Gear Genius

7 Tips for Finding the Perfect Pair of Ski Boots

2010-11-07T20:55:00.002-07:00

Fitting ski boots is a big deal. Ski boots are hands down the most important purchase you’ll make when it comes to ski gear. Your boots are the connection of your skis to your body, so a good connections is critical. Here are 7 tips that are sure to help you find the right boots.

1 - Take your time. Make sure you have plenty of time when you go to try on boots. You’re going to need to spend time in each pair of boots that you try on and a quick trip to your local ski shop during lunch generally doesn’t provide adequate time.

2 - Go to a shop you trust. Lots of stores sell boots, but not every store knows how to sell boots. Go to a shop you trust that has a knowledgeable sales staff. Boot fitting is both an art and a skill and not everyone who sells boots knows what their doing. You’ll know if the sales person who is helping you is a ‘boot fitter’ based on the level of service you receive.

3 - Bring your socks. Most ski shops will have socks you can use when trying on boots, but lets be honest, they’re gross. Even if you’ve been told they were recently washed, they probably weren’t. So here’s a better idea, bring your own. This way you know who’s feet have been in them and you’ll have an even more accurate feel as to how they’ll fit when you’re on the hill with them.

4 - Both feet. Always try on both boots. Just about everyone has a foot that’s slightly larger or smaller than the other one. I recommend buying boots to the smaller foot if you’re going for a more performance fit; this way when the boots packs out a bit your small foot won’t be swimming in the boots.

5 - Keep an open mind. Don’t pigeon hole yourself with a specific brand. Find the boot that fits your feet and skiing style best, regardless of the brand.

6 - Plan for some pack out. The padding in ski boots will compress a bit after you’ve skied in the 6-10 times. Depending on what type of padding they have they can pack out a 1/4 to 1/2 size. Keep that in mind so you don’t buy boots that end up just getting bigger.

7 - Give them a chance. There’s a good chance you’re probably buying these boots at the beginning of the season. Give your feet a chance to get to know your boots. The boots will need to be broken in a bit and your feet will need to be reminded what it’s like to wear ski boots (especially after a summer of flip flops and Chacos). One easy way is to wear them around the house before your first day on snow with them.

Finding the right ski boot is magical moment, when foot and boot come together in perfect harmony. These tips should help your feet find the love of their lives. Just remember, like most romantic stories there might be some bumps along the road and a couple of wrong turns, but with a little persistence you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Labor Day

2009-09-10T21:33:00.003-06:00

Labor Day has a feeling. For some it's sadness as summer comes to an end. For others it's anxiousness as school starts back up. But for many, it's excitement. I'm not sure how it happened but Labor Day is the official kick off to the ski and snowboard season. It's the day that we began to keep track of overnight temperatures and we start reading up on what a bunch of farmers have put in their almanac.

Only a bunch of crazies would start counting down to something that was still months away.
We're like kids waiting for Christmas. We go to movie premieres and torture ourselves by watching people ride in locations we'll never to able to go, with the ability and skill we secretly think we have, all the while it being 80 plus degrees outside. We take every opportunity we have to go into every shop in town that sells something related to snow. We start wearing hoodies and jackets way before we actually need to. For us, fall is the longest 3 to 4 months known to man. But like most things that we have to wait for in life, it always ends up being worth it.

Let us know what you do in anticipation of snow flurries?

Blizzard of AAHHH's

2008-11-17T13:42:00.004-07:00

Ski and board movies have changed a lot over the years. First there was Dick Barrymore and Warren Miller bring skiing to the masses, but the movie that really changed the game was Greg Stump's Blizzard of AAHHH's. No matter how you slide on snow, you owe a lot to this movie. It took ski movies out of resorts and took them to places that people dreamed of skiing. No more Sun Valley and Vail. Blizzard of AAHHH's took us to the cliffs of Squaw Valley, the powder of Snowbird, and the steeps of Chamouix. We got to watch Scot Schmidt, Glen Plake, and Mike Hattrup all ski before the rest of the ski world knew who they were. Blizzard of AAHHH's is one of the few ski movies that has an underlying story and isn't just ski porn. It's still, to this day, the ski movie that most ski movies are compared to and judged against.

