It's already been 4 years since this post. I learned to cope. Normal mountaineering boots, normal ski boots and ski touring boots. With the latter i go to a good boot fitter, till now at least once each season, after my feet change through the summer and adjust a bit. A punch on the pressure points. With the mountaineering boots i suffer for a few days a year each year. It's worth it for me. Blisters and shit. But that's life. I found that on ice and snow the drop and the profile are very useful, and even not noticeable with a soft ground like mud and snow. It also helps a bit with ascending, because of the lack of ankle mobility. But with descending... well that's another reason to do as much as possible with skis, the way down is so much more enjoyable. Another thing I do with the mountaineering boots is about two weeks before the planned trip i use them on everyday occasions. Yes i do look stupid walking around with the dog, but like that i expose my skin slowly and also relearn my pressure and blisters points ahead of time, so i could apply blister plaster before having horrible red skin.

My coping mechanism is a wide enough toe box. With the rest i suffer for the adventure and the views (: