Cold feet, warm socks?

Hi all-

I suffer from cold feet in general – and once my feet get cold the rest of my ride is usually miserable. I’ve gotten pretty good at keeping warm over day-long rides, with merino socks under Sealskins waterproof socks. Unfortunately on a recent multi-day and very wet ride (with camping in 0-4 degree weather) I’ve gotten a case trench foot. I kept the socks on all the time – it was that or have freezing feet!

I’m wondering if anyone has recommendations for thicker/warmer socks that while not waterproof, might let my feet breath a bit? I’m thinking if they are warm enough, the waterproofing may not be necessary. Do such socks exist or do I just need to MTFU?

–Kristan

How tight are your shoes with all these socks? If you have lots of shocks you tend to need bigger shoes otherwise tight shoes -> poor circulation -> cold feet.

To answer the question you actually asked tick wool socks. E.g shooting shocks or similar. I find these good and the length is nice on your calves.

Thanks. It’s with every pair of shoes, including hiking and running – but is biggest problem when I’m cycling. I have “winter” cycling shoes which are a size larger just for reason you mentioned – to fit extra layers of socks – although they aren’t proper winter cycling shoes with their own waterproofing.

Bin the seal skins and just use merino only.

Get thick ones and always take another pair on longer rides for a change.

Works for me and my feet are terrible.

I have a pair of 85% merino wool socks I found in Tk Maxx.bit expensive but the work a treat.worked out about 7quid but to by them from the shop they were 20 quid,Smartwool is the make,I also bought four pairs of merino socks from Costco which are pretty decent

Merino is the answer. I don’t like it much for baselayers but for socks it’s spot on. Planet-X do some here for not much, cheap enough to try at least.

Bin the Sealskinz and go for…

Merino sox

+

Neoprene 3mm ‘wetsuit’ sox (available on eBay for £6 – surfers use ’em)

Now.. If you REALLY get cold after that – try neoprene over-shoes on top of all those (from Endura).

Neoprene + merino is breathable, warm when wet and an awesums combo… 😀

Is it fair to say it was the multiple days of wet feet here that was the issue, rather than the setup itself? In which case, change of socks?

You can go trench-warfare style and dry them with your body heat, it’s not that nice to be fair but nobody ever got trenchmoob

Same problem here, Sealskinz were rubbish……

Been wearing Woolie Boolies for five years now and only get cold feet in the absolute worst winter (North lakes) conditions

The cheapskate’s version is to get some Dickies thermal socks from the Aldi workwear event. I’ve long since given up any notion of having dry feet, so anything that keeps them warm whatever is best. These really are good and they don’t shrink at the sight of water like merino wool.

Sort your core out first.

Coldest winter I wear thin cotton socks and 2xice breaker merino tops plus gillet.

Even now in 12+ I wear a gillet.

as above. wear warmer layers on your body and the circulating blood should help warm extremities. Gilet goes a long way. Also things like helly hansen, underarmour, 2XU thermal/compression type clothing can really help. You’ll have most benefit with long sleeves/leggings.
When you exercise blood moves from extremities to muscles (generally speaking). It could be worth getting checked for raynaud’s syndrome or similar circulation conditions if you suffer from cold feet etc often.

What are you wearing on your legs?

Merino woolie-boolies for me, coupled to trousers, a Buffalo jacket, windstopper gloves and a Buff on my head.

I used to suffer from cold feet.

Neoprene socks for me. Even with shimano mt91 gortex boots the water still gets in. I find with sealskinz that the water on the outside makes my feet cold. With Neoprene it warms them up.

Also I always wear a buff on my head and decent gloves. Have recently started using Neoprene gloves and been impressed with them too.

Cotton socks? I forgot my merino socks once and had to wear some cotton socks and that was about as cold as my feet have ever been and it wasn’t even that cold. Ulvang merino socks on eBay are good and not too expensive. Did you not have stuff in a drybag that you could change into for the evenings?

I don’t go for waterproof socks/boots all they do is keep cold water locked in. Much better to wear shoes that lets water out easily IMO.

I use marks and spencer merino blend socks in winter. Thin and toasty warm