Adalbert Leibetseder sees himself as a relationship saver as much as a ski-boot specialist. "I'm sure I have saved marriages," says the 66-year-old Austrian emphatically. "I have had women clients who were terrified by their husbands telling them how to ski when, really, they've just had bad boot set-ups."
I dare not raise even an eyebrow at this because I've been warned to stay perfectly still; Bert's holding my foot firmly on a grid and measuring it with an elaborate hinged protractor, part of a vast armoury of tools (including pink lipstick) that comprise his Skimetric kit.
Besides, I'm inclined to believe the man. Anyone who's ever donned a pair of ski boots knows the fit is pivotal to the skiing experience. Bert quotes US and Australian research that found only 6 per cent to 8 per cent of beginner skiers come back. "And the No.1 reason is the ski boots," he says.
In 2007, after a 35-year career ski racing, instructing and distributing major ski equipment brands, Bert started Skimetric, a high-end service combining his shoemaking skills, expertise in biomechanics and understanding of skiers' technical needs.
"I thought there was a market for a perfect working ski boot," he says. "My father was a shoemaker for 50 years, a perfectionist, and I had to work with him from when I was six. Like him, my No. 1 priority is to make the boot work with the body. You can have the wrong set-up and train your body to compensate better or you can have the right set-up and train your body to ski better."
You mean ski boots aren't supposed to make your shins ache, and it's OK to blame your equipment? "Absolutely. The body cannot perform under pain or if the foot is moving about inside the boot. You're not in control."
My Skimetric experience has begun with an assessment in Bert's ground-floor workshop at Astra Lodge, in Falls Creek. Astra's owner Seumas Dawes was a Skimetric client and lured him over from Mount Hotham in 2016.
Bert then takes me skiing, making me do balance drills, very slow turns, looking for how I've adapted my technique to compensate for my pronating feet. Before leaving his workshop, he's correctly predicted what my weaker turning side will be.
We return to the lodge and spend about two hours on making foot moulds (specific to the alignment deficiencies of each foot), doing balance tests, all manner of things, including applying that lipstick to a spot on the ball of my foot. When he says he takes a "holistic approach from the head to the ski edge", he's not joking.
'Nothing is left to chance'
"The key is the way the load travels through your body," he says. "When I work with World Cup racers [he spends the northern winters in the Arlberg resort of Lech-Zuers] nothing is left to chance. The men are pulling 8 g-force at 145km/h, so the set-up has to be accurate to within a 10th of a degree."
Bert's workshop walls are littered with signed posters of various world champions thanking him or describing him as a genius. He counts among his clients the heads of huge global companies such as Mercedes-Benz and Bayer, but insists everyone gets the same Bert treatment. Seventy per cent of clients are over 50 and 17 clients are older than 80, members of his Young Seniors Club.
"If you are 70 and would anticipate skiing to age 77, we would help you to ski to age 84."
A quarter of Skimetric clients are medical doctors or have been referred by a medical specialist. The Skimetric board of advisers includes specialists in neuroplasticity, orthopaedics and spines as well as the Austrian ski team doctor and the racing director of the sports equipment company Head.
The next morning I'm back in Bert's workshop. While I've been propping up the bar, he's been on the tools into the early hours applying my data and video analysis to craft the perfect boots. He even has small silicon wedges to create space between my first two toes.
"You won't believe the difference in your skiing," he almost sings, before wrangling the footbeds into the new Tecnica Zero G Guide boots, which are an incredible 40 per cent lighter than regular boots and have a mobility cuff that releases an ankle hinge for easy walking.
Eventually we head up the mountain. Again we do balance drills, slow turns, subtle exercises. It takes a little getting used to; like everyone, I've always used muscles to compensate for my subtle skeletal misalignment. Now I need to erase that muscle memory.
The huge load that travels through my feet when I ski is now being absorbed 100 per cent by my newly aligned skeleton. Before long, we're doing carving turns on a slope that's sending others skidding and it feels effortless, yet totally controlled.
All up, Bert's spent about 20 hours on my set-up. This Skimetric program costs from $3000 – less $1000 or so if he modifies your existing boots.
It's become a popular gift for people who have everything. "I have clients who say my ski boots are the most comfortable shoes they have," says Bert.
I'm calling mine a set-and-forget investment.
