The most common complaint about boots is that they are too loose, not too tight. The junction between rider and board begins with the boot, as it is in the most direct contact with the rider.

When fitting boots, use the following method:

1. Slip into the boot.
2. Kick your heel back against the ground several times to drive it back into the boot's heel pocket.
3. Lace the boot tightly, as though you were going to ride. NOTE: This is where most sizing mistakes are made. A snowboard boot is shaped like an upside down "7". The back has a good degree of forward lean. Thus, when you drop into the boot, your heel may be resting up to an inch away from the back of the boot, and your toes may be jammed into the front of the boot. Until the boot is tightly laced, you will not know if it is a proper fit.
4. Your toes should now have firm pressure against the front of the boot. As this is the crux of sizing, let's discuss firm pressure: When you flex your knee forward hard, the pressure should lighten, or cease, as your toes pull back. At no time should you feel numbness or lose circulation. Your toes will be in contact with the end of the boot, unlike in a properly fit street or athletic shoe (snowboard boots are designed to fit more snugly than your other shoes).

When you have achieved this combination of firm pressure and no circulation loss, you have found the correct size!

Adding socks will not add warmth. In fact, it will have the exact opposite effect.

Modern snowboard boots come with heat moldable liners that are very warm. They require no help from a sock to provide warmth.

Snowboard specific socks are always designed to be thin and to cling to the foot so as to allow no additional movement within the boot. For that reason, it is always advised that you wear snowboard specific socks when fitting and heat molding your boots.

Once this has been done, wearing a thicker sock or multiple socks, will add too much volume inside the boot and will decrease the boots inherent warmth.

Consider: Martina goes to her local snowboard shop in her street shoes and socks, and uses the above method to pick her boots. Now it's the weekend and it's 10 degrees on the hill, and she's preparing to ride. She reasons, "It's cold out, I'm going to wear two pairs of boarding socks". Martina is in for a frigid day. There is no room in her boots (originally fit with a thin socks), for two sets of snowboard socks. The extra volume inside the boots will cut off her circulation, freeze her feet, and send her to the lodge while her friends are out ripping.

Wear one good set of snowboard socks when you try on your boots. Wear those socks, or ones of similar thickness when you go riding.

When buying for kids, getting a size or two too large seems reasonable, but can be disastrous.

If your kids have extra room for growth, they will slip back and forth inside their boots, sacrificing control over the board. When they lean forward to initiate a toe side turn, very little will happen, outside of their feet sliding in their boots and their heel's lifting. This is both discouraging and dangerous.

Some of this room may be reduced by extra socks, but this also is an imperfect solution, as the layers tend to slide on each other and do correct the problem. For the cost conscious (and who isn't), take heart, although this may mean buying new boots each season, boards and bindings can usually be sized to last many years.

Snowboard boots are made of synthetic fabrics, stitching, and leather, and will most certainly stretch or "break in" with use. All snowboard boots will stretch at least one full boot size over the first two weeks of riding. A boot which felt fairly snug in the shop may be too loose, or sloppy, after a couple of weeks on the slopes. Err on the side of snugness.