If you already know who wired is, you know what he's going to ask you to do...

 

And the exact measurements are supplied above, and were done correctly. Heel against flat, molding-less wall measured to longest toe for length. Medial side of foot against wall, measured to widest point for width.

 

Hi Big,

Was 27 / 8 your exact measurements on each foot? That is the best place to start. If you haven't already done so, please measure your foot using this method:

Kick your heel (barefoot please, no socks) back against a wall. Mark the floor exactly at the tip of your toe (the one that sticks out furthest - which toe this is will vary by rider). Measure from the mark on the floor to the wall. That is your foot length and is the only measurement that you will want to use. Measure in centimeters if possible, but if not, take inches and multiply by 2.54 (example: an 11.25 inch foot x 2.54 = 28.57 centimeters). For width please place the inside (medial side) of your foot against a wall. Please then measure from the wall out to the widest point on the lateral (outside) of your foot.

 

Yup; that's how I do it. Right foot 27cm x 8cm Left foot 26.6cm x 8cm. No socks, no wall molding.

 

My forefoot is slightly wider than yours, narrow heel, high arch (24.5cm long and 8.6 vs 9cm wide).
Tried /owned all stiff womens boot on the market besides Flux (not available here).

If you want to check out women's boots on the stiffer side, these are some you can try: 32 TM-2, Ride Cadence, DC Mora, Salomon Moxie, (Burton Surpreme, K2 Contour).

The DC Mora is a nice one, but softened quite quickly (~40d; it's also the cheapest I ever owned). The Ride Cadence was good for two seasons (80d) till it softened too much for my liking (I like stiff responsive boots). The 32 is the next one I get, fits very well, narrow. Dunno how long it will stay stiff yet. I also own their XLT for splitboarding, which is very stiff and stayed like that after many touring days, thus I have high hopes that their TM-2 also stays stiff for a good time. Burton Surpreme and K2 Contour were too wide for me. Moxi was too wide around heel. If you don't havea girly narrow heel, it may fit...

I also owned a mens/"unisex" Deeluxe (their backcountry boot, very stiff, not what you want, cos you don't need a stiff bc sole for resort riding), which fit my forefoot and heel quite well after adding custom insoles and J bars. Could be that other models in their lineup in your size could fit with some tweaking. Tho... their lace stoppers ain't the best. Order replacement stoppers. However, I assume, that for your type of riding, you don't tighten boots that much anyway.

In general: Any boot, men's as well as women's, will get softer after certain days of use. Depends on model, your riding style and weight on how many days you will think it softened too much. Like, my SO thinks his Burton Driver X are too soft (useless) after ~80d. I still ride a boot after that time as mock around soft boot on a soft snowboard. And then there are ppl who happily ride their formerly stiff boot untill they fall apart even tho they are meanwhile soft as a sneaker and don't care. Since you have used your boots for many years so far, you seem to be one who doesn't care too much about remaining stiffness? (Hiw many days a season do you ride?) So I'd assume you can ride a high-end woman's boot for a decade, too, which makes a good investment

 

This is super useful; thanks. Too bad that the Contours were too wide for you, as we're a similar forefoot width (8.7cm here).

The reason that my older boots still hold their rigidity after several seasons is because I ride about 20 days per season, max. Having said that, their stiffness combined with the need to lace them VERY tightly made them unpleasant to put on, and I did often have to re-lace because I push boots very hard for a light rider.

I'll look at some of your suggestions

 

In your image it appears that your your heel is behind that stub wall. That could change your measurement. You will want to measure again against a flat wall that is longer than your foot and measure so that the front and rear of the ball and ankle are up against the wall. I was also unsure what you were pointing in the length image. Please let me know.

Another thing to consider. Many riders who have been relying on stiffer boots to (poorly) make up for an inadequate fit find that they get much better support and performance from medium flex or even soft boots when they are able to match their actual foot dimensions.

STOKED!

 

99.9% of the time, you're going to measure your foot wrong. So use it as a guide, but do not force yourself into any size based on a measurement, and do not ride a sloppy fit because of it either. Taking photos of your measurements help because Wired will look at it and spot if theres mistakes, but still... go to a bootfitter.

Wide feet are somewhat easy to deal with and much more common. Narrow feet are a struggle.

I have narrow feet, and the ONLY real solution was aftermarket liners. High volume Intuiton with a pro bootfit.

The only brands that came close to holding my heel are ThirtyTwo, salomon and Vans. But even with those, I have to work the liners with inserts and stuff. Even on my aftermarket liners, I had to use J bars, made out of intuition foam and heat molded at the same time as the whole liner.

So you can make a stock liner work for a while, or even longer if you boot fit it and add good inserts (well thought out stuff, so recommend using a real boot fitter to help).