[at-l] footwear question

[daveh@xxxxxxxxxx (Dave Hicks)]

IMHO -- If your toes are touching the front of the toe box, you will have
problems.

Back in March there was an exchange on the at-hikers list about advice about
footwear I am reposting some of it below w/o attribution to others [Caught
between plagiarism (coping others writing w/o attribution) and netiquette
(not forwarding / posting / etc other's email to those not addressed)].

>>
Your feet will swell and maybe
permanently but you most need the toe room to prevent
mashing your toe into the toebox of the boot on the
downhills.
<<

>>
Most folk miss the point that toes striking the front of the boot on
descents can be caused by boots that are EITHER too small or too LARGE.

Many so called experience fitters will automatically move someone to larger
shoes, if they report toe strikes or black toe nails.

BTW -- Some times it is not that the overall length of the shoe is too
large, but that the room above the instep is too high -- so that there is no
pressure along the top front of the foot to stop the foot sliding forward.
If your shoelaces pull the sides all the way, or nearly all the way, across
the tongue, you might have this problem.

Also, too large a shoe will bend in the wrong place for your foot causing
some of the same problems.

Chainsaw
<<


>>
Chainsaw brings up another excellent point.  Some people have odd foot
proportions.  I have short stubby fingers and toes attached to largish
feet and palms. So a boot that fits me properly from heel to ball of foot,
leaves a pile of room in front of my toes.  I've had to get used to it.
If I bought a boot that didn't put so much room in front of my toes (and
thus gave me better toe feel for the trail, the forefoot would flex in the
wrong place and cause agony.

People with long toes have a more difficult problem, because the flex
point of a boot that fits them properly for length, will be trying to
break their toes off, (which isn't very pleasant). I know a woman whose
toes are about as long as most folks fingers, really, she has the devil of
a time finding and fitting shoes. A softer shoe such as a trail runner may
be the ONLY solution for people such as her outside of custom made boots.
Bunnions are another difficult problem requiring careful fitting.

Boots are the foundation of your hike, your interface with the trail, so
choose carefully and give yourself plenty of time to figure it out.

Most outfitters will take back a pair of boots that do not fit properly so
long as you have not worn them outside.  Wear them on carpets indoors for
a couple of days before taking them outside to make sure they fit okay.
Walk up and down stairs, wear your pack around the house, whatever, until
you are reasonably certain the boots will fit alright, then take them out
for a short hike.  Once you get the boots dirty or scuff up the soles so
they don't look new anymore, most outfitters will not take the boots back.
 I got an EMS to honor their "100% satisfaction guarantee" after a pair of
boots I bought (which fit beautifully in the store, and seemed OK on the
trail for a few hours, ended up torturing my feet as their first hike
proceeded.  I returned them a couple days after that hike, after spending
a lot of quality time with them scrubbing out dirt and mud and trying to
make them more presentable. I was amazed when they took them back.  EMS
jumped up a couple notches in my mind when they did that.  And while I
don't expect expert equipment fitting at EMS, their customer service is
good.  Their own branded products have leapt forward in quality over the
past 5 years or so as well.
<<

Chainsaw

----- Original Message -----
From: <Watuwando2@cs.com>
To: <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2003 8:44 PM
Subject: [at-l] footwear question


--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Hi everyone!

Hope your getting some good hiking like I did today. An absolutely beautiful
day!

Last year I was wearing some boots and on a 10 mile hike, a few of my toes
ended up getting bruised.

Now, I have Merrill trail runners. As I was hiking down hill today I noticed
that my toes were pushing into the toe box. Will this be a problem? Will I
end up with bruised toes again or does the softer material prevent that?
And,
would it prevent that from happening on much longer distances?

thanks!
amy
p.s. did I mention what a great day of hiking I had?! Life is good.....(and
would be even better if I were hiking somewhere other than Indiana...back
country...ha!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The future enters into us, in order to transform us, long before it happens.
        -

                                    ~Rainer Maria Rilke
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