Shell-Only Ski Boots

The shell is the hard plastic outer of the boot, with the cuff, the buckles and the soles attached. Inside it sits the liner, the soft padded part your foot actually touches. The shell decides the shape and the width you have to work with, and it is measured across the forefoot in millimeters at a size 26.5. The liner fills whatever room is left between your foot and the plastic. A shell-only boot is that outer sold on its own, with no liner in the box.

Because the liner is the part being replaced. A Surefoot liner is not slipped in ready made. A gel-like memory foam is injected around your foot while you stand in the shell, and it solidifies in five minutes into a liner shaped to your foot and ankle. If the boot arrived with a stock liner, that liner would come straight back out and never be skied on. Buying the shell on its own takes out the cost of a part you were never going to use.

It is the check a fitter does on the shell itself, with the liner out, to see how much room your foot really has. At Surefoot the scan does most of that work first. Both feet are measured in millimeters for length, width and arch, and your fitter chooses the shell from those numbers, then checks it with your foot in the bare shell. Where the plastic still needs to give, it can be heated and pushed out. It is not something to settle at home from a chart, because the shape above the forefoot matters as much as the width.

The price on each card is for the shell. The custom liner is quoted in store, because which liner suits you depends on the shape of your foot, the volume left inside the shell and how hard you ski, and your fitter chooses it with you at the fitting. A custom orthotic is a separate option and is quoted the same way. Ask at any store and your fitter will price the whole boot before anything is built.

Yes. Surefoot liners work with all brands and models of ski boots, so you do not need to buy a shell from us to get one. Bring in the boots you already ski in and a fitter will look at the shell first, because a liner cannot rescue a shell that is the wrong length or the wrong width. If the shell is right, the foam is injected while you stand in your own boot and you can ski on it the same day.

No. Ski boots, shells and liners are fitted in store only. A shell is half a boot until the liner is built into it, and that happens with your foot inside the shell, so there is nothing to ship. Browse the shells here, then book a fitting at any of our 29 stores. If the store does not have the model you want, we will track it down.