There‘s something to this Crispi ankle bone support system (ABSS, they call it). My forefoot and toes seem to be comfortable, even slightly roomie. But from the mid-foot rearward, backwards through my heel, and up to a few inches above my ankle bone protrusions, it’s locked in like a heat-molded ski boot liner. I’ve never really felt anything like it in a backpacking or hiking boot before. Even my beloved Scarpa Kinesis backpacking boots I’ve had for 6 years. Combine that with a board lasted construction that, when mated with the vibram sole, makes for a rockered chassis to the boot itself; well, the fit is very different and suits me very well.
The Schnee’s Granites I’ve been comparing the Crispi Guide with is, in comparison, pretty traditionally lasted. This is my issue with many European bootmakers. The lasts these Italian, and to a lesser degree German companies, use for their high end hunting boots don’t seem to be much different than the lasts used for their high end backpacking boots. And those lasts don’t seem to have evolved from old school mountaineering lasts all that much. All that to say, the Schnee’s is relatively narrow through the toebox, are low volume through the mid foot, and have a heel pocket that is narrow-ish without much contouring. This is a similar theme to almost every high end hunting boot made in Europe that I’ve tried on. The best fitting of these boots has been the Lowa Hunter GTX Evo Extreme. It fits really well, but not to the degree of the Crispi Guide.
There’s also something to Crispi’s overall presence in the North American hunting boot market. Look up a Schnee or Kenetrek on YouTube or Google. Or do the same search on a Lowa, Scarpa, Zamberlan, etc. You won’t see quite the same effort and presence of Crispi’s Kendall Card out there spreading the news about his company’s boots. That type of effort pays dividends. I know more about their boots because he’s out there trying hard to get the message across about “why” their boots do what they do. That helps when purchasing.
