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  1. #11
    TallPaul's Avatar
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    Phantom feet cold!!

    I thought this was about Phantom Grapplers feet as well - ha.

    Anyway...

    A pretty easy solution is to take a Hothands hand warmer and toss it in the foot of your TQ. May take a bit to warm up but you will get toast toes.

    Another option is to put your down coat in the foot of your sleeping bag. This gives less area your feet/legs have to warm up.

    I’ve also got a pair of insulated booties I wear on occasion if I expect it to be really cold (for me, so it’s relative). If you have some moccasins try them once and see what you think. Then you can get a lighter solution.

    Personally don’t find thicker or multiple layers of socks to work for me.

  2. #12
    Senior Member MikekiM's Avatar
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    One of my challenges... cold feet.

    What helps.. make sure my socks are dry before turning in; loose ragg wool sleep socks seem to work best. Not the lightest option but if my feet are warm I’m sleeping through the night. Cold? I’ll be awake the entire (typically very long) winter night

    Last two outings I used the wool socks and they worked well.

    Tried down booties but didn’t like having to fuss with them if I got up in the night.

    If the temps really plummet I’ll stuff spare clothes in the footbox.





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    Yes, my pack weighs 70lbs, but it's all light weight gear....
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  3. #13
    dakotaross's Avatar
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    Down pillow to rest feet on. Relieves heel pressure which likely has a lot to do with it, but also surrounds the ankle and lower leg with down. Better than down booties, but sometimes I wear those, too.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    "I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
    - Kate Chopin

  4. #14
    Senior Member m00ch's Avatar
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    I hang around camp with my sleep socks close to my body. Either in my pants or under my shirt. I put them on as I get into bed.

    My feet stay warm if they start warm.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  5. #15
    SilvrSurfr's Avatar
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    I've got sweaty feet. While I have down booties and loose-fitting wool socks, it doesn't really matter if I take my sweaty feet out of my boots and put them on. My feet just keep sweating.

    However, I read on HF about some people who don't wear socks or anything in cold weather. I gave it a try, and was highly surprised that it worked for me. Within 20 minutes of taking my boots off, my feet dry out and stay dry. I think, if my feet are still sweating, the moisture is immediately disbursed into my quilts where it evaporates quickly.

    Give it a try - sounds counter-intuitive but it works for me.
    "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Ralph Waldo Emerson

  6. #16
    Senior Member hutzelbein's Avatar
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    I often have cold feet, but that doesn't really bother me much. However, I have found that autogenic training as well as meditation gets my feet (and hands) warm within a minute or two. I'm self-taught and didn't find it difficult to learn the techniques.

  7. #17
    Senior Member MikekiM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr View Post
    I've got sweaty feet. While I have down booties and loose-fitting wool socks, it doesn't really matter if I take my sweaty feet out of my boots and put them on. My feet just keep sweating.

    However, I read on HF about some people who don't wear socks or anything in cold weather. I gave it a try, and was highly surprised that it worked for me. Within 20 minutes of taking my boots off, my feet dry out and stay dry. I think, if my feet are still sweating, the moisture is immediately disbursed into my quilts where it evaporates quickly.

    Give it a try - sounds counter-intuitive but it works for me.
    Hit them with a little splash of Gold Bond powder before you turn in.. dries them and feels great!!
    Yes, my pack weighs 70lbs, but it's all light weight gear....
    Bob's brother-in-law

  8. #18
    Senior Member
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    I have poor circulation (heart issues) and am on blood thinners. I understand what you mean by cold feet. I have an old pair of walmart wool socks that keep my feet warm and dry for days even with light hiking. The way that I got around it was to have the "Hotbox" option installed on my LL quilts. My suggestion is light stretching/exercise before bed, warm breathable wool socks, and placing your jacket over the foot box of your TQ if needed. The hot hands toe warmers work well too. I never allow my feet to cool before bedtime. I like to dry them by the fire with my wool socks on and hop into bed shortly thereafter. Also, I have great success with a warmer placed in my groin area to heat the femoral artery in order to keep my legs and feet warm all night. For phantom cold try thinking of slowing wading into a warm hot spring pool as you drift off to sleep. Lastly, a mylar emergency blanket or reflectex pad placed under the foot box helps. I wouldn't wrap it up completely as that may cause condensation issues (clammy moist feet).

  9. #19
    Senior Member piscator's Avatar
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    Thanks gents for the replies lots of useful help I'll be trying several of those mentioned.
    It's comforting to know there are others who have similar issues.
    My down booties have arrived it was -1 c today And a quick test in the garden gives me hope as my feet felt really warm it was just a quick trial so we shall see.

