First day out-ouch my feet and heel lift

[mcbane]

Ok. my first day on hardboots after riding softies for 6 years. within the first 10 min, i was going to cry. my feet still hurt the morning after. i've got the "world's most conformtable" boots, a pair of barely used Raichle 423 with thermoflex liner. ok granted i haven't molded them yet b/c I just got the boots two days ago and I wanted to try them out the rest of my equipment. I really hope the molding helps (please allay my fears!) :smashfrea .

actually, had a question about heel lift..those boots came with intec heels but my bindings are regular bail bindings (snowpro race). is there a heel lift built into the intec heels? i felt like i was really fighting to make those toeside carves don't know if this contributes to it or just me. I had an extra 6mm of lift on the back binding. I felt like i was fighting the equipment a bit. I'd appreciate any insights!

[pebu]

Go get those liners molded now! They are awesome. I could wear my raichles around all day without any problems. It'd get annoying barely being able to bend my ankles, but that's what hardboots are for..

As for the intec heels. I believe they are a little thicker than normal heels. They need to be in order to fit the mechanicals in there.
http://www.alpinecarving.com/bindings.html
There is some info on stepins here.
At first, by heel lift I thought you meant that your foot or your boot was moving in your boot or your bindings, respectively.
If you want to get replacement raichle heels, bomber sells them here:
http://www.bomberonline.com/store/accessories/bomber_boot_pads.cfm
Or you could always try to find some intec bindings to match. :)

[tex1230]

http://www.bomberonline.com/store/accessories/molding_your_liners.cfm

[pebu]

The advice is very similar, but a few differences. This is also a good one.
http://www.alpinecarving.com/bootfitting.html#heat
I did the plastic bag trick. Don't know if it actually helped, but I had no problems.

[mcbane]

thanks..hopefully the bootfitting will go ok..does anyone know a good bootfitter in the boston area? i know carver's alamanac suggests that summit ski and snowboard but that's a bit of a drive?

i don't think i have actual heel lift..although how do i test? the shell test is a confortable 2 fingers so now I'm kind of worried they are too big although feel fine right now. the previous owner had them out 5 days.

[kjl]

You can bake the liners yourself easily - when I first got my thermoflex liners however many years ago I just followed the instructions on alpinecarving.com pretty much blindly and ended up with a perfect fit. I've done it probably 3-4 times since and it's pretty easy.

[pebu]

It's nerve racking due to all the hype about them, that's for sure. But yeah, they're pretty easy to mold. Don't be fooled thinking they can't be overcooked though.