Hi Lou,
I Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that my first stab at thermo molding ski boot liners turned out great! The house that I have been renting has a custom kitchen with double ovens, and one of the ovens is a convection oven. I baked the liners one at a time for about 8 minutes at 235 degrees, they puffed up nicely. As you recommended I used a woman’s stocking to hold my toe cap and foot bed. For the toe cap, I used the toe from a single cotton sock and a little duct tape wrapped around my big and little toes as per your suggestion.I had my daughter help me by holding the shells open so I could slide my foot and liner into the shell. Buckled down about halfway and kept them there for about 5 minutes. I then pulled my foot out of the shell/liner and finally pulled the liner out and allowed it to cool. It was very cool to see how the liners had conformed to the shape of the shell. Tried them on and they felt great… a little snug at the toe but not painful.
The next morning (5/11) I left for a 3 day trip to Janets Cabin here in Colorado. I was a little worried about breaking in new boots on a 5.5 mile tour with a heavy pack, but I didn’t have the option of using my old boots (Scarpa Avants) because my partner on this hut trip was wearing them! (sometimes you have to lend out gear in order to get people to go skiing with!) The new boots were great (Scarpa Spirit 3s), no foot pain or hot spots.
We approached Janets from Vail Pass and enjoyed a magnificent day on Friday (although it could’ve been a little cooler). I was very pleased with the way the Spirits skied. My heel was totally locked and I was skiing confidently by the 3rd turn of my first run! All in all I am very happy with the touring and skiing performance of the Spirits. And I am very satisfied having baked them myself (I have also done three Fritschi binding mounts at home using your instructions and templates). I really appreciate and enjoy your blog, have been an almost daily visitor for a few years now. Keep up the great work!
K.G.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