So if you've never seen Blizzard of AAHHH's I strongly urge to go out and find it, it's 45 minutes that will change your ski movie watching forever.

Fall

2008-11-17T12:52:00.007-07:00

Fall is a unique season. There's still plenty to do and see, but it seems like for many of us, it's just a waiting game. October starts with enthusiasm for fall activities but quickly fades. What was once an afternoon of mountain biking and climbing turns into a rainy afternoon of watching ski and snowboard movies. That's when the madness begins. You start watching so many ski movies that you begin to imagine things. You think about waking up to new snow on your lawn only to see your neighbor outside leaving to work, in shorts. You hear rumors of cold fronts coming in from the north and tropical lows from the pacific and you began to do the math in your head. Cold air + warm moist air = SNOW! But who are you kidding, it's still the middle of October and it doesn't snow in October, does it?

City of Rocks & Castle Rock

2008-09-29T23:20:00.005-06:00

In Southern Idaho there's a place that is heaven on earth to anyone who considers themselves someone who enjoys scaling rock. The Genius Gang and some friends had the opportunity to visit this mythical place a couple of weekends ago. After driving an hour and a half into the middle of nowhere some of the most amazing granite rock formations began to appear. It very well could have been a mirage, but we had a map, and we were pretty sure we were headed in the right direction, so that kind of ruled out the whole mirage idea.

We had the unfortunate but predictable luck of arriving a bit later than we had hoped. So after a quick dinner and some quality camp fire time it was off to bed. The next morning, after a quick breakfast (in the rain) and discussion about how much it had rained the night before, we were greeted by some of the most intimidating sport and trad climbing any of us could have ever imagined. Preferring to stick to sport climbing we headed about 10 minutes down the road from City of Rocks to Castle Rock. After a lot of bouldering around, trying to find the routes we had seen in our climbing guide book we finally came upon a nice little canyon with plenty of routes for everyone in our group.

While these routes might not have been the hardest, they were amazingly fun, making even the newest of climbers feel like Chris Sharma. Big jug style holds could be found one after another with foot holds a plenty. The granite rock proved to be sandpaper for our climbing shoes giving everyone an extremely false sense of security, even after an afternoon rain/wind storm made everything good and slick.

Eight hours later, with fatigued arms and legs, ripped open fingers, and at least three of us bleeding, we made it back to camp for some more camp fire fun and good eats.

If you live even remotely close to City of Rocks I highly recommend you make the pilgrimage out to the middle of nowhere and discover for yourself your own personal climbing paradise. Don't forgt to book a campsite in advance. One bad thing about paradise is you normally are forced to share it.

3-2-1... Dropping

2008-09-08T23:49:00.003-06:00

About a week ago our resident kayak genius (Pitt) took things up a notch. We'll let Pitt tell the tail.

