UKH

I climbed ice in my ski boots yesterday, and had big problems with my feet when going over the lip from the steeper parts onto shelves. When actually on the close to vertical parts I had no problem seeing and placing my crampons, but with my ice axes on the shelf I couldn't hang back far enough to see my feet and with the ski boots I couldn't flex my ankles to get the front points into the ice without kicking the toe part of the boot into the ice and skidding off. I resorted to just taking huge steps to get around the problem but it's not that elegant of a solution.

Any advice on this beyond get real boots? I might be placing my axes too far in but I don't want to hit the convex ice on the edge.

When you come to the lip/top then it works better to build your feet a little higher before moving your axes up. You should then be able to step onto the lip with your next move. The temptation is to get good axes quite far back but if you do this then you end up stretched out and seeing past the bulge to your feet becomes impossible. As you have experienced. Iv made this mistake a few times & it's not a good idea to reverse your axe placements or just haul up on your axes alone with poor feet. It can therefore feel quite precarious, especially as often the ice/snow on the lip/top is less than perfect or even shite! 

Moving from vertical ground onto an easier angled ice is always more tricky and made much worse by rigid ski boots canting forward. It's a bit easier if you can get a couple of good axe placements near to the top edge that you can mantelshelf off before stepping sideways onto the flatter section rather than over stretching and placing your axes too far back, which as you found out just levers the front points out. Regarding the convex edge you may get good placement if you tap the pick a few times to clear out a concave scoop to the side and as the ice dinner plates, warn those below and then clear! You'll then get a good placement for your axe or for an ice screw.

Thanks for the advice guys, will focus on getting the feet higher and the axe placements closer to the edge.