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Large Shoes.....Very Large 3-Dec-2008 At 10:44:30 AM BigMike

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Hi Giant, you seem to have a worse case of bigfoot-itis than I do, so I feel your pain!

My feet tend to be US sports shoe 15 - street shoe 14 - Euro shoe 49.5 to 50.

After many expensive mishaps buying shoes I've been married to La Sportiva Mythos for
the past decade or so.

Firstly, they lace right down to the toe, so can accommodate feet that taper to a point
like mine ("big" toe lives up to its name).

Secondly they are unlined so they fairly quickly adapt to the shape of one's foot. They're
by no means the most technical or aggressive shoe out there but they do the business
(and besides I saw pics of Francois Legrand winning a world comp in them in the 90s,
so if they worked for him ...)

One warning - they stretch. So you have to buy them pretty damn nasty tight and just
suck it up for the first month until they've blown out to fit. I'm not talking stupidly tight.
Just very tight!

An indication - despite the size of my feet as listed above, I passed up on Mythos size
45 and went with Mythos 44. The 45s were comfy in the shop but would have stretched
out to being too loose.

Lasportiva.com says they make Mythos up to size 48 so I'm pretty sure they'd have a
size that would suit you.

One last word. "Toes compressed to the point they have no movement" is pretty much
how you want your shoes to be. Snug as, with no wriggle room - but not painfully so.
Some people go mega-tight but this in my view can just be a disincentive to using your
feet properly, cos it hurts too much! Especially if you are new to climbing. So, try to find
very snug, but not excruciating - you should still WANT to stand on small nubbinses.

Good luck in the hunt!