New Boots & Alpine Haus, Wethersfield

[severine]

Went to Alpine Haus in Wethersfield to try some boots. Figured what better way to pass a rainy, crappy day.

I don't remember the gentleman's name who helped me, but he had longish dirty-blonde hair, younger guy. Apparently due to the shape of my feet and my skill level, he only had 2 boots he recommended me trying - Tecnica V2 4 and Nordica Olympia Beast 10. MUCH different than the Salomon Performa 4.0 that I got 4 years ago. (Especially since the Salomons were the wrong size at a 26.0! And those were purchased from a ski shop, too, not a big box store. )

It was a little difficult trying out the boots with my knee being the way it is, but I vowed that I was getting new boots this spring (thank you tax refund!) and there was no way I would be kept from it!!

I was hesitant to decide given my limited options. But when I thought about it, my foot shape and size limits my options regardless and who's to say that dragging the kids to another place at another time would have turned into a different pair of boots. So after meandering about, flexing, etc, I decided upon the Nordica Olympia Beast 10s. I also had custom footbeds made, even though I originally had planned upon using my old ones (which are semi-customs). Since I ended up 1 full mondo size smaller (25.0), and I forgot my footbeds to check them out ... and the shop is 1 hr away, blah, blah, blah ... I decided it was probably a good idea to invest in doing this the right way.

They'll be ready to pick up Wednesday. Something about how the footbeds are done that's causing the hold up and by the time we were done, it was nearly closing time.

Can't wait to get them! MUCH more snug than my old learning boots. They'll be a blast to use when I can finally ski again! And I definitely recommend Alpine Haus if anyone was wondering about whether or not to try them out. I will add this, though, from MR. evil's boot thread earlier....

Originally Posted by madskier6

BTW, I went to Alpine Haus yesterday & picked up some new boots for myself. I was very pleased with their service & knowledge of how to do a proper boot fitting. These guys know what their doing & I could tell that right away. Plus, they only charge $120 for a custom footbed if you buy the boots from them. These normally run anywhere from $150-200 so its a good savings.

I paid $150 for my custom footbeds from Alpine Haus. AND I bought my boots at the same time. Guess I didn't do a good job wheeling and dealing.....

[wa-loaf]

Originally Posted by severine

I paid $150 for my custom footbeds from Alpine Haus. AND I bought my boots at the same time. Guess I didn't do a good job wheeling and dealing.....

Go back and tell them Mr Evils story. You may be able to get them to give you a refund for the footbeds. Maybe the kid forgot. Did you ask?

[severine]

I didn't remember madskier6's post when I was there yesterday. I will be mentioning it when I pick up my boots later this week.

[Paul]

Ask for Dusty, he's the owner. If he's not around, I'm sure Sam can help.

[madskier6]

Originally Posted by severine

I paid $150 for my custom footbeds from Alpine Haus. AND I bought my boots at the same time. Guess I didn't do a good job wheeling and dealing.....

Actually, they told me last week that they discontinued the $120 footbeds for customers who buy boots there. Sam was such a good guy, however, that he honored the price for me because that's what he told me it would cost when I bought the boots. Apparently when he spoke to me, he hadn't realized that they had discontinued that pricing. Even if I had to pay the higher price for footbeds, the guys at Alpine Haus treated me right!

Sorry if my post was misleading but I just found out last week that the pricing was no longer valid.

[SKIQUATTRO]

my folks were friends with Peter the old owner of the Alpine Haus back in the 70's/80's....good guy, but not much of a businessman, would give everything away....glad to see they reopened

[severine]

Thanks for the update, Jeff! That makes me feel better.

Counting down the hours until I can pick up those new boots!

[severine]

Picked my boots up today! The footbeds are awesome. MUCH better than the semi-custom ones I had in my old boots. Worth every penny. I wore them around the house for about 3 hrs this evening, will do the same tomorrow. I'm sure I made the right choice in going with these boots. Very snug all around.

Also brought my skis in to have the bindings adjusted to my new boots. Took no more than 10 minutes. $15 because I purchased the boots (normally $25 for binding adjustment and check). Just sharing....

[MR. evil]

Originally Posted by severine

Picked my boots up today! The footbeds are awesome. MUCH better than the semi-custom ones I had in my old boots. Worth every penny. I wore them around the house for about 3 hrs this evening, will do the same tomorrow. I'm sure I made the right choice in going with these boots. Very snug all around.

Also brought my skis in to have the bindings adjusted to my new boots. Took no more than 10 minutes. $15 because I purchased the boots (normally $25 for binding adjustment and check). Just sharing....

I can't belive they even charged you for that considering you just bought boots and custom foot beds. Did they have to remount you binding, or just slide it back?

If they just slid it back I am very disappointed in Brian

[severine]

They just slid it. But they did test it on some fancy schmancy machine. I debated whether or not to bother with having them adjust the bindings (especially knowing I'd have to pay) but Brian is so busy lately and I wanted to be sure it was done right.