Maybe I have missed it, but I haven’t heard any agreement from the forum on this?
To me, the Guard 47 and Alaska 47 fit the same in LENGTH.
You seem to suggest that I am mistaken in my impression?
Have you tried both boots on in the same size and come to the conclusion that the Guard was LONGER than the Alaska?
The Guard is a WIDER boot, and more roomy in the toe box, if I remember correctly.
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EDIT
@John Dee, I went back and read through your “Alternatives before buying Alaskas” — I should just let it go, but you seem to present your impressions of the ALFA Guard as facts, rather than simply your experience of the boots.
Each foot is different. The boots are hand made.
My impression is that your foot does not find your pair of ALFA Guards to be comfortable.
That’s fine. But to say that the ALFA Guard is a “weird” boot seems an overstep.
It’s a weird fit for you, not universally weird.
@John_XCD found the ALFA Guard and Alaska to fit same size. @jyw5 has two different ALFA models, with one model being one size different than the other, @Woodserson had some weird fit issues with different ALFA boots. Before I bought any boots, I tried the ALFA Guard, Kikut, and Skarvet, as well as the Alpina Alaska. I found them to all fit my foot in the same size 47.
Different people, different feet, different experiences.
Personally, it was not my experience that the ALFA boots ran one size different than other manufactures.
I followed ALFA’s fitting instructions, and got a good fit.
The boot will work for some people, and not for others.
One thing that is interesting to me is that, in US sizes, there are 13 shoe sizes between 7 and 14.
In the equivalent European sizes, there are just 8 (40 — 47).
It stands to reason that getting a good fit in Euro sizes will be a little less precise than in US sizes.
As for the issue with the Guards and your big toe, maybe @lilcliffy is right in yours being too small?
I attach a picture of my foot, in which you can see that my big toe goes pretty much straight out. I do feel my big toe touching the inside of the boots, but without discomfort.
If there is more to say on this, maybe it can move to: “Alternatives before buying Alaskas”
(If anyone moderates this, suggest moving all this ALFA Guard discussion over there, or the 2019 ALFA Guard Advance GTX M Boots Review thread.)
@Stephen
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