Bushwalk Australia

Does anyone have any experience with Bestsrd Sarek or Haix boots?
I can wear a Keen boot but have no joy with Salomon, or Zamberlan.
I need a wide which will fit my Morton toe and orthotics.
I want a good quality shoe ala European brands but how do you get your hands on these here?!
I find the selection of shoes and brands in retail shops in store and online in Adelaide or Australia disappointing.
I read forums and company web sites but seem to have hit a wall now and I am not planning an OS trip!

Not answering your query, but... I've gone to a men's Keen boot. The men's style has a square toe box, rather than tapered. Much more room.

oooohhh I feel the pain. I think most Aussies have wide feet and finding a nice fitting wide boot is like a needle in a hay stack.
I once was a fan of Scarpa SL, BXX sizing. Wore out two sets which fitted beautifully from the get go, would even go as far as buying a new set as I got on the plane. But then the design changed and the blisters started, and no matter what I do to work them in doesn't seem to do anything. So back to the drawing board. I was going to suggest Zamberlan have a wide option, but seems you may have been there. I watch with interest... may the force be with you.

Ditto. I am nursing my last two pair of Scarpa's built on their old BXX last: a pair of SL-M3's and a pair of their long 'abandoned' Treks. I am a long-term Scarpa fan and their BD last fits me like a glove, so I have stuck with them. When these two pair finally wear out, I will be in the same boat. The current Scarpa SL's are built on their new BD last and Scarpa say that this last is 'similar' to their old BXX last, but I haven't tried any, so I cannot express an opinion. I also have a pair of the now superceded Keen Klamaths and they are wide as Eremophila says and they suit me too, but alas, they are also no more. I think that Keen boots seem to be on the wide side, so you could perservere and see if you can find one of their current models that suit you. Or, you could try one of the current Scarpa models built on their BD last and see how they feel? Sorry, but I'm not much help on the Bestsrd Sarek or Haix boots.

rucksack

Did you try the wide last Zamberlan? Baffin and Vioz both have a WL option.

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There are a few boots for sale on gumtree atm.
A Scarpa BX X EU 43 - is this the BXX last that you talk about?

MrsGypsy .. I couldn't see the EU43 ones you mention, only a pair of EU41's but they are Scarpa Trek Mens.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/arncliff ... 1019026473

The Scarapa website indicates the particular last for each model, but unless you know the characteristics of those lasts (and I don't), it is hard to know whether a particular last is wide or not. Scarpa also print the last model on the upper part of the inside of the tongue of each boot. BX X is printed with a space between BX and X. I just had a quick look through the Scarpa website and their Nangpa-la GTX women's boots are showing as made on BX and BX X lasts, so you could try a BX X in that model if you can find a pair. Their BX X is definitely a wide last. Their BD last is only showing for the SL Activ's as far as I could see from a quick glance. My knowledge of the Scarpa lasts is very definitely restricted to their BX X and BD lasts.

rucksack

Happy NY... getting back to my topic, has anyone heard of Haix (US) or Bestard Sarek (Spanish) boots?
I understand that these do have wide sizes and are top quality.
I am interested in hearing from anyone who has or does use them.
How was the sizing, longevity, comfort, and performance?
What do other hikers wear who have wide feet, Morton toe, + orthotics??!

Update...
I have found an Australian company that manufactures boots for WIDE feet, and WIDE feet + orthotics...!!
They are "Wide Load".
The boots are designed in collaboration with podiatrists, wide toe box, leather, and excellent quality.
They are a work boot and they have models with either composite toe, or steel cap toe, in 6" or 8", camel suede or black leather uppers.
I know I will be flamed because they are work boots but I have found my "Black Hawke" US10's 1685g to be so comfortable, even with a composite toe, that I would hike in a pair that I don't use for working in-toe safety on a rocky trail could be useful.
However... they are expensive work boots - I paid $279 at Comfort Fit.

I am currently hiking in a pair of second hand leather Asolo 535 US10.5's which are just wide enough but they are heavy going on my hips/glutes 1900g.
I bought these from Gumtree so I haven't wasted a vast sum of dosh to see if they were wide enough, so far so good and with waterproofing I am ready for the winter seasons which are coming!

Thanks for the update MrsG. I'd be interested to hear how both pairs of boots progress.

