Did you come here from a link on another website? See page bottom for latest version of this page. This site is not associated with any ski area. Use of any page
means you accept our Site Use Agreement.

   "SKIING IS A SLIDING SPORT":
 Conventional Skiing Wisdoms (CSW's) 

by Bill Jones, Ski Instructor
Certified Professional Ski Instructor (Registration #110478), Level III
How to reserve private ski lessons with Bill Jones

CSW #32: "Footbeds in my ski boots are not important and neither is boot alignment

Footbeds inserted into the bottoms of ski boot liners hold the feet in position so that they may accurately transmit pressure to the bottoms, sides, and fronts of ski boots and thus to the skis. Without them, the foots' arches may be in a poor position to do this, for individual's feet may have high or low arches and the foot when weihghted may tip outward (pronation) or inward (suppination). All 3 images here are of right foot.

Our leg alignments differ, too: bow-legged, knock-kneed, straight-legged. And one leg may differ from the other. When we flex our alignments may change based on differences in muscle strength or flexibility of joints on the different sides. And we may have a shorter leg, perhaps due to spinal curvature or because a thigh or lower leg on one side is not the same as on the other. Individuals, too, have thigh- and lower-leg lengths that vary among them; because these bones act as levers different results will occur when they are moved into varying positons.

Leg alignments are further discussed at Gender and Skiing, under the section "Physical/Anatomical Factors"

All these variable affect how our skis get positioned on the snow as we move our bodies while skiing, and therefore how our skis behave.

Better boots have built-in adjustment options to change the angle of the boot cuffs so that they match the angles of your legs. Each leg may require a different angle. Or, you may be unusual and not require such an adjustment. The boot soles should be perpendicular to the lines from the centers of your knees to your second toe (next to your big toe) to allow optimum edging. If the line goes elsewhere, a process called canting is called for in which the boot sole is tilted to bring the lines to where they belong. Again, each leg and foot may require different amounts of canting. Most people require this adjustment in order to edge well. Canting can be done experimentally with temporary shims under the boot or permanently by grinding boot soles or by permanent adjustments to binding angles. See http://www.bootfitters.com/find-shop: exits for info on picking a bootfitter in various areas. A bootfitter I have used is Jeff Bergeron at Breck Sports,127 South Main Street, Breckenridge, CO 80424 (www.bootfixation.com); make an appointment to visit: (970) 409-8882.

main CSW contents
prior CSW #31: "Put (or keep) the weight on the balls of the feet"
next CSW #33: "Always ski in balance"

"SKIING IS A SLIDING SPORT"--a skiing web manual:     Skiing Web Manual Contents   Why Read This Skiing Web Manual That First Skiing Lesson  A Little Skiing History  Motion in Skiing  CONVENTIONAL SKIING WISDOMS  Skier Excuses   Fear in Skiing  Conditioning for Skiing   Equipment and Technique  Skiing Equipment  How Skis Work   How to Develop Balance on Skis  A Skiing Turn Simplified  The Final Skiing Skill: pressure management  Tactics for Terrains and Snow Textures and Racing  Skiing Tips and Tales--a potpourri  Exercises for Developing Skiing Skills   Children and Skiing  Gender & Skiing   Skiing Ethics and Survival  Glossary  Skiing Environment   Acknowledgements SkiMyBest Website Contents  

This "CSW #32: Footbeds...'" page last modified November 17, 2021. Did you come here from a link on another website? For latest version of this page, copy to your browser: http://www.SkiMyBest.com/skiCSW28.htm Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. William R Jones.