How do you guys up North stay warm? Boots/socks question.

The Firewater/antifreeze solution just makes you "think" you're warmer... Course that is most people's problem anyway!

I work outside all year long and it gets cold here too. (-50 being common at least for a snap or two during the year) I just wear my regular work boots and a single pair of socks, no special prep at all. :eek: But for work, I keep moving - if I even stopped things would get mighty nippy at best. Miserable nights are when we end up standing around for awhile - glad to get moving to warm up again.

For times I do plan on staying still for extended periods, I wear Sorels and two pair of wool socks. Always been enough for me - good circulation, I guess!
 
The Firewater/antifreeze solution just makes you "think" you're warmer... Course that is most people's problem anyway!
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I know Spiff's kidding (or I hope he is, for his sake), but alcohol more than doubles your chances of suffering hypothermia. Along with the illusion of being warm, it shuts down the body's shiver reflex. Shivering is the body's way of generating heat through rapidly contracting muscles when the core temperature becomes dangerously low. If you're only going to be exposed to low temperatures for a short time, a shot of brandy does make you feel cozy warm, but for longer periods, like when you're out hunting (no booze with guns anyhow), it's a dangerous practice.
 
FirstFreedom I was thinking the same thing as I wrote it

I'm a 9.5 normally...I'll check the sizes of each tonight and get back to you...
 
+1 on the bunny boots. They are warm and waterproof. Indispensable when getting stuck in overflow. A lot of the sprint mushers and some of the older Iditarod and Yukon Quest mushers wear them when running on the rivers. Only problem is that since they are rubber your feet won't breath so you need to change socks about twice or more a day.

For pacs I like the LaCrosse Iceman for extreme cold or when I'm going to be out for long hours. For milder temps down to about -25 F I like the Sorel Black Bear. Anything above 0 F I'll just use my Danner Ft. Lewis Go Devils. They're my duty boots anyway.

For socks I like the Swedish and Norwegian milsurp socks available from the Sportsman's Guide. They are usually a ragg wool type sock, thick, extremely warm and comfortable. Like WA said they work better with a liner sock of some type.

FirstFreedom,

A pac boot is a generic term to describe the Sorel type of boot that is usually constructed with a rubber bottom and either a leather or nylon shaft and has a separate removeable wool felt or synthetic insulating inner liner.
 
Good lord. Irish Setters sure have changed. I have a pair that I bought when I was 16, and have resoled once. They're good heavy leather uppers, with crepe sole below. No thinsulate. No Gortex. But they have one major plus: they're size 18. Redwing is pretty good about making a small run of Manly Sized footwear every now and then. :)

Sigh. I note that those 4 1/2 lb monsters that First Freedom linked to only go up to size 12 1/2. :(
 
One big thing that you should check is what a couple of people have said....Make sure things aren't too tight in your boots. This year I went out hunting w/ 2 pairs of socks on, one regular pair and one "warm pair" of thick socks. It wasn't any colder than 30F above and my feet were freezing. That afternoon I tried takeing off my regular socks b/c they were so contricting. My feet were as warm as they could be. It's worth a shot, if you have too much stuff on constricting yourself it's not going to help it's going to hurt more.
 
Also, don't wear the socks wrong. I've seen many a time where hunters wear regular cotton athletic socks under wool socks. While there is some insulation to the wool on the outside, they'd do better to do it the other way around. You want the high wicking sock against the skin. Best is polypropylene inner sock under wool outer socks, but some even go polypro/wool/cotton, to pull sweat all the way out from the foot. Cotton is very absorbant, and you don't want absorbed sweat next to your skin.
 
Last week I had the privilage of talking to a gentleman who'd been in the battle of the Chosin resevoir and this same subject came up. He told me the way he had kept his feet warm in 40 below zero weather was he put on all of his wool sox one pair inside the other in his regular uninsulated boots. He said the most mportant thing was that when the inner pair froze he rotated them to the outside of the stack.

He said he layered two pairs of long johns under a pair of USMC drress slacks and two pairs of dungaree pants and did the same with all the undershirts and shirts he had in his duffle bag. By the time they had been resupplied with winter clothing all the guys who didn't have enough layers of sox or didn't have the discipline to rotate them had frozen their feet.

As for me, I'll stay in the sunny southland. :o
 
Looked up my sizes

I normally wear a size 9 1/2 in regular shoes, and am wearing a size 10 in the Rockies Deer Stalkers, 1600 Thinsulate, with one pair of cotton socks, one pair of wool socks, and toe warmers, and they feel perfect, not too tight, not too loose.

The Lacrosse Ice Kings - I bought a size 11, but I wish I had bought a size 10 instead - they are a little loose, makes walking a little tougher than it should be, but not too bad...

Good luck finding warmth!
 
There is no such thing as a warm enough boot. I have a pair of lace up -140 degree Sorel boots. One of the best purchases I've made. (Although I am fond of the Baffin boots as well) The way boots are rated is a little odd... the temp rating indicates the protection given when active... sit around in the snow in -20 degree weather and those -20 degree boots will let your feet freeze.

Get the boots with removable insulation, I shouldn't have to say why. One good thing is that you can put thinner insulation in if it's a warm day.
 
getting cold feet?

Ask yourself, FirstFreedom, if you tend to get cold feet and hands at other times. For example, if you reach into the ice cream section at the grocery store? If so, definitely make sure you're amply warmed up, maybe with foot warmers. I hate to sound like one of those awful prescription medicine commercials on TV, but an ongoing problem with cold feet and/or hands can be a result of Reynaud's syndrome and/or can be a problem if you ever become diabetic. (Reynaud's goes with my lovely little cluster of lupus/Sjogren's garbage and so I have to think warm tootsies under +50). I'd turn into a Springmom-cicle up where Wildalaska lives! :eek:

Don't let them get to sweating, but don't let them get cold and lose circulation either.

Springmom
 
I use standard Norwegian military boots. Leather, no insulation. One pair of thick wool socks.

I generally avoid sitting or standing still for long periods of time when it's cold. If I did things like ice fishing in cold weather (yes, I have been ice fishing in warm weather :) ), I would go and buy myself a pair of insulated "over-boot-thingies" to put my feet, boots and all, into.
 
Man, a day without considering W.A.'s undies is not a day poorly spent
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Bwaaaahahahaha.

This is a very interesting discussion, and there are many helpful posts which I need to ponder. But at this point, let me give you this update. This last Sunday, it was low 20s here in the am (that's *plus* 20s). I had on my -135 deg-rated boots. My toes nearly froze off - my feet got cold just a few minutes after I plopped down in the dark a.m. (and that's with a leaf pile built up around the boots), and they got cold nearly 45 minutes before I started feeling it in my hands, and a good hour or so before my torso got cold - what gives? I am utterly confused. I did have on neoprene long john bottoms, so perhaps that's it - perhaps those are cutting off circulation.....
 
Well this discussion is interesting. :)

Personally I have 1200 grain insulation on my hunting boots. Now I am thinking about getting boots with less insulation. Sure I was warm but I was too warm while hunting last weekend :p

Too warm can be a bad thing you can start to sweat and then you might freeze even more thats why I always wear just enough to keep me warm but not "hot" and I carry a extra layer or 2 in my pack just incase the weather gets worse :D

Dimitri
 
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