Aug 30 2008
Henry's fork Idaho.
We cruised through the land of potatoes to get our huck on in the basalt canyons of Idaho. We spent the morning running the upper drops of sheep falls and 2 other no name drops. They all are class 5 drops that pack a little punch to get you ready for the big one. The best part about the run that day is that we saw 3 bears and 5 moose in the river. It seemed like every corner lead us to more wildlife. After a good morning, that helped to get our adrenaline pumping we approached Upper Mesa falls. It is 119 feet of pure vertical gnarliness. It is un-runable in a kayak, but it is quite the sight. As you approach the horizon line of the big falls, getting ready for the portage, it is hard not to let your imagination run wild as you feel the mist from the falls on your face. We got out and portaged, using the boardwalk that was full of tourists. The camera bulbs were flashing as we WALKED by them carrying our kayaks. You could see their imaginations going crazy too. After telling about a hundred people that we are not running the upper falls, we scrambled down the steep hillside to get back in the water.
We reached lower mesa falls and found two other boaters from Montana there. They were pondering the massive river right line, but eventually decided they were not feeling it. We scouted our lines as the film crew (our wives) set up to get the shot. Andy was the first to take it from the top tier (20 fter). It was bonier than we thought and he had a little difficulty. He pulled it together and ran the second tier (~30 fter) clean. The rest of us followed suit Clay next and then me putting in just below the top tier. The feeling of leaving that lip is incredible. The idea that you are riding the energy of just a small part of one of the greatest creative forces on earth is mind blowing. We opted for the long paddle out instead of hiking our boats up the mountain. It was a good day and everyone was stoked!!

Cheers,
Pitt

Check out the video:

August Afternoons

2008-08-24T23:43:00.005-06:00

I'm always torn in August. On one hand winter is right around the corner and that means SNOW! But on the other hand, summer is always so much fun. There's just so much you can do and never enough time to do it. That being said, I never know if I should be cursing the last few hot days of the summer or savor them and wish for more.

An old friend was in town this weekend so we went out on the boat for some good times. We all knew he had spent a summer working at a shop in Oregon that had a water sports pro shop many years ago. But I guess we kind of forgot about that. After a little bit of warming up to get his 'shredding legs' back under him, he reminded us of what we had forgot. Check it out.

August Afternoons from Gear Genius on Vimeo.

Back to the basics

2008-07-22T23:28:00.007-06:00

When was the last time you took one of your favorite hikes? A few of us at GearGenius.com had the chance this weekend to take things back to the basics. We did a hike that most of us had not done for a number of years. It's become a little 'too' popular over the last few years and gets heavy traffic from a lot of the local community, but having a bit of time last weekend (and the boat being in the shop), we went for it. It's amazing what you can find after a 45 minute drive and approximately 2 miles of hiking. Flowers were in full bloom and the scenery was beautiful. It's not a bad idea to go back to your roots and do something you haven't done in a while. It will make you appreciate the simple things in life again.

Wake in the Woods III

2008-07-07T00:00:00.003-06:00

Wake in the Woods is BACK! We're excited to be a sponsor this year of the best tournament in the Utah/Idaho area. Check out www.wakeinthewoods.com for more info.

Hyperlite Demo

2008-06-05T22:55:00.006-06:00

June can be unpredictable in Utah and Tuesday was a prime example of the type of spring we're having. Hyperlite rep Scotty Barone was in town with pro rider JD Webb and all the new Hyperlite boards for a few brave souls to sample. When it was time to ride the cold weather wasn't cold enough to stop any of the crew from jumping into the brand new 40th anniversary Mastercraft X-star to try out Hyperlite's latest.

With the air temperature barely hitting 60 degrees and the water coming in slightly higher than that at 64 degrees, I think it's safe to say we've all had better days for riding. But it's not everyday you get to ride with a Hyperlite pro at your home lake. JD did a great job of giving pointers to those who were struggling and took the time to chill with those that came to enjoy the not so sunny day. We'd like to thank Scott and JD for cruising out to our neck of the woods and putting up with the less the perfect conditions.

Stay tuned for more on water activities coming this summer!

A year later...

2008-05-21T22:56:00.002-06:00

Nearly a year later and this time we really mean it, it's go time. Check out the new site www.geargenius.com that has been nearly a year in the making. There's still a few bugs we're trying to get ironed out, but we should be at 110% in no time. Check back often.

-Rock out til ya clock out!

The Time is Now!

2007-06-27T00:21:00.000-06:00

Gear Genius is a GO! Be the first to participate in this new, never before seen, web experience for any one who likes to live and play outdoors. Check back soon for future postings and the launch of our future site geargenius.com.