UKC

I am aware that I should try before I buy, but not easy living in Montrose, I have Mantas as my winter boots and despite having a cobbler try and stretch them they are too narrow, any suggestions?

In reply to duckman: I vind scarpas very narrow. Meindl boots fit my broad foot well.

In reply to duckman: I find that asolo's generally have quite a broad fit

In reply to duckman:
Altberg do up to 5 width fittings on some models.
My fairly new Sportiva Nepals seem very wide!

In reply to duckman:
Asolo's are the same sort of shape and width as Scarpa. Meindl are generally considered to be one of the widest boots and of same quality as Scarpa.

In reply to simonclimbs:
Scarpa SL's used to have a BXX wide fitting version, I seem to remember they were available as a special order. Hope this helps.

In reply to duckman: try a size up with volume reducer, wonder if anyone has used this for a season and can comment on it.

In reply to duckman: Mantas maybe the same as SL in that they have a plastic toe box so cobblers stretching machines will not work. I stretch my SLs by putting them in a pan oa water that has just boiled, in a thick dustbin bag and just the front half of boot underwater. Then after 15 minutes when plastic has soften a bit stretch them. But you need to make up a stretching frame so boot can be left being stretched on it for a few hours whilst plastic cools and sets. To do my Vega HAs I had to put them in a pan that was boiling for a fair bit of time and managed to stretch them slightly.

In reply to m0unt41n: Holy cow! I wear wide sl's rest of year, I was just hoping I could get my mantas to fit as well.

In reply to duckman: My boil in the bag technique was suggested by Scarpa when I rang them years ago to say I was having problems trying to stretch SLs. The stretching frame is just a length of 15mm steel bar bent with one end fixed to a big block of wood, padding on other end which goes inside boot, then use 12mm re usable cable ties wrapped around boot and wood block to pull boot against padded end. Real quick but I have now had loads of practise over the years.

In reply to m0unt41n: Just done it! The joys of having unfettered acces to a woodwork classroom. I made a wedge slightly too wide, softened the box as you suggested and then hammered the wedge in, boots now cooling, wedge sawn 3/4 of the way through so I can remove it.

In reply to itsThere:

I used a wool/foil insert under orthotics. I've got thin, wide feet and this approach worked well for me, handy warmth boost too.