Hi there
yes wide boots. Its a topic close to my heart. Mens dont usually work for me as i have a narrow heel and ankle. I had an excellent pair of Karrimor leather boots just retired after many years, great in the mud, wide not tapered toe and heel that fitted very nicely, bought them at activ8 in Liverpool St in Sydney CBD. I think activ8 no longer exist and cant find leather Karrimor in Sydney where i can try them on. (i'm sure they work for many people but Scarpa havent been an option for me to date way too tapered, mens to wide in heel and toe still too tapered...) Does anyone else have the narrow heel wide toe thing sorted?

happy tramping

Odd, at size - 42 or 43 (moi) its usually impossible to buy women's boots and most men's shoes are wide enough for me... and I used to wear a women's E fitting when I could find it.
Only time I had Morton's type symptoms in a boot was the first pair I spent Real Money on - ?Salomans or something - in NZ. The sole was too rigid. I hadn't had real problems since I stopped wearing rigid platform shoes as a teenager .... so the first thing I do, ignoring hairy eyeballs from the salestaff, is bend any shoe in half. If it won't bend I won't buy.
Eccos are European and I found very comfortable; sole wore well but stitching had to be redone a couple of times. The recent models don't seem to have much ankle support which sort of negates the idea of wearing a boot in the first place - wierd, high at the front and back only. So now I'm looking too.
If you find those you are looking for, please share! I have a lightweight Keen's at present but wouldn't like them for mud.

Footwear is such a personal issue and fit is everything and I know I am going to be screamed at, but every time I read a forum post where people are desperately trying to find boots that fit I wonder why they persist when there are much lighter and usually better fitting options available. I preface my remarks to point out that do realise, after 50 years of walking, that there are some situations where boots are preferable and more rarely necessary. I spent 20 years of blisters and other foot problems trying to find the perfect boot believing that they were better than volleys for the conditions I was walking in. In my youth I did manage to walk several major routes in SW tassie in volleys but was somehow lured from this path. Many years later I realised that the whole boot thing was in many situations a historical throwback, a furphy based on what was available before 1985 - heavy leather boots. In moving to trail shoes it was only on the third pair that I struck foot nirvana, but even the first two pairs were far better than any of the boots I had tried (and better for my feet than volleys).

There is plenty of reliable evidence that boots do not provide "ankle support" unless you mean plastic ski or mountaineering boots. The ankle is meant to flex and move and it may take time for your ankles to strengthen if you move away from boots. One of many views [url]bushwalkingnsw.org.au/clubsites/FAQ/FAQ_Footwear.htm[/url]

Boots have changed too and the new synthetic ones are quite light and may even be flexible. Just have to try them and see which works best for the individual.


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[quote="sleepy"]Hi there
Mens dont usually work for me as i have a narrow heel and ankle. I had an excellent pair of Karrimor leather boots...

I googled Karrimor boots UK web site, they have a good looking range of products but they don't ship to Australia (of course... )
I have worn Keen and they are comfy, and roomy but as the salesman said, the soles are short lasting (i.e. cheap and crap).
I could buy another pair of the same Keens but I am trying to get better bang for my buck

I so wish I could fly OS just to test, try on and buy that elusive "foot pillow" for the trail!!

There is plenty of reliable evidence that boots do not provide "ankle support" unless you mean plastic ski or mountaineering boots. The ankle is meant to flex and move and it may take time for your ankles to strengthen if you move away from boots. One of many views [url]bushwalkingnsw.org.au/clubsites/FAQ/FAQ_Footwear.htm[/url][/quote]

Maybe, but I feel more comfortable in boots on some terrains. I like the feeling of ankle support when I need a heavy sole even if its all in my mind! I do wear trail shoes a lot but they wear out very quickly. Even though I keep to cheap runners if I'm only on roads and urban footpaths.

MrsGypsy wrote:

sleepy wrote:Hi there
Mens dont usually work for me as i have a narrow heel and ankle

Mine must be thickening with age. Yeah, I remember years ago I was wearing 1 1/2 thick socks for that reason - cutting off at the arch of the foot, so that I had double thickness at heel and ankle but not in the toe box.

sleepy wrote:Does anyone else have the narrow heel wide toe thing sorted?

Not entirely. Asolos are the best fit I've found so far but they aren't entirely perfect and are too damn expensive. My last pair of boots were cheap Rivers ($40pr on sale) which have a hard wearing sole but less reliable stitching (still wearable but three places need to be restitched on one). The fit wasn't too bad although they don't do the wide fit on the smallest boots (of course).

Good walking shoes are terrific if you can find something to fit (love my Merrell Moabs) but don't last long in Tassie scrub.

north-north-west wrote:

sleepy wrote:Does anyone else have the narrow heel wide toe thing sorted?

Not entirely. Asolos are the best fit I've found so far but they aren't entirely perfect and are too damn expensive. My last pair of boots were cheap Rivers ($40pr on sale) which have a hard wearing sole but less reliable stitching (still wearable but three places need to be restitched on one). The fit wasn't too bad although they don't do the wide fit on the smallest boots (of course).

Good walking shoes are terrific if you can find something to fit (love my Merrell Moabs) but don't last long in Tassie scrub.

