Sure, Ski Net Sports sells high-end technical skis and accessories, but it's the feet that owner Claude Swonger is fanatical about. He knows that great equipment isn't worth a damn if your boots don't fit right. Swonger has been making ski boot orthotics for 25 years and is so particular, his employees can't do a fitting themselves until they complete a two-year apprenticeship with him. He closely surveys the foot and the range of motion in the ankle and then, after a boot's been selected, creates a cast of the foot for the orthotic. "Nobody has a foot exactly like yours, so every boot fit should be a custom boot fit," says Swonger, who counts former world champion freestyle skier Bob Salerno among his clients.
-- Los Angeles Magazine, 2004