#79478 - 12/08/06 08:21 PM
Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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journeyman
Registered: 11/27/06
Posts: 98
Loc: Moved to my new home and now h...
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This discussion started in another thread but I felt it deserved its own post. I read in an article somewhere about how you could, if your boots get wet while in the winter snows, take them off and walk in the snow if you were wearing good wool socks, so that your feet would not freeze in your wet boots. I could not find the original article that I read, but I did find pretty much the same thing here at customwoolenmills.com, and a little bit more on it here at karamat.com. Excerpt from customwoolenmills.com article
Why are wool socks so good at keeping you comfortable? Wool has a tremendous capability of keeping you warm even if your socks are wet from sweat or outside moisture. In fact, it acts like a wetsuit. The moisture that is next to your skin becomes warm and helps to keep your feet at a comfortable temperature. Not only that, but wool socks will also wick away excessive moisture and allow it to move through the socks and away from your feet. We already knew these great properties of wool, but Mors took them and our socks a few steps further.
Contrary to what your best judgment and common sense might tell you, Mors recommends that you walk in your wool socks only, and without outer footwear if you have an emergency during the winter where your feet have been submerged in water. By leaving your boots on, there is no way for the water to escape, and it slowly makes your feet cold, or even frozen and frostbitten. By taking them off, however, the water will drain out of your wool socks and it will be wicked away by snow. The small moisture remaining will warm up to your body temperature and act as a wetsuit. In these conditions, Mors is actually wearing 3 pairs of wool socks, and the outer socks will start to freeze and form a "boot", while the inner pairs will keep you comfortable.
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#79479 - 12/08/06 08:49 PM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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Addict
Registered: 06/08/05
Posts: 503
Loc: Quebec City, Canada
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Never heard of this story, I don't know if it's true but it doesn't seem too logical to me.
I'm going on an overnight snowshoeing trip tomorrow, and i'm only taking Wigwam's "40 Below" wool socks. I'll keep everyone posted. Although I've tried different kinds of socks and fabric blends over the years, i'm starting to think that only thick wool socks have the ability to keep my feet DRY. Many other socks keep my warm, but not necessarily dry.
Have a great week-end !
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#79480 - 12/08/06 09:19 PM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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journeyman
Registered: 11/27/06
Posts: 98
Loc: Moved to my new home and now h...
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Found another reference from Mors Kochanski here (Same source as the other two) but this time its in a story.. ...Q - What’s your favourite survival story?
Mors - Well a good local story is that of a remote acquaintance of mine had. He had been out hunting and wasn’t paying attention. The next thing he knew it was dark and he was disorientated. He realised he couldn’t go any further, so he lit a fire but puts his matches naked into his pocket. His buddies miss him and drive to where they think he’s hunting and fire shots into the air, but they leave their engine running so they can’t hear his shots in reply over the engine noise. He assumes they must have heard his shots because they have stopped shooting. So he puts out his fire and heads in the direction of the shots he heard. He eventually comes to the place where his friends had lost patience and gone home because they couldn’t hear him. But now at least he has their tracks to follow. It’s incredibly cold and he tries to light another fire, but the first fire has melted the frost in his clothing so he is now damp and the matches he carelessly put in his pocket are now damp, the heads have gone soft so he was unable to light a second fire. He made it back by following the tracks but he lost his toes in the process. [color:"#666666"]He didn’t know he should take off his wet boots and walk in his wool socks.[/color] He didn’t know he shouldn’t carry matches in his pocket. His buddies didn’t know they should turn their engine off, they assumed they would hear gunshots over the engine. A little knowledge there would have saved him a lot of suffering.
That’s a good local story...
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#79481 - 12/08/06 09:37 PM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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Registered: 05/01/06
Posts: 31
Loc: Fairfax County VA
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Make sure your boots can take the thicker socks, or they may not be as effective if your feet are constricted in tight boots.
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#79482 - 12/09/06 12:24 AM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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Stranger
Registered: 11/29/05
Posts: 22
Loc: Gunflint Trail, Minnesota, USA
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You wrote:
"I read in an article somewhere about how you could, if your boots get wet while in the winter snows, take them off and walk in the snow if you were wearing good wool socks, so that your feet would not freeze in your wet boots."
