Okay,
Just spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Paul Richelson going over his process. This is how it works
$75 for initial evaluation. They take full measurements of your lower leg and foot, evaluate arches, how much you pronate or supinate and how your feet align with your knees and hips. They factor in your skiing ability and style to come up with a list of about 6-7 boot models that are the right starting point for your anatomy. They have a database of most every model of boot from the major manufacturers going back ten years. They don't just take the information from the factory as not all 98 or 102 last measurements are the same and reported accurately from the manufacturers. They actually get in each model of boot and measure the boots themselves to have accurate volume numbers for all areas in the boot - toe box, arch area, heal and calf.
Now depending on how funky your feet are, you may be able to take the list and go buy a boot and that's all you need to do. If they come with custom modable liners or shells, their charge is $20 to heat and mold. If you have other issues such as collapsed arches and further work needs to be done fixing those problems, that comes on an ala carte basis.
You can go an inexpensive route with off the shelf orthotics. They have about a dozen different brands. These range in price from $30-$50. They can build out these foot beds to fit you better than off the shelf for additional money that brings the price to about $90. These off the shelf products only last about 50-75 days of skiing before breaking down. The other route is their custom orthotics. These run $250 and last 750 days on average.
Additional work done such as blowing out the shells or grinding areas can cost $20-$50 depending on how much work is required.
In the long run I see the benefit that if you have got the right boot shell and custom orthotics, those two items will last 750 days on snow. So without any further work done, you would be looking at $345 on top of the cost of the boot. If your liners get packed out after 150-200 days or so, you then would only need to replace the liners instead of getting new boots and starting the process all over.
It's not cheap, but I think at minimum I'll be making an appointment to get the $75 evaluation. That will at least tell me if the boot I currently have is worth trying to salvage. If not, I'll have a list of boots that are better for my anatomy and perhaps I'll be able to score one of these models online at a discount.
Just spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Paul Richelson going over his process. This is how it works
$75 for initial evaluation. They take full measurements of your lower leg and foot, evaluate arches, how much you pronate or supinate and how your feet align with your knees and hips. They factor in your skiing ability and style to come up with a list of about 6-7 boot models that are the right starting point for your anatomy. They have a database of most every model of boot from the major manufacturers going back ten years. They don't just take the information from the factory as not all 98 or 102 last measurements are the same and reported accurately from the manufacturers. They actually get in each model of boot and measure the boots themselves to have accurate volume numbers for all areas in the boot - toe box, arch area, heal and calf.
Now depending on how funky your feet are, you may be able to take the list and go buy a boot and that's all you need to do. If they come with custom modable liners or shells, their charge is $20 to heat and mold. If you have other issues such as collapsed arches and further work needs to be done fixing those problems, that comes on an ala carte basis.
You can go an inexpensive route with off the shelf orthotics. They have about a dozen different brands. These range in price from $30-$50. They can build out these foot beds to fit you better than off the shelf for additional money that brings the price to about $90. These off the shelf products only last about 50-75 days of skiing before breaking down. The other route is their custom orthotics. These run $250 and last 750 days on average.
Additional work done such as blowing out the shells or grinding areas can cost $20-$50 depending on how much work is required.
In the long run I see the benefit that if you have got the right boot shell and custom orthotics, those two items will last 750 days on snow. So without any further work done, you would be looking at $345 on top of the cost of the boot. If your liners get packed out after 150-200 days or so, you then would only need to replace the liners instead of getting new boots and starting the process all over.
It's not cheap, but I think at minimum I'll be making an appointment to get the $75 evaluation. That will at least tell me if the boot I currently have is worth trying to salvage. If not, I'll have a list of boots that are better for my anatomy and perhaps I'll be able to score one of these models online at a discount.
