by GregC » Thu Dec 09, 2021 2:34 pm
Hi,
They are great boots - if they fit your feet. Having spent a few years 'in the trade' it really is worth getting your boots fitted. It's a little trickier at the moment but it will save you many blisters and money.
If fitting yourself a handy trick is to take the insole out of the boot, making sure your heel is nicely fitted in the cup of the insole and wearing your hiking socks, and stand on it. There should be roughly a 2cm gap between the end of your toe and the end of the insole (or a finger width - thumb for small hands). Check that there are no pressure points nor your foot moving around excessively. Give a good kick on the ground to make sure your toes are not bashing the front and climb a ramp to see how your heel fits.
If looking on the internet it's worth knowing the shape of your foot and the different lasts that different manufacturers use and use between their boots. Scarpa's website has a good breakdown of lasts versus foot shape which is handy. As a general guide the more technical the boot is the lower the volume is to increase precision and feel. Very broadly boots from the same country tend to have similar lasts (there are always exceptions). Italian boots tend to be narrower, Germanic boots fairly flaired but can be a bit low in the instep/arch, British boots that classic Scarpa high volume last (B I think..).
As for matching crampons to boots, if you do go for a 3 season boot it's worth getting a flexible C1 walking crampon as apposed to a regular C1 so that it can flex with the boot. This is to stop your boot flexing out of your less flexible crampon at exactly the wrong moment (steep gully/traverse with lots of stress and flex on boot and crampon).
Personally I prefer a B2 boot as the extra rigidity helps to cut into the snow and create a better connection with the crampon but they still have a rocker and some flex. There's also usually slightly less faf putting the crampons on. B1 feel too floppy and B3 boots tend not to have a rocker on them and are uncomfortably stiff to walk on paths getting to the mountain tops.
I'm sure you've all heard this before and appoligies - but thought it's worth mentioning
Cheers
Greg