Cohen is CEO and co-founder of Masterfit Enterprises. He oversees operations of the Masterfit University Training Centers, the America's Best Bootfitters organization of top ski bootfitting shops and Masterfit’s insole and bootfitting products lines. Cohen created the on-hill boot testing program in 1988 while serving as executive editor of Ski Magazine and has tested boots every year since.
Boot Test Managers
Elling has been testing boots since 1997, and currently manages all boot test operations. As the boot review author of America’s Best Bootfitters website for the past decade you could say he's got the inside scoop on each season's boot offerings. Utilized by the Masterfit University Training Centers (MFU) as their remote event support consultant for MFU bootfitting workshops in the U.S., he continues to work alongside the best training bootfitters in the industry. Elling winters as a full-time bootfitter at Gravity Sports at Mt. Bachelor and also at his own shop space in Bend, Oregon (for appointments: mmp@bendbroadband.com). A former board-certified Pedorthist, author of The All-Mountain Skier: The Way to Expert Skiing and current level III PSIA Alpine instructor, when he's not skiing or writing about ski boots he can be found windsurfing, surfing or trying to keep his 23-year-old Audi S6 Avant running.
Masterfit University Instructors
Bradley has worked in the ski industry since the mid-80s. He moved to Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico in 1992 to work for the BootDoctors where he has been lucky to work with a bunch passionate skiers and bootfitters. Bradley also teaches bootfitting for Masterfit University and tests ski boots for America's Best Bootfitters. In the off-season he enjoys surfing, fly fishing, tennis, and volleyball among other things.
Born and raised in central Oregon, Coggin has been skiing for over 20 years and ski raced for 12 years. She currently works at Gravity Sports at Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Oregon as a ski technician, salesperson and bootfitter. After obtaining an Outdoor Leadership and Education degree she has worked for several outdoor youth programs and has guided for outdoor adventure organizations. In the off-season she manages the ZipTour guide staff at Mt. Bachelor.
Gabriel is a veteran boot tester, bootfitter/technician/salesperson at Gravity Sports at Mt. Bachelor Bend, Oregon with over 20 years ski industry experience. He is a snowboard and alpine bootfitting instructor at Masterfit University. He has a background in competitive hockey and splits his time between skis and a snowboard, depending on conditions. One of our favorite photo subjects at boot test, he flies high and far. Gabriel is also an avid fly fisher and steelhead bum.
Gleason is founder and director of the Bootdoctors & Paragon Outdoors in Telluride Colorado. For 41 years he has been teaching the ski industry the science and art of fitting boots. Skiing has been his passion since he was a toddler. It is a rare day when the lifts are spinning that he is not on the mountain. When a skier comes into the Bootdoctors, gives him a hug and exclaims “that was the best day I have had in my life thanks to these boots,” he has reason to live. In the off-season, he is found running rivers (Bob just completed his 22nd private trip on the Grand Canyon in his dory), he pedals his bikes thousands of miles and travels the country in his Sprinter camping van.
Haight is a board-certified Pedorthist and owner/operator of Green Mountain Orthotic Lab (GMOL), the premier bootfitting shop at Stratton, Vermont. GMOL is also the manufacturer of industry-standard stance alignment and sole planning equipment. Masterfit University instructor, PSIA level I Alpine instructor and member of the education staff for the PSIA. In the summers he can be found boating with his family on Great Sacandaga Lake in New York’s Adirondack Park.
Hoffmann is the owner/operator of Ski Boot Fitting of Vail, Colorado which operates out of the Vail Sports location at Lionshead Village. He is a veteran Masterfit University instructor, former board-certified Pedorthist, a long-time boot tester and former PSIA level III Alpine instructor. Don't mistake the faraway look in his eye for a hippy glaze-over. More likely he’s just visualizing his summers in Cape Hatteras, NC which he spends kiteboarding, boating and fishing where he has a commercial captain’s license and runs Missphitty Charters and assists with water taxi and instruction assistant services for Outer Banks Kiting. This season marks his 41st year in the snowsports industry.
