Skating ski boots for women

Guide to buying women's skating boots.

Buying a good pair of boots is important. In fact, you could say crucial. Browsing the range of cross-country skating boots for women on offer, you'll realize that it's not so easy to navigate your way through as the choice of boot is vast. That's why we've put together this buyer's guide to make it clearer for you.

Women's cross-country boots are designed by studying morphology.

Morphologically, women have different shaped feet to men. For more comfort and a better fit, the brand manufacturers therefore decided to produce boots specifically for the fairer sex. The liner in a women's ski boot is slimmer and the frame is V-shaped so as not to put pressure on the calf which is lower than a man's. These boots are also more comfortable. And since, ladies, you are generally more chilly than men, women's boots are therefore designed to better conserve the heat. However, this doesn't mean that they are any less efficient. Quite the contrary, they offer the same performance quality as men's and will give you all the performance you're looking for.

How do you choose the right ski skating boot?

Like women's skating skis, a boot's performance will more or less depends on the range you choose. So choose them carefully to best suit your ability. To help you choose, we've classified them into 3 different categories.

Leisure ski boots : This category is suited to both beginners and occasional skiers. The boots shown here are more for comfort rather than performance. They are ideal for your first experience of gliding on skates without worrying too much about your technique.

Sports ski boots : This is the boot category that enables you to refine your technique without compromising the comfort of your feet. They are very tolerant and perfect for long winter excursions. These are good ski skating boots that will last a long time and see you through several winters.

Race/Expert ski boots: Designed for performance, these shoes are lightweight and precise. They are intended for regular skiers as well as skiing fanatics who want to reach their ultimate technical ability and experience the capabilities of top of the range equipment.

What are the compatibility standards for women's skating boots?

One thing is certain that it can seem complicated to follow the different binding standards in place. Certain boots are compatible with certain bindings and not with others and vice versa. To help you through the various terms for choosing the right skating boot here's a tutorial on the different standards. It's available in the "Our advice" section. To put it simply:

- Boots with the SNS Pilot standard are only compatible with bindings of the same standard.

- Those with Prolink and NNN standards are compatible with each other.

And if you don't know the standard of your current bindings you just have to look on the sole of your boot and count the clips. If there are two clip attachments, you have the SNS Pilot standard and if there is only one, it's compatible with the Prolink and NNN standards. It's as simple as that!