Lesson Learned - Down Booties - No Socks

[RadicalHope]

Hmmm.... Very interesting thread. Thanks for sharing.

[stephen_q]

So, could it be said that wearing a fleece underneath of a down jacket would make it not as warm as wearing the down jacket closer to your body without the fleece? Or is this a totally different thing we're talking here.

[Floridahanger]

Sounds to me that your experiencing what makes a VB (vapor barrier) work.

With the socks on, the moisture exchange with heat is exiting the booties, assuming the socks go out of the booties or not completely covered by them. Remember the function of the sock is to wick moisture and heat away while hiking.

Without socks, the VB (booties) is keeping the moisture and heat on your feet keeping them toasty warm.

Or something like that, maybe...I guess.

[FLScouthanger]

Anybody ever try knee-high pantyhose? Before you bust your gut laughing, hear me out. My father used to coach boxer's. Part of his workout regiment was for them to run XX amount of miles each week, yearlong. That meant running in the winter in southern Ohio. Whenever they would complain about being cold when they ran he'd tell them to put some pantyhose on as a base. I've never tried it myself so I don't have a basis to draw any conclusions on whether or not it makes a/any difference.

What say the masses? Anybody ever tried this? I have a feeling I'll hear nothing but crickets chirping...

[MuseJr]

Compression baselayers are great when you are moving. That is part of why UA got so popular. If I'm snowshoeing, I like compression socks. They keep my feet very comfortable. I would not recommend sleeping in that stuff though.
I like to use one size above normal for all of my sleeping gear, especially my socks. I don't want any compression at all when I'm sitting around camp or sleeping.

Socks or no socks??? I have had warmer feet without my socks on in my down booties before. (I've had colder feet too.) I found that my feet were warmer because I had my normal fit socks on and they limited the circulation. I tested this around the house for a couple weeks last winter and I found that the socks I used in my fishing waders worked best. (They are over the calf XL heavyweight socks. I wear a size 10 shoe.)
Enjoy the testing and find what works for you.

[Cali]

I wear pantyhose under my socks and ski pants when I ski. It seems to keep me warmer.

I am going to try a pair of my husbands wool socks that are very loose on me. I think that will help keep my feet warm with my down booties on really cold nights. I may be going to Pennsylvania and hanging during Thanksgiving. Much colder than here in SC.

[outdoorsguy]

I have found circulation is a big part of it. If i pitch the foot end of my hammock too high my feet get cold. If it is more level my feet stay warm. I switched to bridge hammock now and can pitch it level and my feet are warm and I am completely comfortable.

This makes sense but its bad news for me because I sleep with my knees and ankles well above my head and heart because I have arthritis in both joints. Keeping these joints elevated at night keeps the swelling and pain way down.

I have to keep them elevated but I'm going to try the hot water bottle trick tomorrow night when I sleep outside...its supposed to be around 30 deg. It'll be a good test.

Plus based on the info in this thread, I'm wearing these tomorrow night, see attached. They're fleece.With loose socks.

[Cali]

As long as the fleece booties are loose also, you should have toasty warm feet.

[oldpappy]

This makes sense but its bad news for me because I sleep with my knees and ankles well above my head and heart because I have arthritis in both joints. Keeping these joints elevated at night keeps the swelling and pain way down.

I have to keep them elevated but I'm going to try the hot water bottle trick tomorrow night when I sleep outside...its supposed to be around 30 deg. It'll be a good test.

Plus based on the info in this thread, I'm wearing these tomorrow night, see attached. They're fleece.With loose socks.

Experiment a little - try one foot with sock/bootie, the other with just the bootie (no sock) and see which is better for you. The trick is to stay warm and not sweat enough to dampen the sock/bootie.
The hot water bottle is my favorite trick when it's cold - I insulate it with a couple layers of heavy socks (or towel wrap) and pull the insulation off as you need more heat in the wee hours.

[ggreaves]

The thing your noticing is that with out a sock blood flows more readily through your feet. If you do a liner sock like nighthauk suggests buy it well larger than your usual size socks so it's not restrictive of blood flow.

+1 on the blood flow thing. Extremities are the first things to go when it gets cold. And being diabetic, I get cold from the feet first. down booties or even no socks at all wrapped up in the footbox works well for me.