The owner operator of Thotic shops at the Four Mountain Sports location in Snowmass Village, CO, Rafferty has been a slopeside boot fitter and Pedorthist for more than 45 years. He concentrates primarily on wintersports athletes, but is also deeply involved in many other sports and has fabricated custom orthotics and footbeds for many professional and amateur athletes. Rafferty works closely with the orthopedic surgeons at the Steadman Hawkins clinic in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. He has been a senior instructor with Masterfit University since the late 1990s and has participated in the annual America’s Best Bootfitters/Masterfit/SKI Magazine boot test for more than 30 years.
Rafferty has seen pretty much everything and every configuration of foot in his long career. His legendary, “strange and unusual” case history of foot problems in sports footwear is a must-attend breakout at Masterfit University.
He comes from a lineage of semi pro hockey players/coaches from the “Slapshot” era. While he lives for winter, he placates himself in summer rowing hundreds of miles in his self-designed catamaran.
Co-founder of Masterfit Enterprises and Masterfit University and leader of Masterfit's Product Development team. Veteran boot tester (he co-founded the on-hill testing program in 1988) and board-certified Pedorthist. Owner/operator of U.S. Orthotic Center in New York City, a leading pedorthic and footwear modification lab working with athletes, individuals with severe foot ailments and just everyday folks seeking comfort and support. When not skiing or working on boots, he can be found rolling around on his motorized skateboard or leading one of his kids’ scout meetings.
Schaffner has been working in the ski industry his entire adult life. Originally from the mid-west, where he honed his skills in bootfitting and ski preparation, Schaffner started in ski retail as a teen and was quickly picked up to work with athletes in racing service for Salomon North America. His greatest love is enhancing the performance of athletes he works with. Schaffner has stayed involved in teaching the art of bootfitting, and still works with many USST athletes on dealing with their boots. In addition he has written articles for ski magazines and a series of informational boot and ski videos that are available online. Home is in Truckee, California where he owns and operates Start Haus ski shop.
Sullivan is the senior ski boot fitter at Jackson Hole Sports in Jackson, Wyoming. He has been a board-certified Pedorthist since 2009 and started working in the ski industry in 1998. He owned Alpine Pro Performance boot fitting lab in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for eight years. Sullivan also has an extensive background in medical pedorthics and worked for orthotics and prosthetics facilities in Washington and Idaho. A Masterfit instructor since 2002, he is a veteran ski boot tester for America’s Best Bootfitters. When he isn’t fitting boots, you will find Pat on the slopes nearly every day. He mountain bikes during the off-season.
Tischendorf comes from a clinical sports podiatry background in Australia working with athletes before seeing the light and moving to Telluride, Colorado. She is the supervising and (currently) only female bootfitter at Bootdoctors. Tischendorf joined the Masterfit University teaching team in 2014 in both Australia (using her native tongue) and throughout the United States (with a team of translators). She is a contributor to the Tecnica/Blizzard WomentoWomen initiative and flies her flag among the Project165 team for Tecnica. When not wintering, she can be found trail running and giggling down single track on her bike.
Veteran Testers
Boot test veteran and bootfitter, Alleman's parents were married on skis and raised her on the slopes, then she hit the slopes in similar fashion on her wedding day, so skiing is in her blood. She came to the industry by way of a ski instruction background and spent 10 seasons as a bootfitter and sales person at Gravity Sports, Mt Bachelor, Oregon. Since then she has spent one season with the Boot Solutions crew in Niseko, Japan, and is going into her sixth season with the team at the Alpine Shop in Sandpoint, Idaho.
I have been very fortunate to be boot testing on and off since 1994. While not a professional boot fitter, I do spend a fair amount of time on the hill at Jackson Hole and the editors must like my charming and witty writing style :0) I like to think I am the everyman voice on the boot fitting team. I love, love, love to ski and there are no bad days on the hill. I try to be honest about what does and does not feel right in a boot. Ski boots are THE MOST IMPORTANT piece and if your feet hurt, everything else is irrelevant. You can ski a bad pair of skis but if your feet hurt, nothing else matters. When not boot testing, I caretake several homes in the Jackson Hole area as well as operate a small travel agency business that specializes in Mountain ski destinations. Hope to see you on the hill..
Elling is a veteran boot tester and former PSIA Level II Alpine instructor. She has also worked in the ski industry as a retail salesperson and demo technician as well as a snowcat driver and bartender at Cat Ski Mt. Bailey in southern Oregon. Currently a committed pow-skier and line-poacher, she works full-time as a vintage retail dealer and assists with the ABB website's back-end. She is the critically important après ski bar stocker at our annual boot test events.
