I started cutting my boots up a couple years ago. I was a skier and skateboarder first, then converted to rollerblading a few years back. Rollerblading really opened my eyes to the trick potential of skiing. I found them similar in a lot of ways, but in others, distinctly different. I was most interested though, in the boots. Ski boots and rollerblade boots are built with the same two piece construction, but on my feet, they felt completely different.  A modern freestyle skate has nearly two decades of innovation behind it to separate it from a recreational skate. I wish I could say the same about freestyle ski boots.

Two years ago, I saw a video by, then Xsjado flow skater, JC Rowe. It was a V-Cut tutorial for, in my opinion, the best feeling and performing skate on the market. The Xsjado is the best cuff you can skate in already, with no pressure points or bite whatsoever, and after I cut them they only got better. It didn’t take long for me to want to experience the freedom and mobility of my V-Cut Xsjados on my ski boots. In ski boots, I felt too restricted by my high cuffs. Cutting my cuffs lower allowed me to move more freely and precisely. Adding a V-Cut opened open my range of motion even more, letting me use my whole leg and foot to control my skis.

After two years of skiing on cut down boots, I can’t ski a normal height boot. My boots feel no less supportive, I can jump just as well and go as big as before, and my control and precision on rails has increased immensely. Lower cuffs and V cuts allow me to fully utilize all the muscles in my legs to jump, ollie, and balance. Your leg wasn’t designed to articulate in a foot and a half high, four-pound block of plastic, textiles, and foam. My approach to ski boots is minimalistic, less enables me to do more. Every cut I make is one cut closer to my ski boot being and feeling like a natural part of my foot. I want to feel the rail, snow, or air under my feet without fighting my boot to do so. I’m constantly trying to get the most out of the boots I have available to me by cutting my cuffs lower and playing with different shapes of V Cuts.

Though I don’t ski SPKs anymore, I still cut them down for friends and strangers who are curious about my boots. With this pair, I cut the cuffs low to the top buckle and flat as I have done before, but used a wider, deeper, V Cut. I never liked how ski boot cuffs were shaped. I like cutting them flat all around so its a predictable feeling in every direction. Lowering them takes the bite out of shin/calf bang too. There is simply nothing left for your shins and calves to slam into. The boot is quite a bit lighter, and I think it skis very well. To each his own though, it might not be for you, or it might just be what you need to take your skiing to the next level. Modding my boots isn’t about trying to turn my ski boots into rollerblades, its about unlocking their potential. Don’t knock it ’til you try it!

Allen and the Line Midwest squad in action: