Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board boots

i need boot help. What are a good pair of boots for a fat short foot. Doing a 1 dayer in June and need new ones

HELP
Leroux

Your best bet is to find a store that has a good boot fitter. Adventure 16 stores have such a reputation. Also, a fellow named Phil Oren tours the country doing custom boot fittings. He has a web site at:

http://www.fitsystembyphiloren.com/

Click through to the Backpacker magazine boot camp schedule to see if he will be in your area.

This month's Backpacker has the 2004 gear reviews, including several pages on the latest boots. There's also some additional info about Phil Oren in it. Might be worth checking out.

If you are looking solely for a dayhiking boot, I would recommend a low top, something along the lines of the Montrail TRS comp, Salomon Expert Lows, or Merrell Chameleons. I would recommend trying a few pairs on to see what feels best to you. If you want something for backpacking trips(carrying heavy loads) you may want to look into a boot with more support and stability.
Eric J Lee

My podiatrist recommended Montrails for wide feet. I just did my second hike in them and they seem pretty good at not antagonizing my Morton's neuroma. Up 3,400 feet and than back down in 4 miles each way.

Now that I think about it, Whitney would be a lot shorter hike with those grades altho, my tongue would probably stick to the rocks after the first 4 or 5,000 feet (G)

Another option would be to try custom-made boots. This can be an expensive option, but if your feet are a difficult size, it may lead to the best results. There are a few cobblers that can do it by hand, or you can try an outfit like Esatto

My guess is that you have a wide foot with a high in-step (a lot of volume). If you are feeling pain in the ball of your foot after a couple of miles of hiking, the toe box is propably not big enough for your foot. If this is the situation, you may want to look at the following two boot makers: Lowa and Dunham. Both boot makers come in assorted widths.

One other thing, no matter what brand you settle upon: it absolutely astonishes me that irrespective of the brand, the factory supplied footbeds are absolute junk. It doesn't matter if you pay $300 for stock boots!

So, whatever you buy, you should also buy padded footbeds for replacement. You can use the ridiculously overpriced Superfeet, available at REI, or a variety of more reasonably priced models at a variety of stores.

I tried superfeet for a while and found that they really bugged the arch of my feet. It felt like I was walking on a hard lump under my arches. I ended up taking them back. Is this normal? I know they are made to help with arch support, but it was pretty uncomfortable.

As Fred mentioned, Montrails are great. I've bought a pair of the <A HREF=http://www.summitpost.com/show/gear_reviews/product.pl?product_id=494>Montrail Torre GTX</A> and they were awesome right out of the box. I posted a review of this boot at summitpost and hopefully the link for it will come up when you click on the boots name. I went on one climb last summer and when all of us looked at the boots we were wearing (3 of us), we all were wearing Montrail Torre GTX' boots. Happy feet.

I too have the Montrail Torre's and have been happy with them. They're still kindof new and keep getting better as they get broken in. I aggree with Dean they were good right out of the box. I used them the day after I bought them on Mount St. Helens in 3-6 inches inches of fresh snow. The laces tended to get untied a lot on me, but a slight change to the way I tied them solved that.

I find that Superfeet work well in some boots (both my ski books and Koflach plastic shell climbing boots), but not in others (either of my La Sportiva's). Depends on both your foot and the boots.

I have a wide foot and find Sportiva's fit well, however you need to find what fits your individual foot best. BTW, the only real way to find out is to spend an hour or more trying on each pair and climb around with them (good store usually have fake rock faces to walk up and down on). It always amazes me when people spend 2 minutes walking around the store in a pair of expensive boots and then complain when their feet hurt 2 hours into the first climb - duh!

what about boots that use soft crampons?

any suggestions. With this weather i am positive to hit tons of ice in june

leroux

I had a pair of Limmers made for me in 1979. The old heavy style. They have been resoled twice. Best boots ever. Limmers are made in Intervale New Hampshire, one hour from where I grew up. I've been on Whitney and had people ask me if they are Limmers, cool. I happen to have weak ankles and on occasion I have taken a short hike in sneakers, bad move. Another plus is that with Limmers or other heavy leather boot, you can use crampons effectively.