I think I understand. Instead of your feet freezing in your wet boots, they can just freeze right there in the snow as you walk around without boots. This sounds risky.
Perhaps time for a fire, or maybe better boots.
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#79483 - 12/09/06 12:50 AM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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Enthusiast
Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 285
Loc: NY USA
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Perhaps one should take off the wet socks & get out a dry pair from the pack. If you have the type of pak boots with the felt liner, perhaps a spare pair of liners would be a good idea. I like the military "mickey mouse" boots. The insulation is sandwiched between 2 layers of rubber so that it cannot get wet.
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#79484 - 12/09/06 01:31 AM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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Member
Registered: 11/12/06
Posts: 172
Loc: South Jersey (the 51st state)
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While I am a big fan of wool socks and wear the regularly during the winter months if I was going to be exposed to snow and feared that my feet/socks would get wet I'd make sure I carried a spared dry pair of socks.
Edited by 91gdub (12/09/06 01:31 AM)
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#79485 - 12/09/06 02:04 AM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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journeyman
Registered: 11/27/06
Posts: 98
Loc: Moved to my new home and now h...
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Don't take this the wrong way, I don't know if it works because where I am, I can't try it (no snow) though if I was somewhere with a good layer of snow I might try it by slowly increasing the time I spent outside with one WET boot (like if it was dipped into a puddle) and one WET sock (same dipping) just so that I would know for sure.. but the point is, if it does work, and you knew, you would have something you could do.. Let me ask this, if your boot is soaked in the snow and for whatever reason you can't make a fire or stop to dry it out, do you think adding more dry socks and then puting your wet boot back on really help? I put it this way because thats the way I heard it, not to forget about your boots and the like, because they work quite well when they are dry, but in case your boots got soaked while out in the snow... Oh, the article I read didn't say your feet would be warm, just warmer (warm being relitive), warm enough to better prevent damage... but like I said, I don't know, I've never tried it and I don't have any way (short of takeing a week off to go to the snow, which I can't afford) to try it.
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#79486 - 12/09/06 06:01 AM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 2851
Loc: La-USA
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In snow covered areas, I always wore Bunny Boots if the temperatures were less than 10 degrees and Artic boots (w/wool inserts & regular socks). Regardless of the footwear, if my boots got wet, I swapped socks (wet for dry) and put my boots on and kept doing business until the fresh pair of socks became damp (ie: cold) & then swapped them out again. This is why I usually carry 6 pairs of socks w/me. I dry the used socks out by the fire when I stop @ night.
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#79488 - 12/10/06 03:38 AM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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Geezer
Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
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This article sounds like someone's version of a poorly thought out 'good idea'.
Their version: "By leaving your boots on, there is no way for the water to escape, and it slowly makes your feet cold, or even frozen and frostbitten... Mors is actually wearing 3 pairs of wool socks, and the outer socks will start to freeze and form a "boot", while the inner pairs will keep you comfortable."
Okay, I'm reversing the above two sentences:
"Mors is actually wearing 3 pairs of wool socks, and the outer socks will start to freeze and form a "boot ... By leaving your boots on, there is no way for the water to escape, and it slowly makes your feet cold, or even frozen and frostbitten."
This sounds like a new version of the old harmful fairy tale of scrubbing frostbitten feet with more cold, wet snow.
I'll pass.
Sue
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#79489 - 12/13/06 02:26 AM
Re: Wear only wool socks in the snow!?
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journeyman
Registered: 11/27/06
Posts: 98
Loc: Moved to my new home and now h...
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Ok, I e-mailed Randy and Lori Breeuwsma of Karamat Wilderness Ways shortly after I started this thread asking for more information about the article about wearing only wool socks on their site and the following is what they sent in reply: " Mors (Kochanski) has 4 DVD's out on Wilderness Skills and on the Clothing and Sleeping Bag DVD he talks about the wool socks, they need to be pure wool and he usually wears 3 pairs. It needs to be below freezing and -10 degrees Celcius (14 degree Fahrenheit) or colder is best and then he proceeds to step in the Lake water. If people don't believe that it works they are wrong. Many of the students on the winter course have done this and myself and my family have also tried this. People can purchase the DVD's on Wilderness Skills through Karamat Wilderness Ways and we also have other DVD's available on plant identification."
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