UKH

The rubber pads under the heels of my beloved and super-comfortable 25 year old Salomon ski boots have begun to disintegrate - unfortunately on day two of a week's sky holiday, meaning that I am currently trying to get used to a pair of rental boots since the Salomons cannot engage with the heel bindings properly

I know it's a massively long shot but: does anyone know whether and whence replacement pads might be available?

In reply to Martin W:

Might be worth sharing where you're on holiday for local recommendations?

They're available all over the place online, so it must be worth asking around in any local ski shops.

Edit: Though that's maybe more modern ones. Hard to imagine a manufacturer resisting the urge to update the shape or attachments in 25 years but I don't know for sure.

In reply to Martin W:

I've had two pairs of Salomon boots and much to my annoyance they use different shaped soles so I couldn't transfer the touring soles from my old boots to the new and had to buy another set.

Unfortunately I wouldn't bet on any still being available for 25 year old boots but you never know. Best of luck 

In reply to Martin W:

Perhaps ask on the snowheads forum?. I managed to get replacement soles for my ancient boots by posting on there a while back.  

Mine failed in a resort too but thankfully on the last day of the trip so only had to endure the hired boots for one day - not fun,  ended up skiing with them undone much of the day. You have my sympathies dealing with hired boots versus comfy boots. 

In reply to Martin W:

If you're in resort, there are probably more ski shops nearby than anywhere else...

What model boot?

In reply to Martin W:

It is meant to be a replacable thing… but not sure anyone having in stock the suitable part (they are to an extent model specific). But fear not, If you happen to own a caliber and have some time available plus some diy spirit… or happen to have a good cobler nearby. You or they can actually rig a suitable ”spare” from some hard rubber (or even plastic). The only thing you need to get right is the thickness (there is an actual DIN standard which dictates How high the lip should be from the ground when tuo boot is standing flat.

In reply to Martin W: if they’re 25 years old and “super comfortable” you may find that a new pair of boots from a GOOD in-resort boot fitter may improve your skiing performance and enjoyment, whereas rental boots will do the opposite, and you will be able to go back for tweeks in resort

In reply to Luke90:

We're in the Portes du Soleil - actually Les Prodains which is quite wee, but Avoriaz is one telecabine ride away, and there's a regular shuttle bus to Morzine. The guys in the ski shop next to our hotel were unable to assist (although happy to rent me replacement boots!)

In reply to Fiona Reid:

Good idea, I'll give that a try.

I did transfer my Intuition liners (less than ten years old and very comfy) from my boots into the rental boots, which the guys in the shop were cool with.  Took me a while to get the actual boot settings close to being right, though, not helped by very flat light which made it a bit difficult to differentiate between boots not doing what I wanted and uncooperative terrain.

In reply to captain paranoia:

Salomon Axe 8.0. I said they were old!  These have had one internal foot platform splinted & glued, and the aforementioned replacement liners fitted. But they are soooo comfy and they make the skis do *exactly* what I want (99% of the time )

In reply to HeMa:

Time and DIY spirit are available. What's a "caliber"? (Presumably outside of the firearms context!)

Very aware of that and definitely don't want to compromise the binding release.

In reply to Martin W:

Caliper; measuring device.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calipers

In reply to Martin W:

Checked my old boots; just a little wedge at the heel.

In reply to Martin W:

A measuring device, as Capt Paranoia already answered (5 quid at a hardware store... nice for multiple other measuring needs as well).

Since standard alpine bindings only release up (some exceptions) as the main idea is to get a material that is as close to the original in hardness/compression. But remember that touring bindings actually have Vibram soles (so will actually decompress) and they still work with say stuff like Marker Kingpin or Salomon Shift (both have standard alpine heels), I would not be too concerned about it. Besides, the standard allows +/- 1mm of variance in the heel "lip" height. So provided that the material compression is in at maximum on that ball park, you're good to go.

Ref to the standard:
https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/skiing/unlikely_but_worth_asking-767286 (page 7)

So the heel lip should be 30mm from the ground. And for added walk-ability, the heel wedge/rocker/cutout should be 15mm long and 4mm in height. Heights have a tolerance of 1mm in either direction... and the cutout length a tolerance of 2mm (in either direction).

In reply to Luke90:

Also because ski boots degrade over time, and I'd imagine skiing in a 25 year old pair of boots is akin to skiing in your slippers

In reply to Martin W:

Please just invest in some new boots or rent some. If the boots have got to the point where the rubber on the sole has degraded, a similar thing will happen to the rest of the plastic. Nothing lasts forever and 25 years is a very solid run for a pair of plastic shoes. UV will have made them more brittle than when they were new. I have seen old boots crack right through the middle, not a nice way to crash on skis.

Working in a ski rental shop, we often had to refuse rental to people who came in with old boots, it's just not safe.

In reply to Martin W:

i think theres a salomon factory down in the valley at Sallaches not far from you, have a look on line you could get bus down there about 30 mins.

In reply to HeMa:

I realised first thing this morning that that was probably what was meant. (Maybe had a drop too much of the vin rouge last night.) I have three calipers at home: one vernier type and two digital. So that's now understood and sorted

In reply to kevin stephens:

When I say super comfortable, I mean no rubbing, pinching, squeezing or cutting off circulation to extremities. They were still a close, firm fit which gave me very precise control over my skis.

That said, and bearing in mind the cautions above about potential brittle failure in aging plastic, a properly fitted pair of new boots may yet be on the agenda.

I did manage this morning to get the hire boots adjusted so that they ski fairly close to how my old boots did. (I think this was helped by having swapped the relatively new Intuition inners from my old boots into them, instead of the pretty tired and well packed-down ones that were in them when they were first handed to me.) My pals even suggested that I should try making the hire shop a cheeky offer for them!

As things stand, though, tomorrow is our last day in resort, and it's forecast be above zero and raining all day, so today will probably turn out to have been the only time I got to ski in them set up pretty much right. Hey ho.

In reply to ianstevens:

You might imagine that, but I can assure you that is not the case in this instance.  As I mentioned above, a new pair of Intuition liners gave them a new lease of life about ten years ago.

The good news is that I tracked down two UK suppliers of genuine Salmon spares who both have the heel pad for my boots in stock.  URLs provided for anyone who likes to fiddle and fettle their ski gear:

https://www.skiequipmentuk.co.uk/products/spares/

http://tinyurl.com/ms4kvwen

In reply to Martin W:

Nice one. Anything Technical were also able to sell me some alpine soles for my obsolete Tecnica touring boots