One morning this week I got some skiing in before work. Afterward while driving back (I drive with my boots on early morning ski days) my problem area was hurting as it usually does after a couple of hours after being in the boot. I was walking really tenderly and I knew that that was the last straw. I couldn't go out again in those boots the way they were.
I got skunked by a shop in SLC not once but twice ("no you don't need to make an appt. Just come by." I come by. "Oh we're really swamped, come try again next week.") so I went north to Alpine Sports and they hooked me up! They don't really sell any touring stuff, but Jeff is an awesome bootfitter and touring boots aren't any harder to fix than a regular boot. We talked about punching out the shell to relieve the pain from my protruding styloid process of my 5th metatarsals (Hi Keith!) on both feet. The liner is thick and he suggested we try cutting a "window" (a quick fix and cheap) to relieve some of the pressure before we punch the shell (more expensive and time consuming). I really think this worked. I haven't ski tested the modification, but wearing the boot I couldn't feel the problem area anymore. Nice!
Note: The window only cut the outer layers of material off the liner. the inner part of the liner was intact. The window just reduces the thickness of the liner in the problem area.
This is something that would be super easy to do with just an exacto knife and a few spare minutes. I would have done it myself but I was so clueless about what to do.
Unfortunately for me, no skiing time today because of the boot issues. Instead, I went snowshoeing with some friends up to Thurston Peak. I decided I hate snowshoeing. We ran into some weather up high.
BOOT UPDATE
I went out before work for a few hours today (2/24) and am happy to report that the fix worked! My feet are happy. No pain or discomfort. Woot woot.
