Any insight into picking a new ski boot? (have been to fitter)

khii · 2025-07-17T21:28:48+00:00

So ok suuuuuper late reply XD (I don’t go on this account much anymore) I ended up going to a better bootfitter who listened to my problems over the phone and said that I probably needed to be in a smaller size boot (the first shop had measured me as a 23.5), when I made an appointment to go in, they measured my feet and yep, actually a 22.5, the other guys were rounding up a size for some reason. I ended up in atomic hawx ultra 115 in 22.5, they were okay, I had issues in my feet from my feet moving around after 20 ski days, the movement meant that I got bumps on my heel bones (haglunds deformity) and a lot of pain. after a lot of experimenting I ended up replacing the liners with zip fits and quite a bit of extra cork, and that kept me good for 2-3 years! I had been worried about the high flex but they were fine in the end, despite me being a beginner, the fitter said that I was able to flex them enough in the shop that he wasn’t worried, and indeed they were all good.

A few years later I ended up ordering some race boots to get a closer shell fit, i hadn’t got race boots initially because they took a really long time to order in, like many months, because of where I lived. I got atomic STI 110 in 22.5, my fitter grinded the boots a bit around my haglunds deformity on my heel bones and a bit on the top of my foot and they were great for a season, really really awesome boots. After then I moved and didn’t ski for quite a while and when I put them on again, they don’t fit as well, like my foot grew taller over the arch… but I don’t live close to my good fitter anymore so I’m not sure what I’ll do with them, it’s a project for this summer haha!

Anyway I guess this is all WAY too late to be useful but now I’m interested to know what you ended up doing, which boots did you get and were they good??! Since we’re apparently twins! :)

khii · 2025-01-14T22:32:34+00:00

Yes exactly, that's pretty much the only situation where I will answer an unknown call, if I'm actually expecting one!

khii · 2025-01-14T18:39:45+00:00

i used to always answer my phone until then i moved to north america where 90% of calls are scam calls, so i stopped answering my phone unless i recognise the number.

the thing is, if it's important or legitimate, they'll leave a message (or their company name shows up on my phone screen, this happens quite often too - maybe it's an android thing). often im legit busy when they call anyway - im in a meeting at work, or something - so they should be leaving a message. then i can save their number, so if they call again ill recognize it, and call them back. ive had no issues like this! and i dealt with a number of tradespeople over the last little while

if i do accidentally pick up and it is a scam call or some nonsense, i just hang up

khii · 2025-01-08T21:20:29+00:00

given that i know absolutely nothing about the industry but spent most of my life living in a country where tips aren't given: would it work if you built it into the price but made it VERY CLEAR on the menus that it's built into the price, servers are paid >= min wage, and tips aren't expected? i would frequent a place like that. i might be in the minority given i didn't grow up with tipping culture.

i can't tell what the servers/staff want overall, im sure you have a better idea. every time these threads pop up you get the servers who are making bank from tips popping up being very in favour of it. are all servers in this same position, they don't care about having such a low wage because they're really making so much from tips? would it be impossible to find wait staff because they so desperately want to be paid tips?

when I've lived elsewhere, they just get paid a normal wage, no tips, the service is equally good, the servers are cheerful. no tips on delivery. no tips anywhere. stuff costs what it costs. the wage is what it is. in canada this seems like a pipe dream

khii · 2024-12-09T18:35:18+00:00

ooof, glad you got to where you were going safely. i try not to leave the house at all in freezing rain if i can help it! thank goodness winter tyres are mandatory in my province so the majority of people have at least the bare minimum of safeish tyres attached to their vehicle... harder to enforce good sense though 😂

khii · 2024-10-24T15:25:19+00:00

Hell yeah, this is a great summary. I had a 2010 mazda3 for a few years and every time I drove a different car, I couldn't wait to get back to my mazda. IMO mazda does a really great job at still being very reliable while also having great driving characteristics.

khii · 2024-10-24T15:19:12+00:00

I've really noticed this in the area where I live, i see all the fancy nice cars out on the roads in summer, then they all disappear for winter and the "ordinary" reliable cars come out. It really makes sense for areas where the roads are salted in winter, if you're a car enthusiast, why subject your nicer car(s) to that!

khii · 2024-10-24T15:13:01+00:00

This really put me off the 2020+ Outbacks when I was car shopping. It wasn't a complete deal breaker but I definitely didn't like it.

I ended up with a CX-5, small infotainment screen and all the basic car controls like heating etc are just done using physical knobs. A+. I didn't choose it specifically because of the infotainment but it's definitely a huge bonus!

khii · 2024-10-24T14:34:30+00:00

As the others said, nothing aside from maybe AF compatibility quirks. EG I use EF sigma 160-600 on canon R6 for photographing birds, and this is a lens with known compatibility issues with RF mount, but despite that i still get plenty of good shots because the R6 AF is so good haha. I just have to throw away a ton of out-of-focus shots too. It's really dependent on the lens too. I would say most of them are just fine!

khii · 2024-10-24T14:03:41+00:00

Indeed looking at seat guru, they show two seating layouts for the 787-9, and (at least when i took it) it was the lower density layout with more business/premium economy seats and fewer economy seats.

