Gear Readiness-Bootcook
As the first bites of coldness reach bare toes at night, my mind turned to the upcoming winter. What do I need to do to get ready for the first bits of snow that will fall soon?
I decided that it would be fun to write about some of the things that I do as the season changes to get ready for skiing. This post will be about getting a pair of ski boots heat moulded for myself.
Being the gear junkie that I am, thoughts of the approaching winter always turn to thoughts of gear.
This of course led back to toes, toes and feet.
At the ROAM Shop in Nelson where I work we always say, "The most important piece of gear for a skier is a well fitting pair of boots." I'm lucky to have a pair of great fitting ski touring boots. One thing I like to do at the start of my season is to make sure that I remould my Intuition liners. Feet change and the liners can be heat moulded many times so I decided I would get this done early before the boot fitting season starts. I find when I am working on people's boots I tend to not want to spend my spare time at the ski shop working on my own gear. Better to get things done early.
So even if your boots are new, this will give you an idea of what to expect during a straight forward boot cook. I have already spent a happy season in these boots and my feet rarely have any issues. I will not get into any of the dark arts of boot fitting in this post...
The process of heat moulding or custom forming a boot liner is pretty straight forward. It does require a bit of time and some specialized equipment. I will also add, experience pays dividends. I have a friend who baked their liners in the oven and the fit was more crusty than plush afterwards. Most shops charge $50 or so to do this service and it's well worth it.
First step is to get everything that you need ready. In my case I have my boots, liners, toe caps, stockings, ski socks and custom footbeds. The liners will be heated up on a stack heater that blows hot air into the boot. The footbeds added right before I slide my feet in when everything is nice and warm.
To make room for the toes, we use a set of toe caps, these give just a bit of extra room in the footbox. This helps avoid bites of coldness while skiing.
Over the toe caps we put on a pair of thin stockings, this protects my feet from the heat of the liners and keeps the toe caps in place.
The boots need 12 minutes on the stack heater before the foam of the liners is ready for the custom forming. Once the liner is hot, they will conform to the shape of my foot in the boot. 
One at a time I put in my foot beds and slip in my foot, the boots are very warm and squishy. The buckles get done up with very little tension, just enough to put some pressure on my feet but not so much that I over compress the liner. The tighter you buckle, the looser your boots will fit after they cool down.
During the cooling process I stand on a thin board just under the balls of my feet, this helps deepen the heel pocket a little. Makes for a better touring experience the more that heel stays put.
After 15 minutes of staring into space and at my feet, the boots come off. I take the liner out to inspect for any oddities. Things looked pretty good on my initial mould, if there are some small imperfections or folds in the foam it's not the end of the world. Often you won't even feel them and if they are an issue you can always just heat the liners back up an repeat the process.
Everything looks good so I put on a fresh pair of ski socks and test out the fit. This process always put's a smile on my face because with Intuition liners the fit after, "cooking" my boots is awesome.
Hope you enjoyed the short read. If you like this sort of thing I will be following up with a few more tidbits about how I prepare my gear for the season. If there is anything that anyone would like to know please feel free to comment.
Prepared for Backcountry Skiing Canada by Robin Hartikainen
All Photos by Robin Hartikainen