A long wedge under the foot

Low instep, too much room, blisters at the heel. The solution wasn't at the heel but under the whole foot.

Symptom Heel lifts, blisters, too much room in the boot
Boot Alpine ski boot with a removable bootboard
Time Ready to collect the same or the next day
Appointment Workshop appointment

Fertig aufgebautes und schwarz bezogenes Bootboard neben dem unbearbeiteten gelben Original.

The problem

The customer has a low instep. His foot doesn't fill the boot towards the top, so there's too much air in the boot: the heel lifts with every turn, the foot moves around, and the heel chafes. After one day of skiing he had blisters.

The reflex would be to tighten the buckles or pad the heel. With a low instep, both only help for a short while. What's missing is height under the foot, so the instep sits snugly at the top and the whole foot stays still.

What we did

Take the boot apart
Liner out, then the bootboard: the plate that sits in the shell under the liner. On this boot it's removable, which makes the job possible.
The empty shell
The bootboard as it was
Glue on the cork
The bootboard is coated with contact adhesive, then layers of cork go on top: more at the back, less at the front.
Adhesive and three cork pieces
Glued on, the front stays free
Grind it into a long wedge
On the grinding machine we shape the build-up: one continuous wedge from the heel to the midfoot that tapers off towards the front. The toe area stays free, so the toes keep their room at the top.
On the belt
The wedge takes shape
Cover it
Finally the board gets a microfibre cover, so the liner sits smoothly on it and nothing slips.
Cover and board
Done
Put it back together and try it
Board in, liner in, customer in. Now the instep sits snugly and the heel stays down.