Yeah, I know it's been done before but people are always asking where the good bootfitters are.

Now I use a former Glaswegian (Colin) who for some reason has managed to end up in Bicester, fine of you're willing to travel but where in Scotland, and most particularly Aviemore, has an excellent boot fitting service.

I know Mountain Spirit are great for Telemark and touring boots (I presume not for Alpine boots though) and Nevisport are, or so I've been told, not so brilliant and I think a number of peope have had very good experiences at Ellis Brigham but who would you recommend and is there anyone/anywhere else in Aviemore or area that should be in the list of recommendations?

Apart from that where else in Scotland and/or the North or England is very good for Alpine boot fitting? (Please don't just list the shops that say they offer boot fitting, I'm looking for personal experience, names of good fitters and, if possible, what they do and reasons why it's good.

EDITED TO INCLUDE:

From the discussion below we now have the following recommended list* (see date of last edit below):

Scotland
•Brighams @ Xscape, Glasgow - fitter: Tom (guy with ginger hair - anyone else?)
•Brighams in Aviemore - fitter: Michael (anyone else?)
•Brighams in Fort William - fitter: Ben (anyone else?)
•Craigdon Inverness - fitter: unknown (2 diferent females both recommended)

North of England
Back country UK in Ilkley, Yorkshire (mostly back country but some Alpine) - fitter: unknown (anyone got a name?)

Please add comments about your bootfitting experiences, +ve or -ve to the thread and I'll update the list as and when appropriate.

* NOTES: I have only included places that have positive comments from people with personal experience of them and that also don't have negative comments cancelling out any positives.



Edited 5 times. Last edit at 15.56hrs Sat 6 Nov 10 by roga.

Blues in edinburgh do boot fitting-also craigdon MTN sports in perth (and maybe banks ski shop) probably do it.

Ah but Andy the question is are they any good!

There are loads of places that do bootfitting in England but there are only 2/3 places that seem halfway decent and of those only one, Colin @ Solutions4Feet in Bicester, seems to get anywhere close to 100% success. I say close to because I have a very awkward colleague at the dry slope (personality rather than feet although the feet might be very awkward too) who swears he still can't wear a pair of boots Colin did for him. For my part I have incredibly awkward feet and Colin os the only personn who has ever been able to provide me with properly fitting boots, I've tried loads of other places but they were all an absolute disaster!

So, I know shops say they boot fit but are they actually any good? Is there anyone in Scotland who gets close to the success rate that Solutions4Feet do?

Roga
what you after ??? a pure alpine boot ??

you'd be better off getting a decent touring set up that way you can mix it up if it gets busy on piste etc

you'll not go wrong with the choice at Mtn Spirit in Avie and the service is hard to better.

hth

eurotele, I have a boot fitter I'm happy with and willing to travel to - point is he's near Oxford (as explained above) and travelling there is not a practical option for most people further north so I want to know where the decent bootfitters are in Scotland (and/or maybe even the north of England, although I don't think there are any good ones there).

When I'm instructing at Cairngorm I get asked about boot fitting by clients and also people ask on forums too - at the moment all I can say is "I think there's a good bloke at Brighams in Aviemore, not sure who he is or if anyone else there is any good but you might get lucky and get him". If they ask about Tele or touring (far less likely) I tell 'em to go to Mountain Spirit or Cairngorm Mountain sports and see how it turns out but again I don't know much about the latter but know lots of people recommend the former so I'm happy enough to do that with fewer reservations. With regards Brighams it's also a bit chinese whispery and personally, although I think they're generally better than the other big chain (who aren't in Scotland anyway), I do have reservations recommending them having seen some of the work from their stores elsewhere - so are they really any good? Also I know of a couple of people, based near Aviemore, who are instructors at Cairngorm but go down to Bicester to get their boots fitted which makes me wonder if Brighams in Aviemore are actually any good.

