Actually, I did call Alpina to find out if the sole was convex by design. They called me back after pulling a couple of pairs and said theirs were straight. So I got rid of that pair, which is a bummer because I've gone through two Rossis (X8 and X10 - both had a funny fit where the toe hurts but the heel is loose), an Alpina RSK (which is supposedly a notch up from SSK but felt very soft in comparison) and another pair of SSKs which, though the same size, was too small even on my smaller foot. I'm kind of sick of the whole thing but afraid that my old boots may give out soon. The zippers are falling apart already.

There's also Alpina SXT which looks a lot like SSK but has a rachet cuff rather than a velcro. However, the only place that sells them doesn't have my size.