Evans is a graduate of Wenatchee Valley College Ski Instruction/ Ski Area Management (1980). He is currently a full-time ski instructor at Mt. Bachelor and head junior Alpine race Coach for Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation. Evans coached Tommy Ford and Laurenne Ross as junior racers. He is certified PSIA level 3 alpine, level 1 Nordic telemark, childrens specialist 1 and as a USSA Level 400 coach. Evans has been a boot tester since its beginning at Mt. Bachelor in the late-80's. He still loves skiing with its constant changing conditions, snow types, and mountain diversity—for him, skiing truly brings meaning to life!
A mountainscape chaser, nature ambassador and environmental educator, Holzer holds PSIA Alpine level III, Children’s Specialist level II, Freestyle Specialist level I, Telemark level I, and Adaptive level I certifications and has been teaching skiing for 18 years. She learned to ski at Jiminy Peak (Taconic Mountains), then worked part-time at Wintergreen (Blueridge Mountains), Vail (Rocky Mountains), and now calls Schweitzer (Selkirk Mountains) her home. She can be found adventuring outdoors year-round wearing either her athlete or biologist caps, and sometimes donning both at once.
Johnson grew up ski racing in Washington and went on to race in college. Currently she is the manager and soft goods buyer for The Race Place in Bend, Oregon. She started as a ski race coach back in 2000 and has worked a variety of jobs in the ski industry; most recently the lift operations supervisor at Mt. Bachelor. In the summer months she can be found gardening, trail running and camping at any of the many alpine lakes of Central Oregon.
Michael Kendrick Powderly is a Bend, OR native who grew up racing in the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation program. When she is not skiing, Michael spends her leisure time mountain biking and adventuring with her husband and two kids.
Korman is the retail alpine hard-goods buyer for Gravity Sports at Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Oregon and is a veteran boot and ski tester. Korman was a ski racer and former Mt. Hood race coach, and a manufacturer’s sales associate with over 30 years ski industry experience. When not skiing, he captains the "space shuttle" for one of the crazed Korman family outdoor expeditions somewhere in the "Northern tier."
PSIA III, Children's Specialist II, level I exam accredited. Staff trainer for Mt. Bachelor and Mt. Ashland. Linda began her career in snow sports in 1997 when one of her sons decided he wanted to ski race. Through the process of certification she added a level 100 USAA coaching accreditation and went on to coach at Willamette Pass.
Ski instructor at Mt Bachelor for 19 years and a veteran boot tester. PSIA Level III Alpine instructor with a Senior Specialist accreditation. NASTAR national champion in 1973 and a retired Foreign Service Officer. That makers her the most worldly of our ski bum-centric test team. When not skiing, she's often found casting a fly at permit on a salt flat somewhere exotic.
ABB Member Shop Testers
Veteran boot tester, bootfitter and shop manager for Goldsmiths Sports Inc. in Big Bear Lake, California. Crumpler has attended Masterfit University multiple times.
Goldsmith grew up on the slopes in Southern California where his father was the Resort Manager for Snow Summit. He raced for most of his youth making it to the Junior Olympics twice. Goldsmith went off to college and became a PGA Golf Professional which is his other passion. After years of grinding he decided to return to his hometown of Big Bear Lake California in 2007 to help with the family business Goldsmith's Sports Inc Ski Shop established circa 1987. He skis as often as he can, which is less than it used to be as he now has two beautiful daughters and a wonderful wife. When he's not with his family he is working, skiing, or golfing. Goldsmith says he enjoys the aristocratic lifestyle.
Morris is a Masterfit University graduate and has been a bootfitter at Goldsmiths Sports in Big Bear Lake since 2012. A PSIA certified instructor since 2002, he was a supervisor and an Assistant Director at the Bear Mountain Ski School for 12 years and is currently an instructor teaching the able-bodied at Snow Summit. Jim also teaches disabled skiers as a staff instructor with the U.S. Adaptive Recreation Center at Bear Mountain. After the busy winter season, you'll find him on Big Bear Lake in the warm summer months, teaching adaptive water sports with the USARC.
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