Vasque  St. Elias GTX Hiking Boots - Men's

Finding the Vasque St. Elias boots are REI seemed perfect for me. First, a little about my background with boots. I've been buying and giving my boots lots of work for 44 years and have owned Vasque, Merrill, Keens, Lowa's and many others. From time to time, I've worked in outdoors retail shops and sold boots. I use my boots in my geology profession too. The full leather uppers, a decent mid-sole, a Vibram sole, a great eyelet system and Gore-Tex liner seemed to be a great boot for a reasonable price. My boots need to work for day hikes and backpacking. I've even thought of putting crampons on these. In every way, I am impressed with their construction. * Okay, the shoelaces stink, but other than that... However, do I rate these boots based on the construction or the fit? I rate them a 5 star based on construction, but a 2 star based on fit. I usually wear about a size 10 in a normal or medium width. In this case, I purchased a 10.5 because they seemed to fit better. These boots are for real hiking, so they require some break in period. I spent a month of avid hiking in these boots. Soon, I noticed my toes were hurting and the toenails becoming black. Especially my little toes were suffering in these boots. Therefore, I had to take about a month off from using these boots. During that month, I changed the thicknesses of the Superfeet inserts, changed the laces to keep my foot back in the heel of the boot and did some more hiking in them. Since I loved the construction of my new boots, I really wanted them to work. I had never returned boots for a bad fit. After another month of giving these boots a good try at breaking them in, my feet were begging for mercy. My little toes were raw. The pain from every hike was intense. The boots had to go back. Thankfully, REI has a proper policy for returning boots. As a result of this policy, REI has earned my business and I've been a member since 1970. When returning these boots, the sales associate at REI told me that Vasque offers these in a wide sizing. As I really liked the boots, I ordered size 10 wide and size 10.5 wide. The new boots arrived today and it's obvious that if either of the boots are going to fit, it will be the 10.5 wide. Still, they feel a bit narrow. It is obvious that these boots were constructed on a very narrow last. I fully recommend these boots if you have a narrow foot and possibly a medium foot. When you try these boots, pay close attention to your little toes and make sure they are not rubbing. The rubber coating over the toes does not allow the front of the boot to break in downward and provide more width as do some boots. A well constructed pair of boots, buy them if they fit you. Make sure you buy them from a reputable dealer, like REI so you an return them if necessary.

I've got fairly narrow feet, so figured these boots would be perfect for what I was looking for, an all leather upper in a light weight boot that I can use for scrambles and weekend hikes. These didn't work out for me, as they were just too narrow. I wore them on a few hikes, hoping they would stretch enough and it just didn't work out. My bad, I ended up giving them away. The boot offers a lot, so if you can work with the narrow, they may be great for you. My recommendation would be to wear them around the store for a bit, and realize they aren't going to stretch much.