Hi there!
I recently bought a pair of La Sportiva Baruntse boots from gear swap for a December summit attempt of Aconcagua. I put the boot liners in my oven and moulded them to my feet. Fit was like a glove...just beautiful! I figured I should start breaking them in now, so this past weekend I took them on a trip to Castle Towers (West face). To my great annoyance, the boots felt damp and moist on the inside for most of the trip! And after covering a fair bit of ground, I started to get sore spots on my feet (I was wearing socks and sock liners) from the wet socks rubbing against my feet.
What the heck? Why were my boots wet on the inside? They are Goretex boots, and all I did was walk through snow. Is it because these boots were designed for 5500m+ altitudes, and they are so warm that in conditions like we have in Garibaldi Park, they simply do not breath, and whatever moisture leaves your feet stays in the boot?
Got any beta?
-Marty
I suspect your boots are not goretex. The internet says nothing about it. Looks like polyurathane and polyethalene outers. Also, it looks like your liners are a closed cell foam. ie they are not breathable. This is standard procedure in ski boots and while I have no experience with double mountaineering boots I would assume the same. Everyone I know who skis lots swears by the non breathable closed cell foam (Intuition) liners.
You feet sweat but stay warm once they get to some nice happy equilibrium.
Possibly you just need to break in your feet more to build up some nice calluses.
Ben is right.
Baruntse boots are not Goretex boot. Batura's are.
I believe it was very warm day for Baruntse boots on Castle Towers. It is good that your socks were wet. It will be bad if your liners were wet? If they do not soak water it is a very good news. It means you will easily put the on in the morning. In my double boots I had my Denali Intuition liners. The best liner ever.
Also, your boots are not designed for long walks near our city. You have to break them slowly before December, because you can't allow blisters to form when you are on big mountain like that. Boots must fit perfectly with a little extra room. Also pay attention to your gloves (mittens). Pick them very carefully ...
Hopefully your Baruntse are one size larger. They shouldn't fit as a glove. Sometimes feet swell a little if you spend longer time on higher elevation. due to conditions Good luck with your climb. It will be a great trip.
Zoran
Look at here ... I believe Joshua is wearing Baruntse boots. If they are good for Thalay Sagar they will be good for Aconcagua. Do not worry too much! :-)