Surefoot or Normal bootfitter? (2024)

Search around here - but please def read this 1st:

That's my own experience.

Moist_Oatmeal said:

I have been looking at surefoot and seems like a great idea but the price tag is a bit heavy. I have never had a great pair of boots that fit well so looking for something that will do the job even if I have to pay a lot. Looking to drive a few hours to Surefoot in NYC or go to REI to get fitted. I am located in Maryland so not the greatest boot fitters around. Any help would be appreciated!

Click to expand...

Where are you located in Maryland? There are good fitters in Gaithersburg, in Northern VA, and in the Philly area... or if you're in Western MD, you could consider heading up toward Pittsburgh.

dbostedo said:

Where are you located in Maryland? There are good fitters in Gaithersburg, in Northern VA, and in the Philly area... or if you're in Western MD, you could consider heading up toward Pittsburgh.

Click to expand...

About 20 min from Baltimore and Annapolis.

I have to say having only used Surefoot in Steamboat for footbeds and London GB for liners and footbeds my experience has been uniformly positive.

Even as far as London some years later being able to access [and compare] my USA scans. Now I have fairly standard feet and the liners were not as 'concrete - hard' as I would have picked had they been completely on my dollar [the USA footbeds were] but would be pretty happy [Rossi Hero shell if you re curious].

There are mixed reviews and I can't comment if you have 'mad' feet but for my fairly out of the box feet I would say 90%+ happy.

Moist_Oatmeal said:

About 20 min from Baltimore and Annapolis.

Click to expand...

Let's pretend you're in Pasadena. That puts you about an hour from Ski Center in Gaithersburg... My suggestion would be to head over there - well, call first and see if you can get an appointment with Brian Beaumont (or one of their other experienced boot fitters). This time of year and later they'll probably have deals, but might lack selection. In the fall they'll have better selection, but maybe not deals. If you get an appointment, plan to spend a couple of hours there. It might not take that long depending on your feet and the boots, but it certainly could.

EDIT : Also wear thin ski socks (or take them with you), and shorts or pants that you can roll up. It may also help to familiarize yourself with fitting... this is a decent link about what the bootfitter will consider... they'll do a shell check, and lots of other checks most likely.

Sorefoot (surefoot) are not really boot fitters more fill a big boot with expanded foam liner and build a footbed with a CNC machine. It can be hit or miss, sometimes spectacularly

I would visit
Brian Deely at pro fit in Leesburg,VA

who can actually get it right the first time

Near Nyquist said:

Sorefoot (surefoot) are not really boot fitters more fill a big boot with expanded foam liner and build a footbed with a CNC machine. It can be hit or miss, sometimes spectacularly

I would visit
Brian Deely at pro fit in Leesburg,VA

Pro Fit Ski & Mountain Sports

who can actually get it right the first time

Click to expand...

Ditto times 10. Brian is absolutely fantastic. Leesburg can’t be much different travel wise than Gaithersburg from where you are. Not to mention Leesburg is a real nice place in general to visit for a day.

I’d also suggest you call ahead or go on a weekday. Brian’s boot fitting ability is not exactly a well kept secret. He is really busy most weekends, but once you’re there you will be amazed the time and attention he will give you.

It all comes down to THE guy in the shop you go to. I have to assume that pretty much everyone here will be skiing for a long time and whatever they buy now will not be their last purchase. So, when getting fit, PAY ATTENTION to what they're doing. Ask questions. Ask if the shop has someone who can do a true cant evaluation (not cuff alignment) and boot sole grinding. Just 1/2° of an angle adjustment on the bottom of the boot can often really help with edging efficiency for some people, particularly those with limited flexibility and ankle movement. How boots interact with your feet and skis isn't always obvious.

I know this is tangential to the thread, but if possible, learn how to do your own tweaks. One or two layers of decorator tape (in small pieces) underneath the insole can make a huge difference- even with custom insoles, particularly under the fleshy part of the toes, which can help keep you from "hanging" in the boots with too much cuff pressure and not enough toe pressure.

Near Nyquist said:

Sorefoot (surefoot) are not really boot fitters more fill a big boot with expanded foam liner and build a footbed with a CNC machine. It can be hit or miss, sometimes spectacularly

I would visit
Brian Deely at pro fit in Leesburg,VA

Pro Fit Ski & Mountain Sports

who can actually get it right the first time

Click to expand...

I think they re good at selling a commodified product and the system lends itself to producing decent and consistent results from less than world class expert fitters, probably best with skiers in the middle of the foot oddness bell curve. However if I had a 'mad' foot I'd definitely be shopping not for just good, but for the best guy in the area.

First bash [Steamboat for the record] on footbeds was for me a miss, I have a stable but high arch foot and have a preference for full contact under the main arch [set to one side if that's right but I used to quite like Superfeet corks despite the roll of coins feel]. They didn't feel supportive, ver 2 much better and the London set good off the milling machine

I would probably prefer the concrete like feel of a Sidas with traditional vent pipes [I suspect the membrane venting reduces foam control a bit] but.... in the day when I was skiing a bit more seriously getting that fit also felt as if my feet were being pushed out of the boots and thru my sinuses during foaming and they would come out of the shells bruised. How many skiers would make that compromise... not too sure. Surefoot foaming is a lot less brutal.

