Best winter hiking (not vertical mountaineering) boots with supportive shank

I bounce around between several footwear options in the winter.
I used the predecessor to the salomon b52’s all last winter.
Even though they have 400gm. insulation all day at -20 to -25f is pushing them, I’d say down to zero is about it unless you are mixing vbl with it. Somewhere it sticks in my mind the b52 is a snowshoe boot, it is a roomy fit for thicker socks and/or layers.
Theory stands that 200gm is good for 20-25f below and 400gm -40f.
The reality is a combination of how active you are versus how much standing around you’re doing. It is amazing how fast the cold seeps through the soles at 25 below. Use an insulated insole or make your own, change socks, mess around with vb socks or neoprene, be careful of anything that constricts your foot [too tight a boot or sock combination], use a hardcore deoderant on your feet like mitchum unscented.
Other boots to look at might include the north face baltoro, columbia titanium ice series, kamik or sorel pacs or steger mukluks if you are going colder. Good luck.

Hi Larry,

Thanks very much for the helpful suggestions and advice. We were looking for this boot primarily for winter hiking and possibly snowshoeing if it will work for that as well. I think 200 g thinsulate will serve us well for cold late fall and early spring as well as winter hiking.

Can you tell me of all the models you listed, which you find tend to have good supportive shanks? Again I find many of the insulated boots available have very soft soles that aren’t very good for hiking.

Thanks

The Steger mukluks are the most flexible, my Sorel Caribou’s aren’t bad but they are huge clunkmo things compared to the Columbias and Salomons.
I do not own a pair of Baltoros and between the Columbias and Salomons the Salomons are more supportive.
I worked outside in them in mixed terrain all last winter and really just rotated them to air or if the temp climbed to high.
I would probably lean towards the one that might be sold locally so you could fine tune the fit with various sock combinations because they are that close.

Has anyone tried NEOS (New England Over Shoes) for snow shoeing?

I have the ones with the short spikes so they don’t slip on ice. While I wouldn’t want to use them on vertical ice they do make an excellent overshoe to allow you to use regular 3 season boots in the winter.

I have a pair of NEOS “Villager” overshoes I picked up for next to nothing at the OR show last year, and tried with snowshoes and lightweight hikers.

I decided that I preferred my winter boots – with good ankle support – over the loose and floppy feel of the hikers + overboots combo. However, I’m going to experiment some more this winter…

I also have a pair of neos and used them for snowshoeing once. They’re an overshoe and work quite well for that application.