Wide Foot Heaven

By Jack Roper Ranked #36 - Men's Mountaineering Boots February 8, 2012

I was very skeptical of buying plastic liner boots due to my odd shaped feet. I have size 13, very wide feet and if you’re in the same boat you know your options are limited. Since boots never fit well, my feet are always cold from being cram packed into them. I thought that by going with a full leather boot I had a better chance at breaking the boot in, so I originally bought the Scarpa Mont Blanc GTX. Though they showed promise it only took a few minutes of walking around to realize it was going to be an epic battle between the boots and I before they broke in, if ever. My buddy who is much more experienced than I am had been waving me off the leather boots. He said the ability to stuff the liners in your sleeping bag with you at night to dry was critical for him, so I tried a pair of the Invernos. I couldn’t be happier with the decision. The boots are warm and pretty much fit me great right out of the box. With a little investigation I learned that if I have any trouble spots I can go to my local ski boot fitter and they can tweak and punch the boots for me. That is way better than me reshaping them with sore feet and blisters.

I have seen reports of shin bang with these boots. That happened to me as well until I started lacing the upper section while in a forward lunge position with my knee bent sharply. Shin bang gone.

I wear my UK size 13 Invernos with Smartwool Mountaineering socks; buy them in your US size on the UK scale to allow thick socks. Also, they are a great fit with the BD Sabretooth Crampons, but you’ll need to buy the long bars for the crampons to fit them if you are in the same size as me, and probably even several sizes smaller (I’d guess down to 9 or 10 but not totally sure).

If you have wide feet that never fit into ski boots out of the box, try these mountaineering boots first. At least you know that they have worked for dothers, and they can be shaped if not perfect.

View Details: Scarpa Inverno Mountaineering Boot - Men's

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