So in reality if anyone asks me at Cairngorm where the best (Alpine) bootfitter is all I can do if I had my hand on heart would be to tell them to work out the best route to Bicester but surely there's more than that even if it's the only sensible option for Alpine boots in England IMHO or am I genuinely wrong!

I've seen general answers here in the past but I've never seen anything more definitive and I'd like to know what people's experiences are rather than, yeah there's a bloke who was allright at so and so in Perth or whatever. A boot fitter is far more than just allright and the bloke in Perth at so and so might just have got lucky with those feet whilst the previous 100 boots he fitted were an unmitigated disaster so if one person had a good experience are there more and what did they do that was diferent to most 'hacks' who claim to be able to fit boots but frankly can't? For example I know that 'that bloke' at Brighams in Aviemore books in proper fitting sessions and they can take a few hours - that gives me some confidence although Colin in Bicester can take one look at your feet and he's off and usually in all but the most buniony and problematic of situations finished within an hour and then it's ski in 'em and back for some tweaking. Anyway, going back to Brighams who are the satisfied customers, anyone willing to come forward and if you are what did he/they do, how long did it take and hw many times did you have to go back for tweaking?

Anyway, let's stick to Alpine from this point on because I'm guessing Mountain Spirit is the one for tele and touring and just in case my original question wasn't clear enough I'll try again and reword it:

Are there any decent boot fitters in Scotland or is a trip to Bicester the only thing I can recommend to people with no reservations even when I'm at Cairngorm?



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 18.47hrs Tue 2 Nov 10 by roga.

Plenty good place to buy ski boots in Scotland - even if they dont shout about it on snowheads.com

For Scotland try Mountain Spirit (Aviemore) / Braemar Mountain Sports (Braemar) / Snow & Lines (Edin) / Blues (Edin / Glas) / Craigdon (Aberdeen / Perth) / Brighams (Xscape / Aviemore / Fort William).

For 95% of people getting comfortable ski boots should be a simple process.
Select the right boot / size for your foot shape, heat fit the liners, then add foot beds (if required). Any decent ski shop should be able to help with all 3 stages.

Snow & Lines / Footworks in Edinburgh have always done me proud (ask for Graham).
Even heat-fitted the liners on boots that I bought elsewhere.

[www.snowlines.co.uk]



Edited 4 times. Last edit at 09.31hrs Fri 12 Nov 10 by Doug_Bryce.

Graeme at Snowlines does know his stuff, and should be good for boot work and customization, but I would not recommend them for actually buying boots. Their range is limited, which means that I have seen a tendency to sell what is in stock, rather than what would be the right boot.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 08.51hrs Wed 3 Nov 10 by bluebird.

Doug I agree it's quite a simple process, at least on paper but where the issues come in is when shops, like the one bluebird mentions above, don't advise on the basis of what will fit your feet but try to sell you whetever is in stock. Boots are made on different lasts and their shape varies so even with relatively easy to fit feet the wrong shaped boot can cause problems.

Additionally most shops will oversize the boot, which might be fine for many recreational skiers if they don't mind their foot flapping around in the boot however as soon as you start trying to stop that happening by tighteninig up the bickle and the pain and problems start. I appreciate many recreational skiers don't know enough, if anything, about the whole boot fitting thing and will often go for the most comfortable boot in the shop, which invariably means ones that are too large and once the liner has packed they will be mighty uncomfortable but it is the responsibility of any decent boot fitter to advise them, strongly if necessary, against going with ill fitting wrong shaped boots and I don't think many do.

So yes boot fitting for most feet should be a simple process, however most shops will fit too large and only sell what they have in stock rather than suggesting, as Colin does, that you source the right boot elsewhere then come back.

