Wind/fire boots for narrow/high-arch feet?

[queequeg]

Hello Everyone -

I am helping a friend shop for boots. She is a first-time hardbooter! Her feet are very narrow with mile-high arches, but significantly wider in the toes, and with a long second toe. Due to the narrowness of her feet, I think a pair of winds might be the ticket. The only burton boots that I have personal experience with are the Megaflexes ... which obviously bear no relation to the winds. How do these boots size out?? She measures a 25 exactly, because of the long toe, otherwise she'd be a 24 probably. Put her in a pair of lili's 24.5 af700's and her toe was tight but everything was sloppy side to side. I imagine she could fit in a pair of 24's with proper foot support (lili has flat-ish feet so her feet were not properly supported). I figure the foot will shorten up with a proper footbed for her feet. Any thoughts?

[BobD]

Her feet sound exactly like mine. I have that bony bump on the top of my foot as well, so need a little height. I use Burton furnace, so basically the same shell, and it fits well. Burton hard boot shells increase on the half size, so I would suggest a 24.5/25.0 size. With a thin thermoflex (the type found in soft boots), she might get into a 23.5/24, but getting them on and off will be a pain.

[Beckmann AG]

If you have access to qualified boot fixers:

Ignore the numbers, (and the liner) and find the shell that best matches most of the contours.

Size the shell as though the second toe is not longer, and the instep bump is absent, then punch both areas to fit.

Most liners have abundant material over the instep, so excising to match the protrusion is fairly straightforward. This is a common fix for when the instep does not actually hit plastic, but the toes are cold and/or the feet are cramping.

Feet with high arches generally do not shorten with support.

Some feet are 'flat' due to collapse, others are 'flat' and solid.

For the short term, you might consider a pair of used jr comp ski boots. Flexy, available cheap, with more options for shell dimension.

[queequeg]

Thanks guys - Looks like we're going to be looking for a pair of winds then, 24-25. Hopefully we'll get lucky and score a pair of 24.5's.

[queequeg]

Where on the boot does one find the size of burton fire/wind boots? The tongue seems to indicate a range (and I assume one tongue fits a few boot sizes. Where is the actual mondo sizing for the boot lower printed?

[Jack M]

I'm no bootfitter but I can say with confidence that the Fires will be too stiff.

[queequeg]

I'm no bootfitter but I can say with confidence that the Fires will be too stiff.

Yeah ... I've thought about this. It's a tough call: she's got super narrow feet and the Burtons are narrow ... right now we can buy a pair of fire's that are the perfect size for her. Seems like burtons in good condition are getting harder and harder to find, so I kinda want to jump on them. I don't know how much stiffer the fires are than the winds, but the winds didn't strike me as super stiff. I figure that we can soften then up with a different liner, softer spring, etc ... in a worst-case scenario we could even modify the tongue a bit to soften them up.