In reply to LakeDistrictMountaineer:
Okay, that's reassuring. Do Sportivas run a bit small? I have some trail runners of theirs where I also ended up in a 45, but again the main driver was little toe of my bigger foot feeling cramped/squished in a 44. So I guess my fear is that my toes are slightly wider than the Sportiva lasts, and that I've ended up with a larger size purely to gain a wide enough toe box.
Then again, I compared the insole length of my 45 Nepal Cubes with my 43 Scarpa SLs, and there wasn't so much difference in length. So maybe Sportivas actually are just a bit shorter? Hard to tell with these boots when you can't feel where your big toe is.
Re: insoles. I tried Superfeet blue briefly and they killed my feet first time. Possible that I laced the instep too tight and crushed my feet into them unnecessarily, but it was a long way down from Stob Coire nan Lochan that day and I didn't have the courage to try them them again. Haven't tried the Sole ones. Do you rate them? Which model do you use?
Post edited at 21:31