(very) small size mountaineering boots??

the good: I'm looking into buying my first(!) pair of mountaineering boots for an ice climbing trip
the bad: I wear a US women's 4 in street shoes, and cannot find even a women's 5 in mountaineering boot. anywhere.

help?!

Boreal boots start from very small sizes: borealoutdoor.com/products/…

I called them the other day, they don't have anything smaller than a women's 6 :/ (they use UK sizing on their website which is down a size from US)

They're some-what antiquated, but the Scarpa website appears to have a size 5 of their plastic double-boot "Inverno" in stock.

If you're just ice cragging you could get away with some ski boots. I don't know how small some of the ski mountaineering boots go, but perhaps on of the manufacturers has something down in that range. You could call Cripple Creek Backcountry and they would assuredly know. Some of the ski mtneering boots climb quite well, are light (lighter than some double mtneering boots) and would be more than adequate for an intro to ice (or even high end alpinism, depending on the objective).

I bet the smallest pair of doubles, if still too large, could probably be modified by a boot fitter to be pretty decent. If it's only one size up, it doesn't seem like they would be too overly clunky.

Though, as a 48 wearer, I guess maybe I'm being too dismissive of the size difference...I sure as hell wouldn't want to have to deal with 49 boots; the 48's are already an ordeal, LOL.

I wonder if anything could actually be done for singles, though? Have you tried any aftermarket insoles? My complaint with a lot of them is that, while comfortable, they're too thick and make me give up too much volume...literally feels like they cause my boots to be a size smaller. Obviously, that would be to your benefit...

edit: Scarpa only goes to 37, but it looks like Sportiva may make a 36? How far off is that from what you need?

Koflach Degre is offered in a 4UK. Equates to about a 6US women. Where are you located?

It is very tough for us, petite women, to get into the sport due to ill-fitting equipment. I have size 5.5 feet. The smallest I was able to find was La Sportiva Nepal Cube GTX Mountaineering Boots - Women's in size 36. I take and wear extra socks to make up the difference. You can also put in another shoe insert like a wool Superfeet to make the shoe "smaller". The wool Superfeet also help to keep your feet warmer (added bonus)!! My heel was lifting about a half inch in ski boots that were too big and the pink Superfeet fixed that problem.

Once you buy the small boots, make sure your crampon toe welt clips make a lot of contact with the boot toe welt. I have had crampons pop off mid-climb so you might need to adjust the toe welt clips for good contact.

Salewa looks like they have a boot that will work for you. Their Condor Evo GTX boot is available down to a size 3. They have a size 4 and a size 5 available on their website (Euro sizing). https://www.salewa.com/condor-evo-gore-tex-womens-shoes-00-0000061321?c=516637 

ClimbingOn wrote: Salewa looks like they have a boot that will work for you. Their Condor Evo GTX boot is available down to a size 3. They have a size 4 and a size 5 available on their website (Euro sizing). https://www.salewa.com/condor-evo-gore-tex-womens-shoes-00-0000061321?c=516637 

UK sizes! 

Call Scarpa or Sportiva directly and ask them if they'll special order sizes from EU for you. They carry more sizes/ styles over in EU since it's a larger mountaineering market.  

hello! I am in the same dilemma and i'm curious what you ended up doing and how well it worked for you? :) 

Genya Z wrote: the good: I'm looking into buying my first(!) pair of mountaineering boots for an ice climbing trip
the bad: I wear a US women's 4 in street shoes, and cannot find even a women's 5 in mountaineering boot. anywhere.

help?!

Find an older pair of Scarpa 6000 boots with the front zipper. Those boots notoriously run a size+ smaller than normal, you might be able to find a 39 if you look hard enough. These were the ones released in 2010 with the straight front zipper, not the stupid wrap around ones. 

Rachel V wrote: hello! I am in the same dilemma and i'm curious what you ended up doing and how well it worked for you? :) 

Our local shop has Womens' Nepal Cubes in size 37. Is that small enough?

Hi Genya Z & Rachel V,

I also have the same problem. 

I wear a women's US size 5, sometimes 4.5. EU size 35 or UK size 3.  My ski boots are a size 22. My climbing shoes are 33.5. It is frustrating, and I hope the outdoor industry will notice this post—furthermore, no more pink gear!

Let me know if you guys find a solution.  

Well, on the hopeful note, there has to be something for you.   Just hard to locate.  My brother and I outfitted our kids (3 girls and a boy ages 10-12 and all pretty avg to small for their age) in Scarpa and La Sportiva boots.  Only the smallest 10 year old girl had to wear extra thick socks.  

Mark Pilate wrote:

Well, on the hopeful note, there has to be something for you.   Just hard to locate.  My brother and I outfitted our kids (3 girls and a boy ages 10-12 and all pretty avg to small for their age) in Scarpa and La Sportiva boots.  Only the smallest 10 year old girl had to wear extra thick socks.  

Can you please tell me which model(s) did you find exactly ?
I could bring my nephew ice climbing with these.

He would be the cool kid at school, or maybe not but he would be cool in his uncle eyes, at least ;)

So the ones I currently have are a 36 and 37 LS. Nepal EVO.   I believe the Scarpas shown below are smaller.   She is tiny. I’ll ask my brother for size & model specifics on the Scarpas.