With most ski boot liners now being the cook-to-fit kind or in some way being customizable, it was only a matter of time before some manufacturer took the nextstep and figuredout a way to have a fully customizable boot shell. Several boot companies have offered semi-customizable boot shells (Salomon, Atomic, Head) but only in certain areas or to certain parts. Of course, you could always go to your local ski shop and have the resident boot fitting wizard work his magic on a pair of boots and get a "custom" boot. Fischer is the first company to take this idea to the next level: they have changed the chemical makeup of the boot plastic so that it softens at a much lower temp than other boots. You go to you shop that has bought the special Fischer boot setup, have your boots heated, put them on, then put your booted feet into large rubber boots with bladders in them, the bladders inflate and push the softened boot to the shape of your foot and lower leg. An ingenious idea but I have concerns about the longevity of the boot plastic itself. Ski boots are subjected to a huge range in temp and are constantly being flexed so given this new plastics lower softening temp, I wonder would the boots prematurely soften, tear, break, or otherwise wear out before a comparable boot made of the normal plastic. I look forward to reports on this issue. Also, this is the first generation of this type of boot so I am a bit leery. Maybe in a few years once any possible bugs are worked out this may be a good trend with legs. Hard to say.
Regardless, I am enjoying my Nordica Fire Arrow F1s so much I am considering a pair of their sidecountry boots. Stay tuned.
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