Hey Bootfitting People, When Is It Time to Wave the White Flag?

Hi Boot Fitters,

I bought a pair of Rossignol Electras at the end of last season (the black and white model).  My feet measure to be a 23 or 23.5 performance fit and a 24 comfort fit.  I bought the 23.5 size.  I loved the boots but the left toes felt pressed and so the very nice shop that I bought them from punched out the toe.  The punch ameliorated the problem for a while but I started experiencing boot pain again on the left outside of the left foot and toes after a few days.  Another boot fitter did some work with the liner and grinding but the pain on the outside of the foot continued.  A third boot fitting shop then stretched the shell and did more grinding.  I also got custom footbeds, which felt great as soon as I put my feet in the boots.  After ten days of continuous skiing and boot fitting, I came home with a very sore left foot that hurts even now three weeks after the last ski trip. I cancelled a trip to Utah for this last week when all the snow was hitting and that really hurt too.

I've seen a doctor who diagnosed bursitis on the left pinky toe and tendonitis as well as bruising, possibly bone bruising.  He thought that my left boot must have been too tight with too much pressure on the side of my foot.  

So the question is whether I have reached the limit of boot fitting.  Should I just go with another boot that is bigger or has more toe room, or do I try more boot fitting?  I really do love to ski all day and the uncomfortable boots with pain on the side of my foot when I made aggressive turns made that impossible. 

I am afraid that if I start over with a new boot that the same thing will happen.

Thanks for such an insightful reply even without seeing my poor little toes and foot.  Well you may be correct except that all of the boot fitters have been great.   The last boot fitter did suggest that maybe my poor skiing style was at least partially to blame.  I tend to get the pain most excruciatingly after standing in the boot for at least 40 minutes or skiing steep and deep slushy snow, which probably makes me lean back.  I've never skied steep deep slush with an instructor so I don't know if more lessons would help.

Since you do know that the Rossignol boot has an oversized heel, instep, ankle, do you know which women's boots do not have this feature? It sounds as if I may need to buy a new pair of boots.

Thanks for the thoughts on boots and fitting.   The problem with the diagnosis resides with me rather than the boot fitters, who could only respond to what I told them and did fix a lot of other issues with the boots.  After all of the work, I remain with only this intermittent pain on the left side that occurs only in certain circumstances.  One of the boot fitters did suggest the reason that I experience pain in certain conditions is due to a tendency to lean back.   So I guess I can avoid that condition next year and look for new boots.  Cheers.

Well avoidance generally never reaps good result but it is not likely that I'll find a lot of steep deep slush in New England.  This is the only year I've ever experienced it, and that was due to the unique circumstance where it snowed about a foot on a Thursday night and then rained on top of that Friday night so the woods were very deep with untouched on Saturday.

Electra Pro from 2010.

Do you have any thoughts about the characteristics of that boot?  I'm interested in any nuggets of wisdom.

Maybe part of the problem is that the boot feels great in the shop and I really think it is a great boot.  It hurt until about 2 pm and it is only on the left.  The boot fitter fixed the right perfectly.  So maybe there is hope for the left next season.  Thanks for your insight into the boot characteristics.