Test Team Biographic Information Intro
One of the ways to get the most out of a product test is to know a little bit about the testers themselves. Not necessarily what their signs or spirit animals might be, but rather what their particular backgrounds are that makes them good boot testers (and these folks are the best around). Even more important is what sort of details you can get about the boot each tester currently skis in and what sort of modifications the tester regularly makes to his or her own boots.
One of the top ways to find a ski boot that’s best for you is to pay attention to which testers may have preferences similar to yours (no tester is completely objective, though they try) and pay close attention to the comments made by that individual. If you’re a skier with a shorter lower leg shaft and muscular calf, keep an eye on Nick Blaylock’s comments. A super fat heel? That’d be Brian Blackstock who uses a billiard ball to heat-mold an adequately large heel pocket in his own boots. Skinny heel and wide forefoot – Mark Elling. How about the "set it and forget it" guy who doesn’t ever touch his boot? Pay attention to Neal Scholey’s pros and cons. You get the picture. Check out the tester bios and see if you can’t find a few of our testers that sound like yourself.
To get even more specific, we measured the feet of all testers (or at least all who had showered recently) for length in mondopoint sizing (typical ski boot sizing format represented as centimeters), heel-to-instep-perimeter (HIP is a girth measurement in centimeters taken from heel, around instep, and back to heel — note that average instep heights typically have a HIP that matches their mondopoint size), forefoot width in millimeters, and heel width in millimeters. This gives readers a little additional perspective with which to interpret a tester’s comments.
Interestingly, when it comes to their own boots, you will find that almost all our testers use custom footbeds, and not a single tester skis in the boot size that he or she actually measures. All size down to get a performance-oriented fit at least one size smaller than they measure on a mondopoint sizing device. Some even venture two sizes smaller than their street shoe size. We’re not saying that every skier should do this, just that the size you measure is plenty big enough. With modern boots there’s no need to go larger.
