Hiking Blisters Prevention

I have narrow heels relative to the rest of my feet. The problem is compounded by the fact my feet sweat profusely. I have tried several different methods from tying my boots off slightly differently to taping up my heels with mole skin and duct tape before setting off. The second method works until the tape stops sticking and migrates to some different part of my foot, no longer providing any protection for my heel. I usually wear two pairs of socks, a liner and a thicker hiking sock, a thorlo I think. My problem is especially compounded when doing a lot of uphill (more heel slipping). Any ideas on how to solve this. It may be that my boots do not fit well, but they feel comfortable for everything but hikes with a lot of uphill. I am pretty much open to anything at this point. Thanks for your help.

I have had some success with placing duct tape on my liner sock instead of against my skin. I place it on the outside of my liner sock so it rests between it and the outer sock. I find that the tape adheres longer this way.

Also, I hike with a ski pole which distributes your weight a bit more, thus reducing the weight to each foot.

Presumably you have tried many different brands and styles of boot. Every manufacturer uses a different last, sometimes several different ones ("last" is a standardized foot shape around which the shoe or boot is constructed). So some boots fit the "average" American, some the "average" German, or Italian, or Frenchman, or Japanese, or whatever country, while others have higher forefoot volume, or wider across the ball of the foot, or narrower for the whole length of the foot, or narrower heel, well, you get the idea. I find, for example, that Scarpa boots fit almost like they were custom made for me, while Koflachs are way too narrow in the front. Back when I used Pivettas and Raichles for all my light to medium leather boots, I got a good initial fit, which broke in well and fairly quickly. I used Merrels for a while, but my last pair just doesn't seem to be breaking in to fit me. Back when Peter Limmer was doing custom boots (that is, *really* custom boots), I got perfect fits all the time. It is really worth your while to go to a good bootfitter and get a proper fit, even if it turns out to cost more. Your feet will thank you.

But here are a couple suggestions in the meantime. Spiroflex works very well for prevention of blisters. You should clean the area of your feet where you tend to develop blisters, dry them thoroughly, and cover the entire area where you are going to stick the Spiroflex with tincture of benzoin (available at your neighborhood drug store). The benzoin is like a glue that keeps bandages from slipping, even when sweating a lot.

Another idea is to get a custom heel cup. These are available in a thermofit that is custom molded to your heel (takes about a half hour and starts out pretty warm, since the material has to be heated to make it moldable). A possible alternative is a custom thermofit footbed. Again, it is heated and you stand in the boot or shoe for a half hour or so while it molds to your foot and cools. Some people can get along with regular Superfeet footbeds or heel cups (or equivalent top-quality brands). You might be able to go on the cheap and make a heel cup from ensolite, but I would recommend putting out the money for the custom fit (might be as much as your boots cost in the first place).

Custom footbeds, heel cups, and other orthotics also can solve problems related to over and under pronation, which sometimes shows up as blisters due to promoting foot movement in the boot, although those more often show up as joint problems.

The footbeds won't solve my problem with the Merrells, since the problem seems to be width along with strange placement of some seams ("strange" means not aligned with my foot).

Now, with my double plastic boots for climbing and skiing, it was easy - I just got a complete thermofit liner and molded it to my entire foot from toe to a third of the way up my calf. And I too have very sweaty feet.

Baby powder on the foot, and in the boot to reduce moisture.
As for socks, the brand escapes me but they make a two layer sock. It`s a one piece deal, but works as two socks.

Ultimax make very good socks as well.

Blisters mostly come from ill fitting boots,

my name is daniel revell and im 13 in a few months time i will be taking part in the nijmegan 2003 march, up until then i have a training weekend once a month until july, each training event consists of a 25 mile (30k) on the saturday and then 8 miles on the sunday then there is an event called the r.a.f 2day which is a whole week-end of marching and then in july for the actual march it is 25 miles a day for 4 days running and i was wondering if anyone had some tips on how to prevent blisters and keep my energy levels up during the march, please e-mail me as soon as you can especially if you have any past hiking or military experience, (daniel revell-uk)