This is a weird one. My beloved Nordica GP died this year and I have been dragging my size 14 feet in buying new boots. I dug out my old Nordica Syntech's. They seem fine though dated and I have skied on them a couple times this year.

Last Night when I was taking my boots off in the lodge. I realized the boot bases were gone. I mean gone as in missing. The bottom of both my boots just had 8 screws that should have been stuck in the base. Weird. Anyone ever seen that before?

So much for putting off buying new boots.

That is farther gone than I have seen before, and I have seen some boots that were long gone. I bet the plastic was old and brittle (happens with boots) and the heel/toe inserts finally cracked and fell off. I sense that a major boot failure is not far behind. Old boots have been known to spontaneously shatter into pieces when people ski on them, which must suck if you're out in the middle of a run somewhere....

Ditto skier... Wonder where the boots have been stored, however. Had a close friend have his boots literally come apart at top of Loon Mountain NH, about five years ago. The base of the boots literally departed from the boot frame itself as we exited the chair. Not a pretty sight. I don't think his toes would have made a good clamping platform for the ski bindings...

The ski patrol had to bring him down - it was a practice day for them anyway...

Next day we went to a ski store in Conway and, upon being told of the incident, he asked him where he stored his boots during the off-season. In the (uninsulated) garage, he said... The boot fitter said - Bingo... The heat of the garage was extreme in the summer, same as the attic or the shed.

Don't know if this applies to you but storage could be a reason for the failure.

yes -that is it. They were stored in the garage. oh well.

Thanks for the info.

After listening to that story, I had the problem with a boot and its liner being converted into a habitat for non humanity during the off season one year . Seems like a mouse took up residence and decided to raise it's family in its cozy dark confines. Nothing like pulling the linings out in October as a pre season check only to find them shredded by the rascals. They were still in there too, must've been six of em. Won't go into detail of what happened next but the family puddy tat was in close proximity .

I had mice take up residence in my kayak over one winter. They chewed up one of the foam bulkheads for nesting materials. It took a lot of washing to get the stink out of the boat the next spring, not fun...