Today’s reader question:
I have big feet, is there any way to get my boot size down so I don’t have to ride such wide snowboards?
Indeed there is! There’s 2 things you want to look for:
1) Snowboard boots that have a smaller outer shell
No two snowboard companies have the same size outer shells. You can have one company like DC Snowboarding, which typically has thick, chunky outer shells and another company like Salomon, which has thinner outer shells.
Look for boots with less chunky outer shells and you’ll be able to cut your boot footprint down.
2) Integrated liners can shrink you boot size
Some companies build snowboard boots with integrated liners and shells. This means the liners and shell are permanently stuck together.
The downside of this is you can’t remove your liners to dry quickly, but it also means you end up with an overall smaller boot without sacrificing foot space. This is ideal for you if you’re looking to decrease the size of your boot.
One more thing…
Don’t take this to mean you should only pick boots with small outer shells and integrated liners. At the end of the day it still has to fit your feet.
There’s no point in shrinking your boot size down if you end up with foot pain and can’t snowboard comfortably. A well fitting boot with a wider snowboard beats the pants off a crappy fitting boot on a thinner snowboard.
Don’t forget that you still need to measure your feet in the new snowboard boots to see if they’ll fit on a non-wide snowboard. If you have massive feet, you may still need a wide snowboard after shrinking your boot size.
For example, a size 14 snowboard boot that’s the size of a size 12 snowboard boot is still a massive boot.
Anyhow, even though some people say wider snowboards are less responsive, wide doesn’t really mean a lesser snowboard. There’s some really kickass wider snowboards out there, like the Arbor Blacklist, which ride just as well as the non wide version.
So at the end of the day you want to look for a boot with a small shell/integrated liners, but don’t sacrifice your comfort just to shrink your foot size.
- Jed
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