Winter Chaco footwear system?

With cold rain or wet snow I've used liners + neoprene socks with my Chaco sandals, although wet snow can get annoying as it collects under the toes and ices up. I imagine a wpb barrier over wool socks would work just as well as neoprene socks, but then you just need to make sure the water isn't getting to the socks from the top. I've never had a problem with needing to block wind, as airspeed tends to be a lot slower right at the ground, but then I'm also in the mid-Atlantic with not a lot of really open exposure.

I've found that just a liner and thick wool sock combo worked fine for me into the upper 20*s, even in dusty snow. If the wool socks you use with the sandals get like mine and have all the loose pulled fibers on the outside, the snow ices up on those and ends up helping to keep the main thickness of the sock dry. So personally I'd probably do the liner/vbl/wool sock option at temps below freezing unless there was some other factor I knew that was going to wet out the socks.

Yeah, I am on the flat plains where just yesterday we had gusts up to 37mph. Thanks for the thing about neoprene socks. I had thought about them before but dismissed them because they were not waterproof. I think I should try to find some in a size 15 and try them out. What are you using for liner socks?

Yeah, your feet do get wet with the neoprene socks, but they typically stay warm enough as long as you keep moving. I wouldn't use them too far below freezing though, they aren't thick enough for me at that point. In camp it's a quick change to dry socks or booties before the feet have a chance to get too cold. I guess with size 15's you've got a lot more surface area to worry about than my 9.5s though!

I just use whatever thin liners I've found on sale, so they're typically the standard polypro. I use the same ones in the summer on their own with the sandals, so they end up wearing out fast and I've been unwilling to spend good money on them. I'm also fortunate to be able to get away with a lot when it comes to my feet, so I probably play it a lot looser with footwear and socks than most.