With regards the lilst:

Mountain Spirit (Aviemore) - I'm guessing not for Alpine?
Braemar Mountain Sports (Braemar) - again I'm guessing not for Alpine and what about their 'sister' shop in Aviemore?
Snow & Lines (Edin) - Alpine?
Blues (Edin / Glas) - Alpine?
Craigdon (Aberdeen / Perth) - Alpine?
Brighams (Xscape / Aviemore / Fort William)

I guess you haven't used all these yourself so which would you personally recommend and who was it that did a good job?

Of the others why do you recommend them, have you been told they do a good job/seen the results of their work and do you know who the bootfitter was?

Awkward moi

^ all of the Scottish shops on that list should be able to sort you out with decent advice. Just because they don't blow smoke up their own arse on snowheads.com doesn't mean they aren't capable.

Get the liners heat fitted and proper foot beds will solve most problems.
Its not rocket science.




Edited 2 times. Last edit at 12.48hrs Wed 3 Nov 10 by Doug_Bryce.

^ lol, nothing to with smoke up arses, everything to do with Colin being the one person who has provided me with boots that actually fit!

As I say It's not for me, it's so I know who to recommend and I'm still essentially no further on than I was with the first post!

Maybe it's just soft southerners who care about this sort of thing

^ I am sure he does a very good job.
But there is plenty other decent ski shops in Scotland too (which I just listed).

^ no probs Doug and thanks for the info.

Any other recommendations folks?

Going to another country to get a pair of boots fitted !!!! bit extreme.

Try the local shops first, Smoke comes out the arse ....leave

Ellis Brigham In Fort William did mine OK even got 2 pairs I fancied in to try as did not like what was in stock and they did not try to push anything else.
One pair were ideal, fitted and gone, no problem.

Why go 400 miles when you can go 4.

When it comes down to it folk in England can talk a good job, smoke the lot !!

Here they just get on with it.

Beware though... no smoke without fire, you may get burnt

LOL, ta for this

Innit but it happens and some people even use fitters in the Alps.

Okay, second time the FW Brighams has been mentioned.

To get a decent fit? I could go to a place half a mile up the road (once did and the boots ruined an entire season!) or to a Brighams 2 miles down the road but I choose to travel 83 miles (there and back 166 miles) instead because I know I can get a proper job done.

Indeed they can and (despite being 'stuck' in England myself at the moment) I'd tend to agree with you about the majority but it's not the majority I'm referring to here. People using and recommending the bootfitter I mentioned above include Zoe Gillings (Olympic Snowboarder), Emily Sarsfield (Freestyle skiercross British #1), Matt Humphreys (Wintersports Category Manager Head UK Ltd), Andi McCann (Alpine McCannix, BASI ISTD & BASI Alpine Trainer), Jaz Lamb (Director British Alpine Ski School Morzine, BASI ISTD & BASI Alpine Trainer), Sophie Readman (British Land Alpine Ski Team) and Graham Bell. Now the only smoke coming from them is probably from their skis or boards, despite the fact some of them may be English! I can add to that list numbers of BASI qualified instructors, including as I said above at least a couple who work at Cairngorm (and myself).

Indeed and there is for sure a difference but you surely aren't suggesting the folk listed above aren't capable of "getting on with it" or for that matter qualified instructors working on the Scottish mountains?

Aye and maybe I've been in England too long but I knda don't feel that there's any conflict between "getting on with it" (even if that entails for me an 800 mile round trip) and having boots that are comfortable - are you saying true Scots like sore feet and painful bunions 'coz they're not softies like the English?

You're starting to sound like Growwild laddie!

Anyway, why the hell am I ending up defending my bootfitter (and some of the English) here when all I asked for were some personal recommendations for bootfitters in Scotland? It's quite amusing though!

Interesting how there's often an undercurrent of nationalism from some people around here when they're are pushed a bit and anything English is in the equation and have to admit that I'm not immune either (if anything I'm more nationalistic in England than I ever was in Scotland - when's that independence referendum anyway? Gotta make sure I'm based north of the border for that!)

Roga, I'd recommend Ellis Brigham at Xscape - they did a good job of punching out one of my boots.