. I also got new footbeds and these were definitely a big improvement over the old ones, but I'd like to have a full-on alignment done next time like you seem to be able to do in the States, but doesn't seem to be available here.