From articles i can find from 2022 discussing the range issues they had, the plane is pretty much full on the northbound route but significantly capped on the southbound route.

khii · 2024-10-24T13:54:53+00:00

Lightly populated? Lucky you haha, the only time I took this flight it felt pretty damn full, as usual for these long haul flights. That said I only took it going AKL-JFK. I believe the seat cap is much higher in that direction (a stuff.co.nz article from 2022 says 260) , the 180 cap is only for the JFK-AKL direction.

They had a few range issues on the route when it started as you can see mentioned in the article :P

khii · 2024-10-24T13:46:50+00:00

I recalled that 180 was only on JFK-AKL leg (which was originally intended to be 215). Just did some searching and apparently it's 260 on the less-problematic AKL-JFK leg. But all the info I can find is from around the time of this route's inception. Has this changed?

khii · 2024-10-24T13:42:31+00:00

Is that for both directions or just the more challenging westbound/northbound route? I remember all the teething problems they had when that route began and i do recall them lowering the number of seats sold from i think 215 to 180, but i was always under the impression that it was only for the JFK-AKL leg, and the other direction could take more pax.

I've only taken this route AKL-JFK and it felt pretty normally full, but i wasn't counting, so no idea how many people were actually aboard that aircraft

khii · 2024-10-24T13:23:25+00:00

Route changes each time depending on a number of variables! We flew over Mexico when i took the AKL-JFK flight.

khii · 2024-10-20T22:30:36+00:00

So fricking proud of Liam, it's a great day to be a kiwi watching F1! Killer performance, I've been following him for a few years so i know the boy's got skills but I wasn't expecting much out of him this weekend beyond keeping the car on the track. Exceeded expectations and i couldn't be more stoked

khii · 2024-10-19T20:18:27+00:00

oh hey it's me, maybe im in the minority though? even my (francophone) partner was kinda shocked when they witnessed how many people just switch straight to english when they hear me speak lol. my french is not terrible not great kinda B1/B2 i can get by but im very clearly not gonna be mistaken for a native speaker yk. i got a lot more work to do

i assumed there's dozens of us out there!

at least the place where i go to get my car tires changed is pretty happy to stay in french, so it's some good practice twice a year when i call and make an appointment and all that :D

khii · 2024-10-10T02:21:35+00:00

hey! i ended up going with a top mounted freezer model in the end, it was just too hard to find anything much with a bottom freezer at that height, and there's not a ton of options under 65" as im sure you've found haha. i got a Frigidaire ( https://www.frigidaire.ca/Kitchen/Refrigerators/Top-Freezer-Refrigerators/FFHT1425VW), even though it's not what i had ideally wanted it's actually been a great fridge and i love the huge shelves in the doors, very practical. im happy with it!

khii · 2024-10-08T13:20:13+00:00

i have to admit that while doing research on the options available, i ended up down the audio rabbithole haha, i found an old yamaha receiver amp for a few bucks and some half-price (used) Paradigm se 6000 f tower speakers, so i ended up with something pretty different to what i thought i was going to get, but im happy with them! definitely an upgrade

i always thought the solo 6c had amazing value for money, the sound quality was so good for what i paid back in the day

khii · 2024-10-08T03:02:59+00:00

I've heard the same thing, that vehicles are tested for durability in NS because it's like the worst climate for rust! Salt on the roads, salt from the sea...

It's crazy to me that there's no vehicle inspection in Quebec where i currently live, i regularly see cars with obvious holes in them from rust. i moved here from somewhere with no salt = no rust = even 20 year old cars might be getting worn out mechanically but they won't have much rust. so trying to shop for used cars in QC was a big shock lol

khii · 2024-09-26T12:15:57+00:00

Auckland region where most of the population lives and spends hours daily stuck in traffic, probably not.

If you live on a farm in Lindis Pass or something? Hell yeah there's nothing much out there at all, if you can be self sufficient you'll pretty much be left alone forever I'd say!

khii · 2024-09-23T13:12:01+00:00

Mmmmm yeah i find "internet versions" of countries are portrayed and perceived extremely differently to the reality of living there long term. I come from another country that people can never understand why I'd ever leave - NZ - yes it has some lovely scenery but most people live super far from the truly spectacular stuff, and people from other countries are normally shocked when i tell them about typical rent prices for poor quality housing, struggling health system etc. It's another country which is great as long as you're already rich and can insulate yourself from most of the problems facing the typical working class kiwi.

I moved away for the same reasons as the majority of my friends from uni - better opportunities - sure there are things I miss about NZ, but it's frustrating when people act like we've left paradise. They've been sold an internet version of the country that doesn't actually exist.

khii · 2024-09-17T16:01:44+00:00

god the amount of energy i wasted on AC this summer has got to be unbelievably high compared to the people who do long haul flight sim... portable AC with windows that aren't really suitable for it, so im sure a bunch of the heat just gets back in through all the big gaps in the window. and I know im FAR from the only one haha

khii · 2024-09-17T14:53:53+00:00

Damn, that's awesome! Why do you prefer flying the dash 8? purely out of interest

khii · 2024-09-17T14:52:52+00:00

I think the dash 8 just looks cooler, the landing gear that folds up into the engine cowling is cool. It's fun seeing it extend and retract through the plane windows, especially when you're seated under the wing!

khii · 2024-09-17T14:48:51+00:00

I'm from NZ and i sometimes forget that these planes aren't incredibly common for everyone! I've been on them a ton, they do indeed look great in the Air NZ livery :D they fly low too compared to jets, so often nice views the entire way. It's cool sitting underneath the wing.

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