One of the assets that gets overlooked with a stiff shank is the ability to climb with less stress/fatigue to the foot. With a stiff mountaineering boot your ascent times up steep terrain (30-45 degree slopes) will be quicker than with a normal set of boots. It reminds me of the difference between normal pedals on a bike and using toe clips; using toe clips gves you maximum efficiency and no wasted energy per stroke, whereas with a normal pedal you get slippage and a lot of wasted energy.
I probably didn't explain that very well, but mountaineering boots are pretty handy in some areas! The thing I've had trouble with it getting a set to fit...
The mountain Lights from Lathrop and Sons fit me perfect, so they looked through all the boots that Hanwag offers and found the mountaineering boot that mimicked them the most. The Crack (don't laugh at the name) was about identical in fit. I've been using htem for a couple weeks now and they been great so far, but I haven't put any LONG distance trips on them yet. I'll be heading out thins afternoon for a 2 day, 18 miles loop and that should tell the tail as to how my feet will like them on extended trips.