Keeping the toes warm?

[carole]

I firmly believe that an important key to keeping warm while hiking in the cold (is it cold yet?) is controlling the foot temps. That said I have been out regularly all month in these cold negative digits and have yet to have cold feet. Yet I have read several reports and talked to several others who have had cold feet. Boots, sock options, gaitors all vary, for sure, but what has surprised me most is those with ‘plastics’ are also having cold feet.

I wear insulated leathers (LaSportiva K2’s), a coolmax liner, a medium weight smartwool sock, and no gaitors. This works for me because the liner wicks the moisture from my feet well and some moisture is wicked through the boot and some up the boot and not trapped by a gaitor.

So what are you all wearing in this cold weather? Are your feet cold? If not what is working for you?

 

[Mongoose]

Most people don't realize how warm pants can warm your feet up. If your legs are cold, the blood in your legs is going to lose heat before it gets to your feet. So keep your legs warm.

I have the heavy duty Koflach Arctis Expe boots and my feet still get cold sometimes. It varies though. Sometime my feet will be warm sitting around camp at -20F. Sometimes they'll be cold at 0F. I find it's a combination of how tight I have them tied and how warm my legs are.

 

[Keith Z]

I think that different people have a tendency towards warm or cold feet. I have a pair of gore tex leather boots that I got from Bean but I think are Vasques. They're a three season boot that I wear all year round and even with my snowshoes. I use a polypro liner sock and a pair of wool socks, and (knock on wood) my feet have never been cold, whereas some people I hike with that use winter boots end up with cold feet. I never stop moving too long so that may help.

Keith Z

 

[jfb]

Mongoose hit the nail right on the head. To take it one step further, think of your arms, legs and head acting as cooling fins for your body similar to the cooling fins on an air-cooled engine. If you add insulation to any of these parts, your overall body temp will increase. Many folks wear little on their legs, claiming that their legs don't get cold, but the warm blood that goes though the legs will be cold when it gets to the toes and even colder when it gets back to the heart.

 

[rambler]

I have had good luck wearing a plastic boot(Koflach Vertecal, sic.), a thin liner sock and a thin ski sock. I do have a footbed or insert which might add a bit of warmth also. Knee length gaitors add an extra layer for keeping the legs warmer by covering the opening at the top of the boot. One hiker I met uses a small square of foam pad, cut from a sleeping pad, to stand on whenever he was motionless. He was not wearing insulated boots. I do pull the laces tight starting out, but do not retighten them. They loosen a bit while hiking. It should be noted that tightening the laces also pulls the foot backwards in the boot. Before heading down hill, I probably should retighten the laces to make sure my toe does not hit the hard toe of the boot. As Mongoose mentions, however, too tight can mean cutting off circulation, so there is a fine line. Usually once my boots are on, I do not fiddle with the laces mainly because I can't easily tie the knots while wearing gloves.

 

[MadRiver]

I generally have cold feet as it is so I must always guard against my feet getting too cold. I have 3 season boots (EMS GTX) and wear a wick sock and a wool sock combination. I have as yet to try the vapor barrier technique. I do find it strange that my feet will stay warming in leather boots than they do in plastic ski boots. I guess the constant flexing of the foot during hiking keeps the blood flowing, while the stillness of my foot in a ski boots does just the opposite. On a really cold day -10 and below I will put in toe warmers both in my leather boots and ski boots.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Arm, so that's what you were doing in the ADK's

I use a poly liner, Smartwool Expedition wool socks, Koflach Degre's and OR Expedition Crocs. I'm generally quite warm in this down to -25F or so. I also just bought a full length chemical wamer single use foot bed - just in case.

 

[mink319]

In the cold weather I find nothing better on my feet then a few pairs of wool socks, and my Kamik boots that are rated to -40F. I have never had a problem with that setup. Once again, it may be my extreme tolerance for the cold, but I think it could keep anyone warm. I wore them in -28F a few years back, no problem.

 

[darren]

Carole, try Vapor Barrier Liners (VBLs) between your sock layers. The warmth they add to your feet can't be beat. Check out the following thread for more info:

Sock Liners

Also, goto the search page and enter "Vapor Barrier Liner" into the search field to find other posts.

- darren

ps: don't forget, having all your fingers and toes is the hight of fashion in the backcountry

 

[sardog1]

i carry toe warmers everywhere i go

they're called arm pits ... one of the warmest places in your body

if your feet get cold, take off your boots and socks, stick them inside your jacket, then ball your toes up into a fist and nestle your toes up into your arm pits

you should practice this at home, as often as possible

The two-person version is actually something that works -- I applied it to save a woman's toes several years ago. I encountered her party as they sat on the side of the trail, waiting for her feet to get even colder while they tried to figure out what to do with her when she couldn't ski out. Her feet were on the verge of some serious damage, and she had no chance of getting to warmth in time. When I got her boots off, her feet were stiff. About 20-30 minutes of warming got her up and going.

And as Arm has noted elsewhere with his non-comic version of this suggestion, it works to save fingers as well, whether your own or someone else's.

 

[TomEske]

Arm, I gotta ask: What do you do when your butt gets cold?
Tom
P.S. If you give the same answer, We'd all like to see an avatar depicting the preceedure and mechanics involved.