Cipivts wrote:
The head for sure i won't be able to use without some work...
That should be your boot. Do you know how to do a shell check? Good fitting boots for most require some grinding and or punching. What you want is a boot that fits your foot nicely assuming you did not have any protrusions. Those spots can easily be ground or punched out and then you have a very nicely fitting boot. If you buy a boot that is wide enough for your protrusions it will not closely grasp and support your foot, said another way: slop!
I wrote up some boot buying basics a few years ago when a friend of mine and his wife were going to buy boots. I sent them to a great shop that services the local Tahoe racers and they went in with my write up and they came home with great fitting boots.
Here it is. Let me write this disclaimer: always best to work with a great PMTS trained bootfitter which is a much better approach that doing this on your own but if you have to, read below:
Boot Buying Basics:
The first thing you need to know is that most people buy boots that are too big. A boot that is a little too small can be worked with and the plastic can be ground and punched and even if the boot is a little too small you have a fighting chance. A boot that is too big will always be too big and all the modifications that you can do to it are nothing more than band aids.
The next thing to remember is that we don't ski in the conditions that exist when we try on boots. Our feet expand with heat. Some people's feet expand the first day they are in altitude. My feet shrink a ton in 15 degree weather. What this means is that what feels great in the store will likely too big and sloppy in cold weather on the slopes.
The next thing to remember is that the boot liners pack out over the first 25-30 days of skiing. They will lose several millimeters of thickness. So again what feels great in the store likely will be somewhat sloppy in 15 ski days as the liner packs out.
This is the single most important thing to know about a ski boot. If it feels good and really comfortable in the store there is a 98% chance that it is too big!!
Boots in the store should feel quite tight bordering on uncomfortable but not unbearably tight. Now having said this, I think your foot is quite thin and there may be no boot that is uncomfortably tight on you. So…..
How do you avoid buying a boot that is too big? A: the shell fit. Take the liner out off every shell you try. Put your foot in and gently touch your toe/s to the front of the boot. Use a flashlight (bring a small one with you) to see how much space is behind your heel in the boot. The standard rule of thumb is that 2 cm behind the heel is a tight recreational fit and that 1 cm behind the heel is a tight race fit. I personally don't think that 1 cm is all that tight but everyone is different and I don't want you to leave with boots that will take a ton of work to be comfortable. But just so you know I ski in boots where there is no room whatsoever behind my heel in a shell fit. I have high arches so when I do a shell fit I put my custom insoles into the boot which actually shortens my foot. If you or your wife have high arches bear in mind that a custom insole inside the boot will shorten your foot as it supports the arch often by 5mm or more.
The boot guy may not love me saying this but I would aim for a 1cm fit. 1.5 is OK. By no means go over two centimeters behind the heel. Often times people measure the distance with the width of fingers. Generally the width of finger is around 1 cm (measured from the fingerprint area to the nail, actually talking the height of the finger when it is flat on a surface). You have small thin feet and you need a reasonably tight fit.
Once you have chosen a shell that fits (again no more 1-2 finger or CM behind the heel, then start to try them on with the liners.
You are going to need to be in a thin boot. Many of these are race boots. Don't be scared of race booths. For people with thin feet they are great. Flex will be the main thing to get right. Flex ratings have numbers between 60 for kids and 150 for racers. I ski in 130-150 flex boots and really can't ski in anything else. Here is another key point you are better off in slightly stiffer boots than in boots that are too soft. You can always soften a boot but you can never make it stiffer.
Women's boots are notoriously voluminous especially the softer flexing boots. I ski in a 95mm lasted boot. 95mm is the width of the boot at it;s widest point. Many Women's boots have lasts of 102mm or larger. These boot suck , are almost always too wide for the people in them and generally keep people skiing poorly. But they are comfortable because they are so fricking wide.
Lastly, there are two brands that you should avoid. The first is Tecnica. The boots have a ton of forward lean. If you are tall like me with very long femurs forward lean is not a big issue but it is for people that aren't as tall as I am. The other Brand is Fischer. Fischer race boots and some percentage of their non race boots have an abducted stance. This can work well for bowlegged people but is terrible for knocked kneed skiers. Best to just avoid them.