Outside Sports 2025 Ski Boot Buying Tips and Advice

The first piece of ski hardware anyone should buy is their ski boots. Nothing else make such a big impact on how much you enjoy skiing and how quickly you can improve your skills.

It's All About Comfort and Fit 

If your boots hurt, you’ll be miserable and hate skiing. And if they don’t fit right you won’t be able to control your skis properly and you might even end up with an injury. 

Happily getting comfortable boots that fit you correctly is easy when you shop at Outside Sports. We have world-class professional boot fitters who specialise in matching your feet to exactly the right boots. 

Here are the things they’ll need to know about you...

An accurate understanding of your current level of skiing ability will help the skiboot fitters at our Wanaka and Queenstown stores recommend the best option for you.  

The simplest way to work out your present ability level is to think back to the last time you skied and recall the grade of slope you enjoyed the most. Every ski field has a colour coded trail map like this one for the Remarkables, which is not far from Outside Sports Queenstown stores. Ski trails are graded like this: 

Beginner – Green. Intermediate – Blue. Advanced – Red. Expert – Black 

After finding out your skiing ability the next thing that our boot fitters will want to evaluate is your foot. One of the reasons we stock so many different brands of ski boots is that some brands fit some people’s feet better than others. For example the classic jandal wearing Kiwi paddlefooted skier often ends up in an Atomic Hawx boot, because that range features a model with very wide last and roomy toe box. 

The volume of your foot has an influence too. If you have a high instep that means you have what boot fitters refer to as a high-volume foot and you’ll space to accommodate that.  

And all of that means you shouldn’t go boot shopping with a specific boot or boot brand in mind. That’s irrelevant. It’s all about whichever boot fits your foot best. 

You’ll often see numbers attached to boot names usually beginning at 60 and going up to 130 or 140. Those numbers relate to the stiffness of the boot with lower numbers being softer and high number being stiffer. Soft boots are generally better for learning, and stiff boots are what expert skiers want because they let them be more precise with how their foot movements control their skis. However it’s not a standardised scale. One brand’s 90 flex might be stiffer than another’s 100. So don’t get hung up about flex numbers. Once again it’s up to your friendly boot fitter at Outside Sports to advise you on the right boot for your foot and your ability level.

Here is a general guide to ski boot stiffness ratings and who they suit.

Once you get into the intermediate ability level you be willing to sacrifice a little comfort for control. But don’t worry properly fitted boots don’t hurt even if they feel a little snugger round your heel. That extra snuggness pays off big-time in terms of precision and control. 

There is a difference in men's and women's boots due to the shape of the lower leg. Women’s calf muscles extend lower down than mens, which requires having a slightly different contour in the rear of the boot cuff to get a comfortable fit. Women’s feet also tend to be a wee bit narrower than men’s in any given size, which means using a narrower 'last.' 

Ski boots aren’t sized like shoes. Ski boots use the Mondo Point System. A 26 Mondo boot is around a US men’s size 8 and a US women’s size 9. But again Mondo size isn’t strictly standardised across different brands – and foot width and volume come into the fit equation too. You’ll have to try on several pairs to see what’s closest to your actual foot size. 

You see a three digit number moulded somewhere on the sole or lower part of ski boots. On most adult ski boots it will fall somewhere in the range between 275 and 325. That is the total length of the sole in millimetres and includes the binding lugs at the toe and heel. If you ever go to a ski demo like the ones Outside Sports have every year at Coronet Peak, The Remarkables and Cardrona, the BSL is the number the demo person will need to know to adjust the binding to fit your boot – not the Mondo size. 

Some people think snow’s cold so you should wear thick woolly socks. Bad idea. Thick socks just bunch up and create uncomfortable pressure points, and also impede blood circulation making your feet actually feel colder. Purpose designed ski socks are technical apparel designed to wear with ski boots. The best ones are made of merino with extra reinforced grippy material at the heel to help lock your foot into the correct position, and extra padding on the shin for more comfort. We have a giant range of quality ski socks from Sidas, Icebreaker, Mons Royale, Smartwool, Lenz and other great brands.

Our boot fitters are dedicated to making you as happy as you can be with your new ski boots. That’s why if your buy ski boots at Outside Sports we’ll work with you and your boots to adjust and tweak the fit until you’re completely satisfied with them. 

Having the right ski boots is crucial to how much you’ll enjoy your days on the slopes, and also to how quickly you’ll progress. That's why we believe the only way to buy and be truly satisfied with them is in person - with the advice of one of our professional boot fitters at our stores in Queenstown and Wanaka.