Need: Reno/Tahoe area bootfitting & liner injection work

I concur, Bud is very knowledgeable and highly competent.

I was only disappointed because I made an appointment twice and each time he was doing 4 things at once like a circus. It was irritating. Maybe I expect to much but I ass/u/med that if I took my valuable time and called ahead and made an appointment,then he would have blocked that time or much of it to focus on the client.

If I had known this beforehand, then my expectations would be different. Bottom line is I concur with others: Bud will give you very good results for boot fitting. But bring an iPOD, book, or newspaper when you go.;)

Both Bud and Cosmo are great at what they do, and among the best bootfitters in the country. These guys are definitely guru's and know their shit inside and out. They're the ones I go to see. Bud is my footbed guy, and cosmo does the rest. I've had a dozen custom footbeds over the years, and bud's conform'ables are one of the best I've ever owned.


Now, you just have to keep in mind that everyone you meet in the ski industry is a skier, and therefore probably also has ADD, a drinking problem, or both. Take this into account when judging their procedures. There's no "professionals" in this business, only slackers who've managed to eke out a living with a ski-related job. I too have experienced the same crappy situations noted above while visiting these guys, but I've been pretty lucky so far and had everything come out alright.

Other honorable mentions:

Kevin at footloose has done some awesome work for me, and is also one of the best I've met.
Pat at Tahoe boot and ski in south shore is good.
and, I've heard a lot of really good things about shafner too, but have no firsthand experience.


My god, I spent waaay too much time at the bootfitters.

I vote for Pat Medau at Tahoe Boot and Ski or Brent Springbett at Powderhouse. Brent used to be at the other location of Tahoe Boot and Ski until it closed down.

Bump for update:

Last year I wound up with Dalbello Kryptons with the Intuition liners that come with them; bought them from Mike Croke at Village Ski Loft in Incline Village, and had them fitted there (fitting included in purchase price). 1 season later, boots feeling sloppy after packing out; went back for refitting.

Got them remolded yesterday, and they feel better than ever -- difference in molding this time was that for the first bake (last year), we just heated the liners per Dalbello instructions, on a blower/heater unit thing. This year, we heated them on the blower thing, then briefly in a convection oven. The fit turned out much closer and snugger.

So if you have Kryptons with the Intuitions, try ignoring Dalbello's advice and cooking them in a convection oven like the standard Intuition liners. It worked out to a much better fit. The liners don't get the super-puffy wallowy marshmallow feel like standard Intuitions, but they get quite a bit softer and more malleable than if they're only heated with the blower/heater device.

Summary: very happy with the fit and service from VSL. Highly recommended. Call to make an appointment and you'll get in & out quickly, lots of personal attention.

Caveat: if you try this at home -- apparently the Dalbello liners have cotton on them, so only cook them briefly in the oven so they don't catch on fire.

^i got my Hot Rods from VSL 2 seasons ago. ended up there after going to 3 shops down here in San Fran area and 2 other shops in SLT none of which felt like they were giving me the proper service or fit (with the exception of Boot/Bike Works in Heavenly Village, but they ended up not having any boots in my size!)

anyway, at VSL i dealt with Ruben, who was attentive and mellow. what's more is that for the first season on my Hot Rods I kept blowing out one of the overlap/tongue lug nuts. i don't even charge that hard, but for some reason i was torquing the boot in a way that blew out the screws which held the tongue spoiler. took the boots back 3 times. first time they just inserted a new screw with hella Locktite. Blew that out quick. Second time Ruben wasn't there and another cat re-drilled the hole and fitted it with a Chicago lug. blew that out. 3rd time I brought a sixer of beer and Ruben was in. He re-drilled it, fitted in a new Chicago lug and they've been tits ever since.

funny thing is that when i was in the third time and Ruben was working on my boot i checked out the new 2008 Hot Rod and noticed that they'd done away with the screw on spoiler. When he came out with my retrofitted boot I showed him the new Hot Rod and commented that obviously they'd had other folks blowing out the screws on the front spoiler hence the design mods. He laughed his ass off.

anyway, while i haven't stepped up to the full customization of footbeds (I just have superfeet and the stock liner) I will say that I was pleased with the service at attitude at VSL.

prior to VSL i went to the Boot/Bike Works at Heavenly Village (across from the ice rink). They were really cool there, but alas when i went they ultimately didn't have my size! but based on the service and attention i'd go back there (they actually put a lifter in my HR for free after i'd gotten it from VSL and was riding at Heavenly and it felt loose...i thought that was cool considering that i hadn't purchased my boots from them).

Christian at ELITE FEET at Squaw was awesome. He did some work on one of my boots about 4 weeks ago and the result is going from hell to heaven. Fantastic.


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Originally Posted by Jim S

Christian at ELITE FEET at Squaw was awesome. He did some work on one of my boots about 4 weeks ago and the result is going from hell to heaven. Fantastic.


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Similar experience to the thread resurrector here.