help with boot fit

“I purchased a pair of Montrail Morraines recently and love them except when I go downhill. That's when my toes and the balls of my feet go to sleep. I know my toes are not hitting the front of the boots so I assume it's a circulation problem. Does anyone have any lacing tricks or other ideas that I might try? Thanks for your help.”

“my feet get the same thing. get trekking poles and put more weight on them than your feet.”

“I have the same boots and I have that problem if the laces are too tight over the arch of my foot. Try not too pull them too tight on that first set of speed lacers. Then loop one lace over the other (like the first part of tying an overhand knot) 3 or 4 times and snug it down (not too snug!). Then after you've looped them over the pair of speed lacers at the ankles, do that again. Snug them down again and then finish lacing them like you normally do. This will keep the lace looser over the top of your foot and tighter at your ankle. I don't know if that'll help you but it helped me.”

“you really like the Montrails??

I was thinking of getting them but afraid because i luv my Vasque so much! but its time for new.”

“Well, I really love mine but I *don't* like Vasques. You may not like the Montrails if you like Vasque.”

“how do they feel?? Montrail!
like soft on your feet or hard feeling.

Which Montrail you have scullcap?”

“I've got the Moraine. Now that they're broken in they are much softer but still pretty firm. I doubt I'll turn an ankle ever again. They have plenty of cushy padding, though.”

“how long youve had them?

just wondering on the hold up.

Thats the only thing abot my Vasque they are shredded up bad but I have hjad them for many years thow.”

“I've had both Montrails and Vasques and like the Vasques way better. The Montrails ripped my feet to shreds on a week-long trip even after they'd been broken in for a month. The Vasques fit like a glove from the get go. If you've got tender tooties Montrails aren't a good option.”

“I've only had mine a couple of months now. I wouldn't wear them on a backpacking trip yet, they're not completely broken in yet. The break in time us unbelievably long. They're pretty close now. I wore them on a 6 mile hike yesterday with some hilly terrain and they didn't tear my feet up. I consider that some serious progress!!!”

“shoot they are some serious boots thow!

i wish you could take them back after using them for awhile if i didnt like them.

o'well im ordering some tonight !

Thanks ALL!”

“Yeah, skullcap, the break in does take forever. I spent over six months trying before I decided it was just never going to happen. Moral of the story? Montrail=lots o' patience.”

“if your toes are going to the toe box they are too small..your boot salesperson should have told you this. When buying boots always tap you shoe on the floor with toe down and heel up..gee this is hard to explain...if the toes go to the end of shoe go a size up. Some stores have a incline ramp to walk on and test the downhill toe jam...
Sorry you had a problem but they most likely won't get better.
You can try lacing a double tie at the top of foot before lacing the ankles this helps hold the foot back.
Barbara”

“Skyblue, the trick is to get them to start flexing at the ball of your foot. Once they start that they really start to break in fast. I did it by squatting as low as I could while resting on only the balls of my feet. It forces them to flex. It's REALLY uncomfortable at first but it really does speed up the break in. I think it also helps with the forward flex at the ankles. Now that they are breaking in they are rapidly becoming the most comfortable boots I have owned in a very long time. And I thought my last boots were comfortable!”

“Go to www.garmont.com then click on FAQ and scroll down to find the pictures that accompany this text.

13. How can I make my boots fit better?
Minor fit adjustments can be made via lacing techniques, sock weight, insoles and foam. First determine what aspect of the boot doesn't fit well. Heel lift can be corrected by changing the lacing configuration to loop the top two eyelets, and then pull the lace through that loop.


A high instep or a high volume foot can be accommodated by changing the lacing pattern as shown below. This pattern should give you the space you need in the place where you need it.


Sock combinations can be one lightweight with a mid-weight or one midweight sock. Insoles can be customized with extra pieces of foam to fill in the parts of the boot that are too loose. If the boot is leather, a cobbler can stretch the part of the boot that is tight. For more assistance, contact your local Garmont Hiking Boot dealer or any shoe store experienced in making fit modifications.

I've found it works for me.”

“Aha!!! Thank you Bunyip! I lost that link from my favorites when I re-formatted and I haven't been able to find it since. Yay!”

“Man, I couldn't remember where I had found that lacing diagram. It's been bugging the HELL out of me! Thanks!”

“No worries mate.”

“Hmmm....maybe my Montrails aren't a lost cause after all. Mine are Torres and they tear the he!! out of my heals. Wore them to work for a month before taking the on the trail. Maybe I just need to wear the all summer and they'll be good.

I never really cared for my Vasques but there are lots who love them. Montrail makes a damn fine boot.

I ended up buying a mid weight Merrell boot. No break in time at all. Definately won't offer the support the Montrails would.”

“any one have the
Montrail Vecors??

Im going to order a pair and you know need advice!

Scullcap, do your boots stay pretty water proof? they say they are but who knows!”

“I bought a pair of Montrail Torre gtx a couple of months ago. They seem to be a pretty good boot so far.”

“ya, those I was going to get but I have very long legs and they dont cut high enough for my ankles.

must keep the ank safe!”

“Well Prowler, keep in mind mine are the Morraines. I Nikwaxed them when I got them and the other day I went wading around in ankle deep water and mud in them. I also hosed them off when I got home. My feet were dry.

