COLD feet

[wirebender]

went fishing this week , after an hour had COLD feet . any recommendations for socks ? i am looking at cabelas but there are so many different types . i wore breathable stocking foot waders and wicking socks with regular athletic socks . appreciate advice . thank you keith

[biot midge]

I use fleece socks over wicking sock liners. Be sure that your wading boots aren't too tight!
Steve

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"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went"-Will Rogers

[Jed]

I HAVE THE ANSWER!

Well at least I have an answer that worked for me. I bought neoprene socks that are breathable. They are designed to be used cross country skiing or for any winter outdoor activity. I wear them as regular socks when fishing and they really do work. I also was fishing yesterday for about 3 hours and my feet were not cold, neither in the water or walking in the snow on shore. This is the first time for me that I really was not even the slightest bit cold in my feet (during winter)

jed

[DG]

I use smartwool when it gets cold. Some things to note, however:

If your boots are too tight, you will get colder feet. Ask any skier who has had frostbite because his boots were too small.

Consider wearing a warm hat. Keeping the head warm will help your hands and feet stay warm as well.

Walk more. Walking forces the body to run blood through your feet since you need it to have the muscles operate.

Stay energized. Eat properly, and if you are flagging, take in some sugar. After you eat, your body temp goes up.

Dennis

[This message has been edited by DG (edited 29 December 2005).]

[lou t]

1. Spray your feet with ANTI-PERSPIRENT deoderant.
2. Don't have your shoes so tight that circulation to your feet is reduced.

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

It is important to stay hydrated , something we don't think about in the cold .

I bet a combination of all this advise will be the correct answer not just one thing .

[oldfrat]

The regular athletic socks may have been part of the problem. Probably cotton, which absorbs and holds water when your feet sweat at the start of the outing.

For cold weather, I start with a pair of silk socks, followed by heavy synthetic or wools socks, and generally do OK.

[This message has been edited by oldfrat (edited 29 December 2005).]

I grew up in Minnesota, where it gets really cold (Yah, sur ja betcha!)! Served in Alaska with the 6th (Arctic) Infantry Division (Light), where it got ever colder (Uff Dah!).

If your feet are cold, put on a hat, you lose 33% of your body core head through the top of your head.

Dress in layers, that includes your socks, inner layer should be absorbent cotton, outer layer wool or thermal that will wick the moisture away from your feet. Change socks every 4 hours, and dry the moist set, in the armpits of your coat. Make sure that your boots are not tight, because of the extra socks you may need to use boots a size larger than normal (mine are two sizes larger because I use a feet insert also). Also do not tie you lace too tight, in cold it better to allow the boots to be slightly loose (to allow circulation). The feet have lousy blood circulation, and in cold weather that is the first place that, circulation will decrease to keep the body core ( and brain) warm.

Use a scarf around your neck to protect your body's thermostat (which is located on the lower part of the rear of your head, where the neck skull meet. Learn to breath through your nostrils (this preheats the cold air, so you do not cause frostbite to your lungs).

Drink lots of water, you will lose precious water every time you exhale(you can exhale 6 quarts/liters of water in a 24 hour period outdoors. You also need more water to keep your body's waste disposal system from getting plugged up (which will cause cold weather injury). Do not become dehydrated, as this will lead to cold weather injury.

Be sure to ventilate your clothing when you are outside and doing strenuous exercise, so your body does not build up moisture inside your clothing, this will become ice when you stop to rest.

Above all else, stay dry, brush all snow or ice off of your clothing.

If your feet get too cold, use the body system, and warm the feet in the armpits of your buddy. Protect your fingers too, gloves do not give your fingers the enough protection, to stay warm, carry a set of mittens with outer wind-proof covering. If the fingers get too cold, to regain warmth, use your armpits to warm the fingers.

I have seen cold weather injuries, when the temperture was 60 degrees F, because the people did not ventalate, and it was raining, and they built up too much moisture inside their raingear. Cold weather injuries can happen at any temperture below 70 degree F. Cold weather and warm weather injuries are the same injuries for tempertures are opposite. Both require proper ventation, taking proper amounts of water to stay hydrated, and to protect the body from getting too cold or too hot (in hot weather, have a wet cloth on the back of your neck to protect your body's thermostat.



[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 29 December 2005).]

[GILs_GONE_WILD]

Steven H. McGarthwaite,

You made me cold just reading of the places you've been to but ...

... I must have went to a completely different school for dressing warm I was born and raised in Sunny Florida. With that said, I do go snow skiing and I say that cotton is the LAST thing you want next to the skin of your feet, the "inner layer" as you put it.

The "inner layer" shouldn't be anything that absorbs the moisture.

I've always done as oldfrat says and put a sock "liner" on first then the wool socks over that. Silk is good but there are other sock liners that do a very good job as well.

But cotton?? I've been skiing a few years now and have never heard of that. I would think if cotton is the first thing you put on that is where the moisture will stay and result in cold feet for sure. That may be why you're having to change socks every 4 hours.

Someone else please correct me if I'm wrong.

Gil

I've been skiing for 67 years now. There was a period where I skiied more than 30 days per year in frigid Vermont where we skiid with regularity on days of 15 degrees or so. I've had cold feet but never frost bite. For the first layer next to the skin we used to think that silk was the answer until Poly Pro long johns and socks came along. The second layer used to be wool but lately I've been using synthetic fleece with good success. The main thing is to not restrict circulation with boots too tight (wading or ski, it's the same), and keep the rest of your body warm and ventilated. Always wear a hat...I use polyfleece nowdays.

When you can't feel your toes you better get your buns to a warm place in a hurry! I've many results of frostbite (back in the old days in Korea) and I can tell you that the pain during the thawing out period and the possible subsequent loss of toes, fingers (and even the nose) is not something I would reccomend even for my worst enemy (if I had one).

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There's snow on the roof but the fire still burns in the oven.