On my tele boots I have noticed that the Garmont lace up liners work great for helping prevent blisters — it just makes sense from the physics of it all.

I have great fitting boots, with custom foot beds, professionally fit at the Boot Doctors. The “physics” of loosening up your boot buckles while hiking and skinning, will allow move independent movement of your foot at the liner, and this will result in blisters — no matter how well your boots fit in the shop.

For what it is worth, I also find that it is important to stop early on in the day (after the first 1/2 mile even) if you feel a hot spot and deal with it before it comes a blister. Group dynamics, testosterone, and summit fever often however make it not easy for group members to speak up, take 10 minutes to pull the boots off and fix the situation. Ask others in your group if they need to do any boot/blister adjustments early in the trip – welcome it. Smarter to deal with it earlier, versus having to then really have someone dragging behind because they can not move hours later due to extreme blister issues.

Thanks again for all the info. Perhaps write up all the findings here in magazine article(s) to get the good words out. Every trip I go on someone has a blister issue. Super important!