  10. #20
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
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    Lots of great advice in this thread for this very common problem

    Though I certainly had cold butt, back and/or just over all cold both in hammocks and on the ground(over all cold in that case, or even cold back if pad was too thin for winter), I'm not sure I have ever had just cold feet. Not if I had enough dry insulation to keep the rest of me warm anyway. The only time I have had to deal with cold feet is while being upright, such as while hiking or even worse sitting around camp after a long days hike. But as best I can remember once I am in the hammock and adequately warm on the rest of my body, I can not recall having cold feet. But here is where it really gets weird: I also do not ever recall changing into a special set of sleeping socks on my backpacking trips. Though I suppose if my feet were extra wet like one time I stepped into a stream by accident, I probably did change once I got to camp. But as a general rule, I don't change out of my socks, and still don't get cold feet while trying to sleep. Lucky me I guess.

    Hard to add anything new to what has already been advised, lots of good advice. But, maybe I don't get cold feet because of two things I do, one giving me warm feet by coincidence, the other specifically to prevent cold feet, though I usually don't bother with it.

    #1: head insulation. I do tend to aggressively insulate my head, probably more so than most folks here, I think. And I have always been very aware about how much insulation is potentially lost when giving up the several inch thick hood and neck collar of a mummy bag for a TQ. So, I really try to make up for that. It is my opinion(can't prove it) that if I make my head as warm as possible- maybe even a tad over heating it- that it will stimulate a reflex that causes the body to shunt blood(by constricting blood vessels near the brain) away from the brain and dilate blood vessels in the extremities, resulting in more warm blood flooding to the hands and feet. This also works in reverse for sure: let the brain get a bit on the cold side, and the body acts to preserve the brain in preference to the feet, thus dilating vessels (and thus increasing blood flow) in and to the brain, while simultaneously constricting blood flow to the extremities.

    So my theory is that if my head is on the verge of over heating, I am extremely unlikely to have cold feet. And it just so happens that I like to use separate thick hoods with my TQs, often over fleece caps or balaclavas or such, and it just so happens I never get cold feet. So maybe their is something to that. When I get cold feet hiking or skiing, I do not have on all of this excessive head insulation.

    At the first ever HF group Sipsey winter backpack back in Feb 09, I was in a JRB bridge hammock(first edition) insulated underneath by a JRB MW4 0ºF UQ. I had on top what would be considered adequate insulation for the 20s F, all under an 11X10 ft tarp. We had hiked in the rain all day, and by 0200 it was snowing. I woke up to pee, an realized I was cold all over, low was about 27F. Don't recall about my feet. I remembered I had a Marmot sleeping bag hood in my pack. I put it on over what I was already wearing: a fleece cap covered by the thin Polarguard hood of my jacket. Went back to be, and within a short time I went from just a bit too cool to toasty warm the rest of the night. The extra hood seemed like over kill for those temps, but adding it made a huge difference n overall warmth. I've never forgotten that learning experience. So, IMO, of your feet are cold, put on a much thicker hat or better yet a hood as thick as your quilts.

    #2: Maybe I don't often suffer from cold feet sleeping in a hammock, but I have "suffered" from from over heating, sweating feet at 6ºF, inside the foot box of a 20 oz/long/wide TQ. What gave me too hot feet? Here is the gear: HHSS including thin nylon vented over cover and 3 oz of OCF kidney/torso pads, WM blue pad added mainly to deal with calf ridge once I also realized my legs(calve area) were a tad cool, lined VB socks, wool hiking socks, REI Polarguard booties(probably 25 years old), inside the foot box of a TQ very optimistically rated at 20F. Again, only 20 oz 800FP for a long wide. A more typical weight for 800FP 20F long/wide would be 4+ oz heavier than that.

    If my feet had been any warmer, I would have had to have dealt with it, by removing socks or booties. Or maybe removing my JRB down hood? I could tell my feet were slightly sweating, but I was not concerned as I knew the VB would keep the liquid out of my insulation. I didn't want to have to deal with it so I didn't. Next morning my feet were not as wet as I thought they were going to be.

    But notice that my complaint here was not cold feet in my hammock at 6F, but rather the opposite: feet too hot and sweating. I obviously could have gotten by with less insulation and still been warm enough in the feet. So, we don't see that very often, and it was accomplished using a TQ way under rated for such temps. I highly suspect that both VB socks and a lot of head insulation had something to do with this result. But, who knows, maybe my feet would have still been over heating without the VB socks? You guys tell me: maybe some of you have over heating feet in a 20F(at best) TQ with booties and a sock at 6F? Might be more common than I would have thought.

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