Punching Out/Widening Toe Boxes in Mountaineering Boots

So I have a pair of LS Baruntses which I've owned for about 4 years now. Love 'em to death, super warm, comfy, and perform quite well on vertical ice and glacier slogs alike.

The thing is, somehow in the last couple of months my feet have started to feel very constricted in the toe box (as well as the liner boot). I don't know what the hell happened. It could be that I haven't been in rock shoes for several months and so my feet have spread back out? I've been working on my feet quite a bit in work boots and the same result? No idea...

The point is, the boot fits fine everywhere else except the width right around the toe joints. Is it possible to punch this portion of the boot out, as you might with hiking boots or ski boots? I'm assuming it takes a good bit of heat and some shoe-stretchers, but if anyone can recommend a reputable boot-fitter that can do the job (likely either in CO or WA...unless there's a ski shop somewhere in NC), I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks all.

Travis,
plenty of bootfitters in the Denver/Boulder area. I'm sure they could probably do something.

I had my nepal evos stretched with slightly positive results. It is a tough proposition with the rand and so forth. I also start the lacing above the toes, skipping the lower eyelets. The cobbler I go to has a sweet 50 year old leather ski boot stretcher that is a monster. Luck with stretching will have a lot to do with material and construction I'd say.

Feet do change over time and mine are definitely wider. I'll probably try something like a scarpa when the time comes. L S runs kind of narrow I think.

Yeah I bought (and continue to buy) LS because they DO run narrow, and I have terribly narrow feet. The toe box thing has just come out of nowhere though. It's not so great a difference as to be impossible to correct, but for the sake of cold-weather climbing and general comfort, I definitely need a bit more space up front.

Skipping the front eyelets altogether is an interesting proposition. I also expect that my feet may constrict again once I'm back in rock shoes regularly.

I have a buddy that skips the first eyelets on his Nepals, and the box does look wider than mine after some use.

Baruntse liners are heat formable. If you let them get hot enough they'll swell inside the boot.

Komito's in Estes Park has a machine that will do what you want. I watched him use it on a pair of my boots when I had toe box problems.

I have a wide toe box as well. I had a bootfitter punch out my Koflachs with great success. While I was there, I tried on a pair of Baruntses since I'm looking to upgrade next season. Same too-narrow toe box, but the fitter was confident that between the stretching he could do on the outer boot and heat molding the inner boot, that he could get me a proper fit.