Well after using my Baruntses for the first time on Mt. Baker a few months ago, this weekend I finally got the balls up to heat mold the liners at home myself (I couldn't find a fitter locally). Holy hell I don't know why I waited so long. They're so much more comfortable. I even spent all day wearing them around the house this weekend because they were so awesome. I literally want to sleep in them now, they're that comfortable. I had to do it three times to get the toe box just right but the basic process was stupid easy in my oven. So yeah, don't be a chicken and heat mold your boots.

How'd you do it?
Thanks

Dane has a section on his blog that explains one way to mold your boot liners:
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/search?q=heat+molding+liners

Cool, thanks Tim. I did see that article, just wondering if the op did something different or had any other tips/tricks. I'm debating weather to do it myself or take it to a boot fitter but I don't think there are any within an hour drive or so.
Anyone using heat moldable footbeds in these? The stock ones seem pretty cheesy. I used a Sole footbed in my Nepal Evo's and was considering those, just not sure what I would mold first, or both at the same time?

lpdjshaw wrote:Cool, thanks Tim. I did see that article, just wondering if the op did something different or had any other tips/tricks. I'm debating weather to do it myself or take it to a boot fitter but I don't think there are any within an hour drive or so.
Anyone using heat moldable footbeds in these? The stock ones seem pretty cheesy. I used a Sole footbed in my Nepal Evo's and was considering those, just not sure what I would mold first, or both at the same time?

Sorry I can't help any more than what I posted. I am a relative 'noob' myself and have simply been reading about the sort of footwear I 'hope' to use the next few years-I have as of yet no real cold weather mountaineering experience.

lpdjshaw wrote:Cool, thanks Tim. I did see that article, just wondering if the op did something different or had any other tips/tricks. I'm debating weather to do it myself or take it to a boot fitter but I don't think there are any within an hour drive or so.
Anyone using heat moldable footbeds in these? The stock ones seem pretty cheesy. I used a Sole footbed in my Nepal Evo's and was considering those, just not sure what I would mold first, or both at the same time?

I just followed the instructions on the la sportiva website. It was pretty easy, though it took me a couple tries to get it just right. Here's what I did:

1. Heat oven per la sportiva website (130 DegC)

2. Instead of cutting up my good wool socks I took about 4x of my hole-filled thin running socks and cut the toes off them to create a toe cap for each foot. I had to use so many because they're extremely thin socks.

3. Even with the toe caps I learned after the first try that I also had to stuff a small wad of paper towel into the toe of the liner because they were shrinking too much and I had some toe-bash while walking downhill. My liner easily shrank by 1" in length when heated. With the toe cap + paper towel wad in the toe I ended up with enough clearance for my toes.

4. I wore a lightweight wool sock on my foot for the fitting. Unlike some others, I didn't "wear" my foot bed inside my sock on my foot. I have green superfeet and I just put them inside of the liner like I normally would, and put the whole thing in the oven. It certainly didn't harm my foot bed and made it easier to insert my foot while the liner was hot.

5. After the liner was through heating in the oven (about 10-12 minutes), it comes out super spongy and thick, like 1.5x its normal thickness. I put the liner on my socked foot (wearing toe cap) and cinched it down pretty tight. The baruntse liner lace is pretty robust and I didn't have any fear of it tearing. I then stuck my foot+liner in the boot.

6. It is *very* tight while hot because the liner swells up so much. I only tightened the forefoot laces marginally. The first time I did it I didn't tighten it enough because the liner was so tight, and my fit was compromised once it cooled. I barely tightened the top portion of the boot, just enough to make it snug. After about 5-10 minutes everything cools down and the boot is no longer tight. I took all the caps and paper towel wad out and tested them out....yay.

7. I could only do a single boot at a time. I had slight trouble getting both boots to feel the same after fitting, I think I had to do the second foot three times to get it exactly like the first boot, which fit perfect the second time I did it. In any case, it was extremely easy and the boots now feel like extremely comfy ski boots. I can't wait to use them in the mountains.

Thanks ty454, appreciate the extra tips. Think I'm gonna give it a go myself.

Just to note - when I had Intuition liners done at Neptune some years ago, in addition to the foam toe-cap (replaced above by socks etc), they put some foam between my toes so there would eventually be space there, so no rubbing.

There is a chance that when you put all this extra stuff on your feet and squeeze them in hot, you will unknowingly have your toes touching each other more than normal, which won't become apparent until you hike for a while.

I just heat molded some Baruntse liners in my Sportiva Spantiks. Haven't climbed in them yet, but after a 3 mile hike in the mountains today in them, they definitely feel more comfortable and better fitting than with the stock liners.