great heel fit, cold toes and the balls of our feet ache

By montanaski3 Ranked #279 - Alpine Touring Boots November 21, 2010

My friend and I both have Shivas, which we've only used backcountry. She started using them a month ago and I started in April. She has a regular wide-ish foot and found them tight in the toe box, she's still breaking them in and heat molding with the toe-cap helped her. This month, we've been doing 2mi+ approaches 2-3 times/week. The balls of our feet ache at the end of the day and we have the same size, yet differently shaped feet. Not sure if the pain is caused by the adjustable angles or stock foot-bed. She has 24.0's.

I measured 24.5 because of my longest 2nd toe. My Shivas have felt awesome until recent ball of foot pain, cold (mostly 1st) toe jam and heel friction. The warmest Superfeet footbeds might alleviate my first two issues. I have narrow heels and sensitive skin, most athletic shoes give me blisters. Shivas are one of two footwear I own that have enabled me to hike/climb my ski gear for miles on my back without heel and ankle blisters or major tape jobs. The BOA really helps with reducing heel and ankle rub because the BOA puts the tightening points above the ankle(won't know how BOA affects shin bang until we're a lil further into air season). Keen seamless socks are also rad in warmer weather. Except for mid Oct, I skied the Shivas at least bi-weekly around western MT. My bunion joints are wider than my toes. I won't make the mistake of wearing the toe-cap during heat molding again, though, pain was only on steep downhill and wore away after 5-6 day-trips. I like the four buckles, they stand up to scree wear.

I think new liners may solve my recent pain issues. A second set of liners would be nice for back to back days because they haven't been drying out-of-the-shell overnight and I am sparing them the wear of heat. I'm leaning toward the 24.0 size liner since I'm on the edge of sizes and logically could with the 24.5 size being a 24.0 shell. I want to take up space, I currently have the buckles twisted down all the way and skin them as tight as I ski them to reduce heel rub (my friend skins them looser than she skis them). I'm not sure because I was told by a friend shopguy that he has people go a bigger size with Intuitions liners to add volume, which doesn't make sense to me because the increased length would increase toe-bang. I also heard the '10/'11 BD liners have warmer toes. Any verification on the warmer toe?

Nothing is mentioned on http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/ski/boots/power-fit-light-liner-women-s.

Thanks so much!

View Details: Black Diamond Shiva Alpine Touring Boot - Women's

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