'Hello' to the fine fleet folks of the WHA,
I have been wanting to buy a pair of Mountaineering boot for sometime. I have Hybrid crampons that wont work with a standard hiking boot (requires a crampon lug in the back). I bought a pair of size 14 Lowa Mountain Expert Mountaineering boots ($400 pair of shoes).
I made the mistake of listening to someone who claimed that they required no break-in time and I learned the particular nastiness of this lie on a summit of Death Valley's 11,049' Telescope Peak (14 miles that ended up being dry). In addition to having the nastiness of being new, the rigid sole had no rocker and the toe box was too narrow. The result was a blister 4 inches in diameter across my achilles and blisters innumerable that lined the side of my feet. I have never been in such pain before.
Still I kept the boots hoping that they would break in. After wearing them around on errands and one smaller hike, but I concluded that they were far too uncomfortable for my feet. I returned them for Salomon Quest 4D's.
My feet are size 13 EEEE (super wide, I usually can get away with a size 14 after being broken in). I'm wondering if there is a company who makes rigid shank, waterproof, insulated mountaineering boots w/crampon lug in a wide toe-box or if there is a company that will custom make boots.
My experience and ambition are ready to do some spring climbing on snow/ice and I've been waiting far too long. For the interim I'm probably going to buy a pair of strap-on crampons.
Last edited by Snacking Bear; 08/22/13 02:29 PM.
