UKC

I have wide feet, Im not sure I used to....this is a confusing state.

When I first got my Scarpa Omegas about 2 seasons ago, they were comfy and fitted me really nicely, yet over the last 2 years, theyve gone from comfy to agonisingly painful by the end of the day. Is this a normal thing, for feet to suddenly widen?

tried on some la sportiva Nepals Extremes today, and they were amazingly comfortable (in the shop albeit). thing is, I really dont want to drop another £300 on MORE boots if Im going to have a similar experience again.

Advice?? do nepals generally fit people with wider feet better?? any other boots people can reccommend I try on?
or is it just time to man the hell up and accept the pain?

BOS

In reply to BallsOfSteel:

I tried some Nepals some weeks ago and they are not wide enough for me.
My leather walking boots are Alberg Mallerstangs in a size 10 extra wide.
I need to go up to a size 11 in the Neapals for them to be wide enough but at that point they are so long that i cant get my hell to stay down.

Been told the Boreals should be wider and am currently waiting for a pair to be ordered in so i can try those.

In reply to BallsOfSteel: Join the club. My already wide-ish feet seem to have broadened over the last year or so and boots that once fitted me now don't really. An expensive development when you're looking at replacing several pairs. Possibly your feet have spread too? In my case I put it down to a combination of the bodily decay that sets in around the mid thirties, plus a lot of very hard mileage on the hillwalking front.

I can't vouch for the Nepal Extremes except to say that in my experience Sportivas are generally on the narrower side.

Maybe you should get your feet re-measured before buying anything else (for width as well as length). Also perhaps consider orthotics, like something to support a fallen arch for instance - trial and error may be needed.

Let me know how you get on as I'm in the same boat.

In reply to BallsOfSteel:

Same here. My wide feet have also spread considerably over the last couple of years. This winter I bought Scarpa Phantom 6000s, and happily noticed they actually fit my feet quite nicely. The Phantom range seems to be reasonably wide.

It's also a pain trying to find rock shoes for hobbit feet. I currently have La Sportiva Miuras, but even they are a bit narrow for me. About the only shoe I've tried that's been wide enough is Scarpa Force. Unfortunately they are not sold in Finland.

In reply to BallsOfSteel: General consensus is that Nepals do not fit wide feet. No, do not accept the pain, you are signing up to ruining good days out if you do that!

I had Nepals, but now climb in Zamberlan Extreme Pro boots which are great for wide feet, and way more comfortable than La Sportivas, as wel las being more precise on mixed routes. Also, Meindl are good for wide feet.

In reply to BallsOfSteel:

It depends more on the shape, rather than the the "width" of your feet.

overall, my feet are pretty wide, but I've found nepals to be the best boots about for me., even though they're narrower than others.

what I would really reccomend for wide feet is a volume adjuster, and a supporting insole.

Ive found that alot of the time, because my feet are wide, its difficult to get the support they need, as supporting them side to side hurts.
whereas supporting them up and down, doesnt hurt, and makes them more stable side to side.

(to clarify, side to side is across the does, front to back is toe to heel, and up and down is the depth of the foot.