RVM

I need help finding new boots. Over the last few days I have tried on a bunch of boots in various sizes, even womens sizes (I'm a guy). If I just slightly flex my ankle (point my toes) I get heel lift in every single pair I've tried, in most cases over an inch with little effort. Most of the boots I listed give heel lift with the boot planted on the floor and me just leaning forward a little. I also tend to lose circulation in almost every boot I have tried that isn't way too big. I can't seem to find anything that fits for any price and it's getting very frustrating.

I need something on the stiffer side as I like to go really fast through trees and I need rock solid response.

My feet measure out to about a US 7. My ankle seems narrow and my forefoot seems wide and I have a somewhat higher than normal instep and arch. I am 5'8" and weigh 160lbs without my gear. I use green Superfeet and am considering custom corks. Trying on men's boot sizes in 7 and 7.5 usually results in too short of a boot. Best fits have been around an 8 or 8.5 with most brands.

So far I have tried:

32 Lashed in 8 and 8.5 (shop even let me mold them - still bad lift even with J bars). These have been the best fit so far, but still a lot of heel lift when flexing my ankle and my feet felt like they had reduced circulation.
32 Prions in 8 and 8.5. I didn't like these at all. Bad heel lift and lots of pressure points even on the 8.5.
Burton Hail in 7.5 and 8. Bad heel lift, loss of circulation and pressure points in the 7.5 and even in the 8.
Burton Driver X in 8. Bad heel lift, loss of circulation.
Buron Ion in 8 and 8.5. Bad heel lift, poor fit overall.
Vans Encore in 8. Heel lift, no circulation.
Northwave boots (two different styles, forgot which) 7.5, 8 and 8.5. 7.5 were too short and allowed heel lift. 8 fit were the second best fitting boots but they still allowed over an inch of heel lift. 8.5 were too big. Liners were comfortable though.
Burton Sapphire (womens boot and sizes) in 7, 7.5 and 8. Felt good, actually, but still failed to keep my heel down despite the ankle area being quite snug. The calf was too narrow and not tall enough anyway so this probably wouldn't work. Also the flex was way too soft. The 8 was too big overall.
K2 boots (forgot styles, two different ones), 7.5, 8. 7.5 was too small and allowed heel lift. 8 allowed a lot of heel lift and still cut circulation.
DC Balance 8.5. Bleh, just didn't fit at all.

I've heard Salomon tends to run narrow and that they might fit me well, but my forefoot is wider and on a lot of the boots I've already tried my toes are already being squished together a lot so not sure how they'd fit. I can't seem to find a shop that carries any of the Salomon boots in my size.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks!

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Nmbr1Ballr

I also have a size 7 foot. I have a pair of Ride boots that fit perfect length wise in a size 8. The only downside is I too get some heel lift when doing toe side carves. Good thread

RVM

Well it's good to know I'm not the only one with this problem. Which Ride boots are you in right now? I will go give some a try. How bad is your heel lift?

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Nmbr1Ballr

I have the ride orions. I'm not real sure how to explain it as its my first pair of boots I've owned so I don't really have much to compare it with. I wouldn't say it was overly bad, I am still progressing in my riding so I can deal with it. The only time I notice it is when I toe side carve.

And to be honest, I didn't know if the slight lift was normal or just meant the boot didn't fit properly until you made this thread.

RVM

Half an inch is generally considered the max heel lift you should experience. Most good fitters will try to get you in a pair that has zero lift.

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Camor

I'm a size 8 and have pretty small ankle. After buy and throwing away tons of boots, I stopped at Salomon F22. The boot is AMAZING for heel lift. I don't think my front foot is as wide as yours, but I have full movement of my toes in my boots (which is super comfortable for me because I don't have the habit of crunching my toes).

A side rumor... someone told me the 09/10 model Salomon are making their boots higher volume. I might try a older season pair and a new model.

My sister has the same problem and salomon boots helped a lot. Then she put in custom footbed.... now she won't shut up about how comfortable she is on the slopes.

GL on your search.

RVM

I haven't been able to find anyone in the Tahoe area with any Salomon boots in mondo 26 (US 8), which is the size I need to try. I haven't even seen any online.

At this point I've tried every manufacturer's boots except for Salomon, and ALL allow at least an inch of heel lift, even after heat molding and Superfeet.

I tried a few more women's boots and they just don't cut it. My calves are too big, women's boots are too soft and they are a bit narrow for my medium Force bindings. Besides, they all allowed an inch or so of heel lift anyway.

I tried many of these boots in my bindings as well. If I tightened everything down enough to minimize heel lift I ended up with no circulation and a lot of numbness and pain.

My feet cannot be THAT hard to fit. *sigh* This is ridiculous.

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Camor

Haha, I'm in the same boat as you. Same size and all. And yes, size 26 is very hard to find =(

The only place I was able to find it.

2010 Salomon F22 Snowboard Boot | BasinShopping.com

But i never bought anything from them so

Another thing you can try is getting some full custom high volume footpads. I think they go for around 100 bucks and you need to get fitted at a store (takes like 30min to 1 hour). I hear good thing about it and I'm about to get one myself. Good luck!

Edit* the foot bed basically eats up the space and therefore turning many boots into boots that'll fit small feet.

RVM

Yeah, I've currently got 1/4" cork in my current boot. I cut it out to fit in the shell, under the liner. It helped alot, but still getting quite a bit of lift.

I may have to go revisit other boots and bring along some precut cork in various thicknesses to get an idea of how things will fit.

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KillingtonVT

The bootfitters over at the Basin are top notch and their snowboard staff is one of the few places I've dealt with that seems to know about snowboard bootfitting.

My wifes heels are SUPER narrow and Salomon Boots seem to be the best fit for her. The one point the fitters made to us was the fact that very few boots will hold your feet in place if you try to pull your heel out of the boot. They were focusing on what happens as you flex forward. We also had them mold her F22's and her foot were super locked in after that.