Keeping your feet warm

Fifteen years ago, I went skiing in Vermont. It was very cold and I didn't have very good boots. By the end of the weekend, the tip of my toes were numb, and they were turning purple. The doctor said that I had frostbite and could have lost my toes. He predicted that my toes would become more sensitive to cold as the blood vessels had been damaged. You could see that blood still circulated because when you pushed on the tip of a toe, after it turned white, the color returned, though much slower than normal.

The doctor was right. It took weeks for the tips of my toes to regain sensation. Nowadays it doesn't take freezing temperatures for them to go numb. It's a painful kind of numb---when I bang these toes, the pain is excruciating. So I've become interested in methods to keep feet warm. Here is what I've found.

Before we get into gear, the first and easiest thing you can do to avoid cold feet is to keep your shoes in a heated room when you're not wearing them. I used to leave my shoes in an unheated corridor because I didn't want to see my muddy boots in my room. Whenever I went out, I slipped my feet into icy-cold boots. A cold shoe sucks all the heat out of your feet in two seconds. Things are much better now that I keep the boots hidden somewhere in the room.

I have been looking into all kinds of gear to prevent my little toes from getting frostbitten again. Sports stores sell "toe warmers" for a few dollars. These pads generate heat chemically once you open the pouch they come in. You place them in your shoes and they keep you toasty. They are fantastic for one use. I really like them, but they are not a good long-term solution. For a whole season, you'd have to buy one or two pouches for each day. Besides the cost, I don't like the idea of creating all this chemical waste. And I travel for long periods in countries where toe warmers aren't sold. It just wouldn't be practical to carry a six-month supply in my backpack. For the same reason, I don't like the idea of electric socks. My pack is heavy enough without having to worry about carrying extra batteries.

Thick socks help, but on their own they are not enough. I recommend the thick Smartwool socks. I travel around the world pretty much year round with only four pairs of socks. They are the best socks I have owned.

When thick socks are not enough, what to do? I spent a Winter in Provence, in the South of France. I had this picture-perfect image of weather in the South of France, but winters are fierce. In the Luberon range, where I was, it snows and the temperature drops to zero degrees Fahrenheit. A friend had given me a beautiful house where I could spend a rent-free Winter, but unless I cracked the cold feet situation, I would have to leave. So I really attacked the problem this time.

footgear to avoid frostbites

I tried wearing two pairs of socks one on top of the other, but that didn't work very well because blood circulation to the feet is reduced. I tried inserting an insulating sole into my shoe, and that did nothing. At Decathlon (a massive sports store that's all over France), I found fleece "slippers" that go over the the bottom part of the sock. They helped a bit, though once again they increase the bulk, and therefore reduce circulation if you're wearing tight shoes such as hiking boots.

I also tried fleece slippers. They're too bulky to go inside a shoe, but they're good in bed. If it's not too cold, they help if you wear them over socks, as long as you have something to insulate you from the ground, such as a pair of crocs.

In the house, my feet were getting cold and numb even in the heated rooms. That's because the cold comes from the ground. The heater only warmed up the air, but not the walls and the ground. This made it very hard to stay a long time in front of the computer, which I needed to do. I tried wearing snow boots in the house! It worked for a couple hours, but sooner or later the cold of the ground would creep into the boots.

One trick that really helped was to place cardboard under my feet. There is a lot of space for air in cardboard, so that creates a nice insulation from the ground. I made a pretty effective foot rest by sandwiching sheets of bubble wrap in two sheets of cardboard.

In mid-December, as temperatures were dropping, I received the perfect gift: down booties! They are much warmer than the fleece slippers, because of all that bulky down trapping warm air. Of course they are purely an indoor thing. These booties would be perfect if they could keep the warm air in, but they lack the outer shell of a sleeping bag, so cold air gets in through the fabric. When it's very cold, I find that the snow boots work better. But they're unbeatable in bed.

And now here is my best find. Nothing really worked until I discovered the secret weapon: silk socks. I also found these at Decathlon. I wear them as a first layer under the Smartwool socks. Because they are thin, they do not reduce circulation. They work all day, and I can wear them five days in a row: for some strange reason, they do not stink. I now own two pairs. They're harder to find in the States, but there's a selection on Amazon.

These socks cover the calf, which is nice as it helps keep the rest of the body warm. I haven't tried liner socks made of polypropylene (the same material that many thermals are made of). It starts to stink so fast when it's my body, I don't dare imagine what it's like on your feet.

Keeping your feet warm is actually a whole body project. The body will sacrifice the extremities to protect your vitals (who needs these fingers?) so to keep your feet warm you want to make sure that the rest of your body stays warm too. There's one rule I learned in camping: If your chest is cold, wear a hat. I can vouch for this saying as I camp about a month every year. Apparently the body loses the most heat through the head. For a hat, in France, I found a fleece balaclava. I love it as it also covers the chin, ears and neck. For the rest of the body, I start with underlayers: a thermal shirt and thermal long johns.

On top of the thermal shirt, I wear two fleeces. Apparently there's an old peasant trick: instead of wearing thicker clothes, wear two of everything: two pairs of pants, two shirts, two sweaters, two coats. That makes sense because air gets trapped between the layers.

Well, that about wraps it up. If you have other warm feet tricks to share, please write and I will update the page.

Wishing you toasty toes,

Andy

Links

I don't climb, but still enjoyed this article about what climbers do to avoid frostbite.

DISCUSS IN OUR FORUM or comment below.