Ski Southeast Messageboard

I live in Wilmington NC and will be Skiing Sugar Mtn this winter. I am in need of some Boot Adjustments and was looking for recommendations of Ski Shops in the area . My foot has grown over the years and am hoping to have the Toe Box area enlarged. No longer Ski enough to want to make the investment into new ski boots

Any recommendations about the area would be appreciated Hotels and Restaurants ect.

Thanks

I just had new boots fitted by Mark at Ski Country Sports, which is right across from the entrance to Sugar. He was very knowledgable of the products they carry and the fitting process, also a real nice guy to work with. I've only skied in them twice, but so far I am pleased with the fit and performance.

As far as restaurants, we enjoy the Banner Elk Cafe for lunch and breakfast, haven't been there for a dinner yet. If you like Italian, we like Casa Rustica in Boone.

Thanks for the info,

Mark has been around for a while. I bought my first 4-buckle boots at Ski Country about a dozen years ago during SugarFest. He helped with the tweak I needed afterwards. Also showed me the Smith I/OS goggles, which were relatively new. I wasn't ready to buy them then, but did eventually.

I've never had boots fitted at the Banner Elk location, but I will say the Ski Country shop in Charlotte is fantastic, so I'd imagine the BE one is just as good. Just bought some new snowboard boots there and the guy helping me was extremely knowledgeable and gave me some very good info about the different brands.

For what it's worth, the Ski Country location in Asheville is great for boot fitting, too.

As we get older our feet flatten (especially if you have high arches to begin with) getting both wider and longer. After 5-6 years of trying to get boots "the right size" that didn't kill my feet (10-12 sessions with bootfitters and a couple different boots) I just gave up and got a full (mondo) size larger. My boots are just a little sloppy fitting but I can't tell any difference in my skiing unless its on solid ice and my feet thank me for not torturing them all day.

Old Fart wrote: ↑Mon Nov 25, 2019 4:47 pm As we get older our feet flatten (especially if you have high arches to begin with) getting both wider and longer. After 5-6 years of trying to get boots "the right size" that didn't kill my feet (10-12 sessions with bootfitters and a couple different boots) I just gave up and got a full (mondo) size larger. My boots are just a little sloppy fitting but I can't tell any difference in my skiing unless its on solid ice and my feet thank me for not torturing them all day.

Do you use custom footbeds?

Mark Russ at Ski Country is a good as there is. Plus he is a super nice person. Tell him Jeff recommended him.

For anyone who is reading this thread and has no clue what the term "boot fitter" or "custom footbed" means, a good source of info are the articles by Ski Monster. That's a ski shop in Boston that a few of my friends like a lot.

https://theskimonster.com/blog/posts/sk ... ed-to-fit/
https://theskimonster.com/blog/posts/sk ... oots-hurt/

Buying ski boots and tweaking them afterwards can be a worthwhile investment, even if only skiing 10-15 days a season. Well fitted ski boots last a long time at that rate.

Ski Country didn't push a $200 custom footbed for the recreational boots I bought on sale, but they did highly recommend an after-market $25 footbed over the "stock footbed" that comes with a pair of relatively inexpensive ski boots. I followed the advice. Got custom footbeds with my next pair of boots when I was starting to ski 25+ days a season. There are also $40 heat-moldable footbeds that can do the trick for someone with high arches. That's what worked for my adult niece after I bought her a pair of lightly used boots ($75) that I knew would fit better than any rental boots.