I too am in the skinny heel/ankle club, although I wouldn't call the front of my foot wide.

Scarpas wer fine for me until they shuffled models and lasts a few years ago, and now they are not quite right.

Like NNW, I find Asolos pretty good, and am breaking in a pair currently. The sole on mine is not very aggressive unfortunately.

I think I'll try to check out those Merrells NNW, because I also seem to have difficulty in getting a good fit in the trail runner/shoe style of footwear.

Merrell Moabs are indeed fantastic but they only sell the narrow version in Australia these days.

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Well that would be a pleasant change from my point of view.

Sick of importers who think this is the land of the sasquatch.

My uncharitable view of this is that they find it easier to sell something that is too wide, rather than something that is too narrow. A variation on "one size fits all".

I'm hoping that someone could give me some tips, not sure if I can follow on from this thread I am new to this site.
I recently purchased a new pair of beautiful dancer boots from the US that fit really well except after wearing them a couple of times after a little while around the cuff (?) of the boot starts to really hurt. I have worn them for a few short periods and wore them on a longer basic walk recently but ended up with brutal blisters and even some slight swelling on my upper ankle.
The leather is quite thick at this part of the boot and I understand it's probably just breaking them in, but does anyone have any tips on stretching out or breaking in this particular part of the boot? I really just need to soften it up a bit. Any tips appreciated.

Wide Load have completely sold out of all models for this year they were so popular and successful...?!
I rang them and they are working on the 2017 model as we speak.
I asked if they had thought about designing a hiking boot and said I was wearing mine for hiking!
The lady on the phone said she would pass that on, so I wait to see?
Glad I got my hands on, and my feet in a pair.
So there goes yet another option for me...

many times I have tried on boots that fit great around the heel and forefoot but have a strange rounding at the toe, as if the human foot projected to a point around the third toe. To get a boot that fits lengthwise often means going up a size - compromising volume or heel fit.

it's a complete mystery to me why boot manufacturers make boots with a toe that converges at the end - instead of being paddle shaped like keen footwear.

I have yet to see a human foot that is shaped like that.

slparker wrote:many times I have tried on boots that fit great around the heel and forefoot but have a strange rounding at the toe, as if the human foot projected to a point around the third toe. To get a boot that fits lengthwise often means going up a size - compromising volume or heel fit.

it's a complete mystery to me why boot manufacturers make boots with a toe that converges at the end - instead of being paddle shaped like keen footwear.

I have yet to see a human foot that is shaped like that.

It's all about the look. And women's footwear is often worse.

There is no such thing as a comfortable boot. Eventually your feet get used to the torture.

Bruce Parr wrote:There is no such thing as a comfortable boot. Eventually your feet get used to the torture.

I don't agree with this. My Zamberlan Baffin's are incredibly comfortable. The Zamberlan Trail Lites I had before these were certainly torture though.

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Strider wrote:

Bruce Parr wrote:There is no such thing as a comfortable boot. Eventually your feet get used to the torture.

I don't agree with this. My Zamberlan Baffin's are incredibly comfortable. The Zamberlan Trail Lites I had before these were certainly torture though.

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I agree with you Strider, I have Zamberlan Guide 960's and I would not swap, trade or give them up for anything. They are a little heavy but I actually think boots or the shoes you choose to walk in are one of the most important pieces of your kit. They are the point where you make contact with the environment you're in, and they have to carry and support the area of your body that is under the most pressure from load bearing.

My advice is find what works for you and don't compromise on the quality of your choice of footwear.

New member from Victoria,seakayaker by choice hiker by default as my son recently roped me into a decent climb up Mt Ruapahu NZ, knowing that boots can destroy your feet and as a nurse I've seen some horrifice deformities in older and young people using narrow foorwear, anyway a reply to a comment about boots being designed to taper at the toes and that feet aren't designed like that got me really going, I can't understand the manufacturers rational,, I hadn't given myself time to get boots for NZ so I did my 3.5 hr climb in my Keen Newport sandals,dry day,no snow but did hire some boots for the return as the jarring would damage the sandals, the boots I hired were Asolo,but again narrow toes, the forum mentions keen footwear as wide in the toes and my first pair of walkers were exactly that, the only reason I can see that narrow toes would be used is if you need to climb some sort of cragg to get a foot hold,does'nt make sense for hiking

slparker wrote:many times I have tried on boots that fit great around the heel and forefoot but have a strange rounding at the toe, as if the human foot projected to a point around the third toe. To get a boot that fits lengthwise often means going up a size - compromising volume or heel fit.

it's a complete mystery to me why boot manufacturers make boots with a toe that converges at the end - instead of being paddle shaped like keen footwear.

I have yet to see a human foot that is shaped like that.

Totally Agree with your observation and have posted re this topic as a new member,cheers Nick