Driving while wearing your ski boots

[spiderpig]

Love the pic Jimk....

Yes I am one of those who will drive with ski boots on. Very specific situation - Bromley condo to Magic and back. Dry pavement. Light out. One stop sign, no stop lights. 2 turns. One place to slow down. Back roads. 10 miles. It’s actually pretty easy. And the skill will come in very handy this year with no lodge access.

sounds like there should be a vote up there for "all the time"

 

[kbroderick]

Depends on the car, SUV's and mini vans where you sit more upright it's not that difficult. Sedans and coupes are much more difficult. Automatic transmission obviously is needed.

An automatic transmission helps, but it's entirely possible to operate a clutch with at least some boots. I don't think I'd want to try in a true race boot, but driving a five-speed XTerra in AT or tele boots was no trouble so long as I made sure the toe and instep buckles were at least lightly closed (unlatched they could catch on the plastic around the footwell otherwise).

Driving in a low-cuffed three-pin tele boot isn't particularly hard, so long as you can manage not to get the duckbill in the way.

Upshifting a motorcycle with a ski boot...that gets interesting. I thought that it wouldn't be that much worse than an MX-style boot, which already have minimal ankle flexion, but the shape of a ski boot is totally different and the plastic substantially beefier.

 

[Cornhead]

I've done it around the hill on a car with automatic transmission, don't think I'd attempt it with a stick. I have all I can do to engage the neutral safety switch on the clutch pedal to start my car prior to unbooting at my car

 

[kbroderick]

I've done it around the hill on a car with automatic transmission, don't think I'd attempt it with a stick. I have all I can do to engage the neutral safety switch on the clutch pedal to start my car prior to unbooting at my car

A friend and I were enjoying slack-season turns on Mt. Washington and had a few moments of panic that her Subaru wouldn't start, until we realized that the duckbill on my boot was preventing me from getting the clutch all the way in.

Driving it was easy enough once we figured that out.

 

[2Planker]

Yup, did it many times with a 5 spd. STICK, in a Pathfinder.

10 miles of Rt 2E to SR

 

[redux]

Thought I would chime in with an "all the time" vote. Started doing this decades ago while living in Basalt, twenty miles down-valley from Aspen - in a 5sp Honda Civic. I would not only make the half-hour drive already booted up, but would often already have my helmet and goggles on - out of the car and into the Gondola. In poor driving conditions, most of the cars I would see off the road were luxury SUVs. It seems that having the most capable vehicle is no substitute for slippery-road driving skills. After about six years I finally found a rent controlled place in town, five blocks from gondola. Thus, for a time the practice came to end.

Now I live in VT, have a capable 4x automatic and drive to the mountain (about 20min) almost every day with boots on. Sometimes alpine, sometimes tele, I don't think it makes much difference. You keep the cuff unbuckled and pull the gator down over the buckles to keep them from getting caught on anything. I frequently do small back and forth rotations with my boot, tapping the side of the brake peddle so I always have a "feel" for my foot position. Most importantly, adjust your seat so that you're using your thigh to make a linear motion to press the accelerator or brake. This can be just as rapid a motion as using relying on your ankle in normal driving.

As a dedicated ski bum, levery second counted. For those who say it's only a minute or two of extra time, if you factor in packing up a boot bag or heading in to the lodge it's quite a bit more time than that. Now, in the Time of Covid, I find this habit is just as relevant. My son finishes remote school at 1pm. By the time he's gotten dressed, gotten something to eat and gone to the bathroom, it's 1:30. With both of us ready to go as soon as we get to the mountain we can be on the lift by 2:00 and get three or four single-chair runs by closing.

Anyway, looking forward to being reprimanded. As a parent and husband I might be willing to change my ways.

Cheers!

 

[jimk]

Thought I would chime in with an "all the time" vote. Started doing this decades ago while living in Basalt, twenty miles down-valley from Aspen - in a 5sp Honda Civic. I would not only make the half-hour drive already booted up, but would often already have my helmet and goggles on - out of the car and into the Gondola. In poor driving conditions, most of the cars I would see off the road were luxury SUVs. It seems that having the most capable vehicle is no substitute for slippery-road driving skills. After about six years I finally found a rent controlled place in town, five blocks from gondola. Thus, for a time the practice came to end.

Now I live in VT, have a capable 4x automatic and drive to the mountain (about 20min) almost every day with boots on. Sometimes alpine, sometimes tele, I don't think it makes much difference. You keep the cuff unbuckled and pull the gator down over the buckles to keep them from getting caught on anything. I frequently do small back and forth rotations with my boot, tapping the side of the brake peddle so I always have a "feel" for my foot position. Most importantly, adjust your seat so that you're using your thigh to make a linear motion to press the accelerator or brake. This can be just as rapid a motion as using relying on your ankle in normal driving.

As a dedicated ski bum, levery second counted. For those who say it's only a minute or two of extra time, if you factor in packing up a boot bag or heading in to the lodge it's quite a bit more time than that. Now, in the Time of Covid, I find this habit is just as relevant. My son finishes remote school at 1pm. By the time he's gotten dressed, gotten something to eat and gone to the bathroom, it's 1:30. With both of us ready to go as soon as we get to the mountain we can be on the lift by 2:00 and get three or four single-chair runs by closing.

Anyway, looking forward to being reprimanded. As a parent and husband I might be willing to change my ways.

Cheers!

You sound like an expert at driving with boots on, so no worries. But imagine if most casual skier/guests at a busy resort drove with their boots on? I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty.
I'm guilty of doing it, but don't make it a regular practice.

 

[2planks2coasts]

Hmmm.... From my place it's a left out of the driveway, a right on RT 49 for 11 miles then a left on Tripoli rd to the parking lot at WV. Would save some boot-up-at-the-car hassle. Don't think I would try it to Loon or Cannon though. Too much turning and interaction with other vehicles.

 

[Smellytele]

Just with the left boot on. Do that all the time.

 

[drjeff]

Just with the left boot on. Do that all the time.

Me as well.

Just over a mile from my condo to the base area of Mount Snow.

If I have my skis and poles with me, and not in my families locker, or won't need my ski bag later, left boot on in the condo, normal footwear on my right foot for the drive, slip my right boot on at the car in the parking lot. Reverse it for the ride home

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Jack Frost and Big Boulder share a lift ticket and are 15 min apart. Once as a teen when JF closed at 4pm I drove in boots to keep skiing at BB.

 

[kbroderick]

You sound like an expert at driving with boots on, so no worries. But imagine if most casual skier/guests at a busy resort drove with their boots on? I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty.
I'm guilty of doing it, but don't make it a regular practice.

Well, it's not pretty now, and I don't think most of them are wearing ski boots.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

weird bumps of an old thread, but driving in ski boots seems to be an unnecessary risk to yourself and others

driving barefoot feels so weird. /nonsequeter

 

[Andrew B.]

I have driven from Killington to Pico wearing 1 ski boot. Probably doesn't count.

Guilty of driving 2 miles from house to access road with one boot all the time.

 

[DoublePlanker]

I also drive to the rink with my skates on. Totally worth it.

 

[djd66]

When it snows, I go to bed with my boots on. I don't want to waste time on a powder day

 

[Dickc]

More important is the question Shania Twain asks, as in "Whose bed have your boots been under".......