Pacific Northwest Winter Footwear?

I am a huge fan of light and nimble trail runners for pacific northwest use late spring, summer and early fall. Once the winter really sets in though I switch to boots. All the hikes I want to do involve various amounts of snow and usually snowshoes/microspikes/crampons etc… I wear a pair of zamberlan gore-tex boots pretty much all winter long. I think if you venture very far afield at all in the winter in the PNW it is best to have a fighting chance of keeping your feet dry. Mileage really drops in the winter and I think the weight penalty of a protective and dry boot in winter conditions is well worth the weight penalty… My 2 cents!

I have not tried trail runners and neoprene socks but I have had good luck with mid height footwear with a waterproof membrane. Much like a wet suit, it does not keep you dry but it does limit the amount of moisture that moves in and out of the footwear with each step. This allows your feet to be warmer even though they are wet. Accept and embrace the water! I am not sure how wet your local area is. I have been on the Juan de Fuca Trail and Cape Scott Trail during the winter and nothing will keep your feet dry when it is 3C and pouring rain. I manage to stay warm even though completely soaked.

I use mid height GoreTex boots in the winter around Portland – snow, rain,…

I wear gaiters which helps keep them dry

Merino wool socks

Usually a bit damp from sweat but not too bad

I never go much more than about 10 miles a day – maybe if I did a lot more then lighter shoes would be more important?

I find waterproof breathable (GTX) works great keeping my feet dry for a few minutes of wet grass or an accidental step in a puddle. But 20 minutes of wet grass or more than a few wet puddles, and the GTX type footwear fails.

My old leather mountain boots with lots of Snowseal or Beeseal on them worked great for several hours in wet PNW conditions, but they're way to heavy by my current thinking.

Inspired by the BPL community, I am happier with my current experimental footwear system than any other I've used any other time in my five decades of walking and hiking in the PNW.

For the last month, I've been hiking in my Merrel Moab Ventelators. A lovely lightweight summer hiking shoe. Pretty much a mesh trail runner with a little more stability and edge. During this last month, while using my current experimental system, I have been snowshoeing for most of two different days, hiking in sloppy wet conditions in the coastal foothills, and just a few minutes ago I got back from a 10 mile hike through mostly ankle deep snow with wife and my Kahtoola microspikes.

I am using my thin synthetic cycling socks, covered by a Winco produce bag, covered by a mid-weight marino wool hiking sock, covered by another Winco produce bag with a rubber band around the top to help hold it up, then put into my Moab Ventelators with my dirty girl gaiters over the whole shabang and my nylon pants worn like normal pants over my shoes. I waded through snow and a shallow creek running down the road. I got off the trail three hours ago and am just now taking off my shoes. My econo vapor barrier system seems to work quite well. My wool socks are completely dry. My cycling socks are no wetter than they typically are after a warm day of wearing shoes or after a few hours in a GTX shoe. Actually, they've dried completely while I'm typing this.

It has been as cold as 20 degrees F and as warm as 45 degrees F while I've been using this system. I've used if for 4 different full days in the last few weeks. And, my feet have yet to get even a little bit cold.

I have used the same produce bags all four days without tears or holes. Two of the days, the bags creaped down and bunched up on my feet, but still worked pretty well, which is why I used the rubber bands today, which helped but didn't completely cure the problem yet.

Anyway, I recommend trying this method. The price is right and the performance is good. With some practice and experimentation, the performance could even be excellent if you can get rid of the downward bag creep completely. I have a few more rubber band techniques to try before I write it off.

Goretex socks? I am going to try these. I was the person who made the thread about using my neoprene socks in big sur. The super thin neoprene socks suffered from extreme conduction when exposed to snow. They didn't get too cold from just the air. I started off wearing just neoprene socks, then put wool socks underneath the neorpene socks, and then finally took the neoprene socks off and just hiked in wool socks. The wool socks by themselves were much, much warmer by themselves.

Janos – Probably confirming the obvious, but your feet stay dry in your Zamberlans?

Nelson – I did the double breadbag thing while snowshoing on Mt. Ashland over Christmas, worked like a charm. I did a round of ducktape at the ankle to hold them up. A bit of a hassle though, or I'd keep at it. The price is nice though.

Will have to check out some mid-ankle gtx stuff.

Keep 'em coming folks, interested in all your tips and techniques. Thx!

"But 20 minutes of wet grass or more than a few wet puddles, and the GTX type footwear fails."

I do multi day trips through wet grass and melting snow. Outside of boots stay wet the whole time. Inside stay slightly damp from sweat.

I've had GTX boots that stayed dry like this, then they started leaking.

Need gaiters to keep water from coming in top.

Main thing bad is GTX, with all the layers, is heavy. And in warm weather they get more sweaty.