oil the uppers with boot oil occasionally, and never to oil the soles
except with linseed oil, which is said to harden them. On the whole,
however, the soles are safest left untouched. Boots should never be
dried on a radiator or by a fire. Personally I like hooks, rather than
eyelets, and I find that leather boot-laces last longer than others.

There is much discussion as to whether Ski boots should have nails in
the soles or not. They tend to wear away the aluminium or linoleum
plates fixed to the Skis under the foot, but on the other hand they
are almost indispensable when Skis are carried across a hard, steep
slope, or down an icy path. It seems to me that it is positively
dangerous to go any real Ski tour with unnailed boots unless crampons
or spikes to fit on to the heels be carried. New plates can easily be
fitted to the Skis when nails have worn through them, but nothing can
help the Ski-er down a steep, icy path or across a hard frozen slope
on smooth soles, unless he carries special contrivances to fix to his
boots.

People are now trying crepe rubber soles, but they are not solid
enough to bear the strain of tight bindings unless fixed to the usual
thick leather sole, when the whole becomes too thick for comfort. My
experience for several winters with beginners is that the soles of
most English boots buckle as soon as they are subjected to the tight
pull of a leather binding.

Few things are more irritating to a beginner than to find that his
binding will not hold on his boot. Over and over again in a run down
his Ski comes off and he delays his party by having to stop and put
it on again. Still it will not hold even though he ties it on with
string. Then he realizes that his boot is buckling. The sole arches up