Once broken in, great, but not warm enough for me

By the outdoors are fun and stuff Ranked #27 - Men's Mountaineering Boots September 13, 2009

Wore these out of the box on a hike up to Rainier base camp (Muir) with liners and smart wool mountaineering socks. Destroyed my heels, out for a week with big ripped off pieces of skin. I blame myself, however, for not gradually breaking them in and not lacing correctly.Just summitted Rainier on Fri night, at Ingraham flats when sitting in the snow while tent went up I noticed my toes were mildly cold (wearing liner and the warmest smart wool sock). No biggie. After getting to about 12.5-13k ft. both me and my friend (same boots) noticed cold toes even while moving (albeit slowly as we got further up). Not overly concerned, but slightly uncomfortable, had to keep moving toes within the boot. This morning I noticed my toes are slightly numb/tingly, I believe I incurred some very minor frostbite. Weather at Rainier was described by many as "perfect", no clouds, warm, no precipitation whatsoever. If these boots can't keep me warm on Rainier with outstanding weather, it will probably just get worse from here. Sucks too because these run big (meaning long, they are narrower), no other boot has come close to fitting me yet (all too small or don't come in larger sizes, I wear a 13 street, 13 in these worked for me). For example, I tried one of the comparable leather la sportiva'a in a 48, toes hit the end and I guess a 48 is supposed to be a US 14. Side rant: Boot manufacterers please unite globally with consistent length sizing to the MM! Don't make us consumers waste time figuring out if you've decided to make your boot "run big" or "run small". The foot is 3 dimensional sure, but at least get the length right. Final notes: I'm generally more sensitive to cold, if you're not you may not have this problem, but I don't think my friend is super-sensitive to cold and his toes were cold, so who knows. These boots were light and comfortable (comfortable as far as full shank crampon compatible boots go), so if you don't think you'll have the cold problem and/or climb using crampons in something more mild than a nice day summitting rainier (maybe 20 degree clear weather with fairly strong winds) they might be a home run.

View Details: Lowa Mountain Expert GTX Mountaineering Boot - Men's

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