junior skates, adult skater

[slidingsideways 0]

I'm in the process of settling on my first pair of new skates. I'm 36 years old, five feet tall, and I wear a size 6.5 in street shoes. The good news is that junior skates are less expensive. The bad news is that they're shorter, and I'm not getting the ankle support I need. I tore the ligaments in both ankles repeatedly when I was younger and need extra support.

I've been skating on used Missions for about nine months. Ten eyelets, approximately six inches from the sole to the top of the lacing. After trying on a bunch of skates, I fell in love with a pair of Graf 501s (discontinued and junior, $99). They fit my feet perfectly, but like most junior skates, they have nine eyelets and are approximately five inches from the sole to the top of the lacing. The only skates I found with a taller boot were Eastons and they just didn't fit my feet well enough (slightly too wide and long).

When I skated on the Grafs, my ankles buckled like mad and I couldn't seem to stay on top of the blades. I found myself wishing for an extra eyelet. I have access to several very good LHSs. Can they customize the Grafs with an extra strip of leather and an extra eyelet? Or should I keep looking for taller boots?

Note 1: redoing the radius will help a bit. They put on a 14' radius, which felt like being on rails.

Note 2: thank you in advance for the ankle advice, but my physiotherapist says they're beyond help unless I want surgery.

Thank you!

[edited because my Grafs are actually size 5. My brain! My brain!]

[nicksmission14 0]

Well, first the tough parts. I know NBH won't do custom junior skates, Not sure on Graf.

The next part I'm sure you have narrow feet.

If Graf won't do a custom junior skate then your options become even more limited. It's going to be tough to get the best of both worlds.

If you could find a pair I would seriously try a Nike Quest. They have a higher cut to them and offer really good ankle support.

The 110XP from Mission has good ankle support as well. I found them way to wide in the heel for my feet though (I have Narrow feet as well)

[DamnLocust 0]

All graf skates are low cut by design. Adding a strip of leather wouldn't give nearly the support you need. Even senior sizes only have 9 eyelets.

If ankle support is what you're looking for, you're going to want a skate that is both high cut and stiff.

Vapor, Mission L series/XP, RBK, Flexlite come to mind when I think of high cut. RBKs and Flexlites fit rather wide, so they may not be right for you however. As you get into the higher end skates, stiffness increases.