One disclaimer on that lacing technique Bunyip posted. It works like a charm, but good luck getting your boots back off!!! (help me....I'm trapped in my hiking boots!)”

“Hey you guys are good. I have a friend that needs one of you to take her boot shopping. Any takers?”

“thanks scullcap they said its basically the same waterproof material so i should be good.”

“Splash...ummm...no?”

“:~P

hmmmph!”

“Yeh O.K., can your friend get to Australia?”

“Actually, yes. But you have to promise not to kill her. I find a mantra, like "I will be patient, I will be calm" helps a lot.

Hey, I want to go to Australia too!

They were catching crocs in Australia on TV yesterday and taking blood samples because they have an antibacterial agent in their blood that is amazing. Of course the guys catching them were pretty careless with their hands and feet. I was waiting for a croc to take a bite, but it didn't happen on that show at least.”

“Oh no! Not more stuff about Crocs! That bloody Steve Whatever his name is! I swear no one in Australia knew about him until last year! Believe me, he is nothing like your typical suburban Aussie.

We are generally a bit more laid back, laconic even.”

“No this was a different guy. I never saw him before. I was asking my husband why they couldn't get blood from crocs closer to the US, because they had some trouble shipping the blood to a research lab in NJ, but we thought maybe it was because they said they needed salt water crocs. Fla has gators, but they have crocs in South America, maybe even Central America. But maybe they are freshwater (or fresh polluted water) crocs.”

“Australia is pretty enormous though. You would think we would have more cultural interaction with them than just shows about crocs. I was reading that some of the inland farms were hurt by some kind of salt water problem coming from groundwater or underground geologic layers. How widespread is that?”

“Yeh, salination. As they cut down all the trees, the water table rose bringing the salt up. It is pretty wide spread. There is some new farming techniques which are easing the problem but it' still pretty bad.”

“I assume not many people use tarps in Australia with funnel web spiders and all the poisonous snakes crawling around.”

“Yeh, we use tarps.If the weather is good enough I'll use a tent fly. The biggest problem is mossies.
Funnel Web Spiders live in holes in the ground and most snakes disappear before you see them (usually).”

“Do you have ticks and black flies over there or are they just North American pests?”

“Yep we got ticks. We also have sand flies, march flies, bush flies and the beloved blow fly.
I did an 8km walk about a month ago and flicked off about a twenty or so ticks, evil buggers, none had latched on but it takes the fun out of walking if all your doing is looking out for ticks.”

“The problem that we have is that the ticks are so tiny that you can't even see them half of the time. But they can make you very sick. You have to wear pants most of the time to keep them off of you, which is bad when it is hot.”

“I gave up on my Montrail Morraines. I thought I had them broken in after a year and a few small weekend hikes.

Wrong!! They killed my feet again.

I went back to Vasque (Zephyrs). Break in time was four weeks and I'm happy after a week long trip in them.

Montrail Morraines for sale, size 12. Anyone?”

“The ticks over there give you Lyme disease dont they?”

“Yep, I'm a recovering Lymer. It can make some people mildly sick and some people seriously sick.”

“The farmers in my area are frequently sick with Lyme. They just stopped making the vaccine because after reports of serious arthritic illness after being vaccinated, few people were willing to get the vaccine. It is a controversy as to whether the vaccine was at fault and shouldn't have been approved, or whether it was not at fault.”

“Hey all, thanks for your advice and suggestions on the Montrail Moraines. I'll give the lacing tricks a try when I'm out again in a couple of weeks. The boots feel great except for this problem of falling asleep on the trip back down so if I can get that figured out, I'll be most happy. Thanks again!”

“here ya go on the Montrails”

“Well I am glad to say my boots have 12 miles on them. I started off the first four miles wanting to go home because I could not bend my feet when I was walking. But eventually they loosened up and they feel great! I had to tape up my heels early but after that there was NO pain at all!!

Great boots w/ a great fit for my skinny feet!”

“Wow.

I know the most important thing is boots, and if your feet are comfortable the trip will be much more enjoyable, my boots have never fit properly and I never really worried about it, I just accepted that my feet will hurt and blister.

These last few days i've really been looking at my boots, and trying to reduce the pressure points, especially in my right boot, i can feel two distinct pressure points that cause pain and blistering.

I tried reforming the boots, differen't lacing techniques, even a piece of plastic to act as a brace against the pressure point. Nothing seemed to work, I stared at the boots for a while then it came to me, all I have to do is raise my feet up a little bit, to test it i cut out a piece of cardboard and placed it under the insole and it was a miriacle, my boot fit perfectly. No more pressure, no more pain. Cardboard obviously won't last very long, but at least i've found a solution to my problem :D”

“I guess my question wasn't very obvious...

what do I put in my boot for a permanent fix? Do I need a new insole, or should i use something to put underneath the current one, such as the cardboard is doing right now?”

“I always replace the insoles in my boots with the thick "work" insoles you can buy at Wal-Mart for about $6. Extra cushion means more comfort and less pain for me. They also have medium and thin thicknesses, one of which may work for you.”

“I replaced the insoles of my new boots with "Superfeet" because of my high arch. Made a world of difference. Thinking about getting another pair for my Sundowners.”