Fig. 9.
Boot showing rounded projection on heel; sole of uniform thickness from toe to beginning of heel; and metal plates (x) to prevent wear of toe-iron.
The heel must be very low, and, as explained above, it should be made to project at the back to prevent the heel-strap from slipping off, if the binding has one. For a binding of the Huitfeldt type the sole must be thick, not only at the ball of the foot, but at the waist; it should have a widish welt to prevent the toe-irons from pressing against the foot.[4]
Where the toe-irons touch the side of the sole, they are apt to wear a hollow, and the boot then works gradually forwards. This can be prevented by screwing thin plates of metal to the side of the sole at this point. To enable the toe-irons to hold the boot as steady as possible, it is better that the sides of the sole should be rather straight (though not parallel) than curved.
The boots should be greased or oiled often enough to keep them quite soft and flexible.
Some form of felt or canvas boot-cover is a great safeguard against frost-bite, which is a danger that can by no means be overrated.
Whether the boots shall be nailed or not is a matter of taste. Nails cut the skis and make the snow ball between them and the boots. Boots with no nails at all make climbing an icy path on foot rather troublesome. If no nails are worn, climbing irons can be carried to strap on to the boot for walking on icy places. Most people wear a few small nails, though many (myself included) wear none. A complete rubber sole (which grips on ice but picks up no snow) might work even better than the “Scafe” rubber studs; but I know these are good.
Stockings.—As I have said, two or three pairs of stockings should be worn. However waterproof the boot, it is impossible to keep the stockings perfectly dry owing to the condensation of water vapour from the foot which takes place on the inner surface of the boot. In severe cold this wet layer freezes, and should therefore be kept as far as possible from the foot. It is useless, however, to fill the boot with stockings to such an extent as to cause pressure on the foot and check the circulation, for this is even more likely to cause frost-bite than is insufficient covering.
Most ski-runners wear a pair of the thickest ordinary stockings, or socks, and over this a pair of goat’s-hair socks which are more than twice as thick. These goat’s-hair socks (or what are generally sold as such) wear badly, and a pair of socks of the same thickness, but made of wool, seem just as warm.