I think from most people here the bottom line is always shop for the boot guy, not the boot [liner] brand.

Moist_Oatmeal said:

I have been looking at surefoot and seems like a great idea but the price tag is a bit heavy. I have never had a great pair of boots that fit well so looking for something that will do the job even if I have to pay a lot. Looking to drive a few hours to Surefoot in NYC or go to REI to get fitted. I am located in Maryland so not the greatest boot fitters around. Any help would be appreciated!

Click to expand...

Wondering where you ended up going and how your experience was. I’m also in MD and keep striking out when I go to try boots.

RachelLL said:

Wondering where you ended up going and how your experience was. I’m also in MD and keep striking out when I go to try boots.

Click to expand...

Are you willing to travel to Snowshoe West Virginia? If so, Greg Hoffman is there.

RachelLL said:

Wondering where you ended up going and how your experience was. I’m also in MD and keep striking out when I go to try boots.

Click to expand...

Snowshoe is 4 hours away - advantage: you can try it on snow right away and get it tweaked.

Brian Deely is 1 hour away; Ski Center is 35 minutes away (nonrush) - both are relatively convenient options.

What do you mean when you say 'striking out'?

Moist_Oatmeal said:

I have been looking at surefoot and seems like a great idea but the price tag is a bit heavy. I have never had a great pair of boots that fit well so looking for something that will do the job even if I have to pay a lot. Looking to drive a few hours to Surefoot in NYC or go to REI to get fitted. I am located in Maryland so not the greatest boot fitters around. Any help would be appreciated!

Click to expand...

Probably way too late, but look at all the online negative comments about Surefoot. I had a really really bad experience. Bottom line....if you live near the Surefoot shop and can go back up to 10 times for adjustments, it sounds like it might work out. If not you are out of luck. The customer service at HQ will do anything to avoid helping you. The will send you nice emails like "we will do our best to help you etc. but the only solution is "go back to the shop where you bought them." The other issue is that their Surefoot bootfitters have a wide range of skill. Some are very good...mostly those at big resorts out west. Others are really bad. I had a young guy at the Killington store single handedly ruin my boots and Surefoot would not take responsibility. Once they you give them your $1,500 they are pretty much done with you. Buy stock boots and have a good bootfitter work with you, don't waste your money on Surefoot. Just put "Surefoot Ski Boots" and "complaints" in your web browser. PS, they also don't tell you it can take 20 ski days to "pack in" the boots...thats 20 days of agony....

It's all about the skill of the boot fitter. Some Surefoot boot fitters are skilled and others not. If you can get a good boot fitter recommendation in your area that is preferable (and more than likely cheaper) than Surefoot.

At the same time, I can see the appeal if you get a good boot fitter at Surefoot. There is a convenience factor of being located at the base of the mountain for tweaks and adjustments. the problem, however, is you need a skilled boot fitter. And if you just randomly walk into a Surefoot, you don't know the person's skill helping you.

Wasatchman said:

It's all about the skill of the boot fitter. Some Surefoot boot fitters are skilled and others not. If you can get a good boot fitter recommendation in your area that is preferable (and more than likely cheaper) than Surefoot.

At the same time, I can see the appeal if you get a good boot fitter at Surefoot. There is a convenience factor of being located at the base of the mountain for tweaks and adjustments. the problem, however, is you need a skilled boot fitter. And if you just randomly walk into a Surefoot, you don't know the person's skill helping you.

Click to expand...

Completely agree. I had a good experience many years ago with Surefoot in Park City but it was off-season and the most experienced person did the work. This is the type of person they employ full-time and all seasons. It is the seasonal help (from my experience) you need to watch out for as they 100% rely on the foaming process and tend to put you in too big of a shell. Call it lazy custom….

I’ll always use my local, non-Surefoot fitter from now on but I also live in an area with a bunch of good options.

Truberski said:

Completely agree. I had a good experience many years ago with Surefoot in Park City but it was off-season and the most experienced person did the work. This is the type of person they employ full-time and all seasons. It is the seasonal help (from my experience) you need to watch out for as they 100% rely on the foaming process and tend to put you in too big of a shell. Call it lazy custom….

I’ll always use my local, non-Surefoot fitter from now on but I also live in an area with a bunch of good options.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Skill of boot fitter and location is key. There are scenarios where you could go to a really good boot fitter but then go to the mountain and if you need a tweak and your boot fitter is far away there goes a lot of the enjoyment of your costly ski vacation.

So it's hard to put a blanket statement that Surefoot is definitely a good idea or a bad idea. There are personal circ*mstances that really dictate the best choice. But I think we agree that if you know a highly skilled boot fitter whose location works for you, chances are that will be the better choice than Surefoot. For a number of people however, a skilled Surefoot boot fitter is likely the better choice given the location at the base of the mountain which is super convenient to go in for a tweak, ski, and see if you need another tweak.