UKC

Hi. I’m new to climbing and scrambling but heading to North Wales in September with some more experienced friends. I have Salomon 4D womens hiking boots but my little toe is going numb even though I have loosened them up a bit. Someone suggested I look at a different lacing technique and was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. I’d be really grateful! Thanks

This is actually a very common problem among beginners. It's easily solved by having the affected toe amputated. Most experienced climbers get this done before it becomes an issue.

If your toe is going numb, is it being compressed? Are you getting blisters on it? If it's not being compressed, then there's something more complex going on, with some nerve issue.

One way of allowing the lower boot lacing to be looser, whilst still allowing a tight ankle cuff is to tie a surgeon's knot in the laces, as they transition to the ankle (i.e. above the last fixed lacing loops, below the hooks).

When my toes go numb in boots even though I've loosened the laces a bit, I then loosen the laces a bit more

I guess the first question is do your boots fundamentally fit you ?  Secondly, how many pairs of socks do you wear ? finally, is there any particular terrain or temperature you notice the problem ?

Amateurish. Getting the little pinkie whipped off is the pro way to go.

This is really helpful - thank you. I will give that a go. Not getting blisters and doesn’t feel like it’s rubbing - just goes numb!

Other than the little toe, they fit well. I wear one pair of socks and currently just fairly boring terrain as was breaking them in

If its going numb on both feet, you can experiment with lacing etc. and see which works best.

Could also be the sock. Any seams?

Only my right foot and I’ve tried various socks so I think lacing it definitely is the answer - just wanted to know which type of lacing would be a good choice 

I wonderful guy in cotswolds betws-y-coed sorted the lacing on my boots. I was getting all toes going numb, especially when going downhill. Issue was my boots have pulleys on the bottom eyelets, so I was overtightening and pressing the tongue onto a neve on the top of the foot.

Now I make a concerted effort to keep the laces quite loose at the bottom. At the heel (where the hooks start) I put 3 twists in the lace (as if I was about to tie a bow), this locks the laces so I can up the tension and lace the ankle tightly giving a secure fit. It's a bit of a faf but works for me and after being crippled descending snowdon it saved me the cost of a new pair of boots. 

This is really helpful. Thanks for the reply. That’s the bit I needed to know - was worried about loosening to much and losing the ankle support. Will give this a go

Here are some different ideas for you to try: https://coolofthewild.com/how-to-tie-hiking-boots/

Yes ankle support is still fine, you need to put the lock where the tension pulls the foot back into the heel cup. Lower laces then just need to be snug, as a with a secure ankle there is no movement of the foot within the boot. 

Sounds like you may have a different problem to me, but I was amazed at what a difference messing with the lacing made. Well worth finding a good boot fitter who has time to go through different lacing options and then experimenting to find what works for you.