How do you keep your boots from freezing overnight in winter?

[iAmKrzys]

How do you keep your boots from freezing overnight when backpacking / camping in winter?

[MuddyWaters]

A good place for things you dont want frozen is inside sleeping bag
Even if means putting in garbage bag or inside-out pack liner

Some buy extra length bag expressly for this purpose in cold weather

Water bottles and filter too, as well as fuel cannister and lighters

[Tipi Walter]

This one is right up my alley. Here is what I've learned---(I'm assuming you're talking about boots and not sneakers or trail runners etc)---

** First off, try to keep your boots dry as long as possible. Always take them off for creek crossings and even low water rock hops with possible dunkings.
** In deep wet snow wear gaiters and use goretex boots---this will help in keeping your all important hiking socks from getting wet.
** In a hard rain your boots and socks will eventually get soaked---and in the Southeast we have the Cold Rain---Rain Stops---Temps drop drastically Cycle. Once the boots are therefore wet they freeze solid like a rock during the night at 10F.

** Full leather boots are better when frozen solid than fabric/leather combos. They allow better foot entry when solid (of course you unlace and spread them apart the night before). Wet fabric shrinks up smaller when frozen than just leather.
** I have found Wide sizes to work much better than regular sizes when frozen.

** I don't adhere to the Keep Boots inside Sleeping Bag advice---you'll want just yourself inside a zipped up mummy bag at 0F---and not a pair of clunky boots disturbing your sleep.
** If you prepare your boots properly the night before you should have no problem getting your feet inside---and after 30 minutes of hiking your feet will start warming up and your boots will start to thaw.

I upgraded from crappy Asolo 520s to Zamberlan Vioz full leather boots and last winter they got wet but never did freeze up except once but only mildly. They have full leathers with a sort of hydrophobic surface causing no water to be absorbed.

[Carbo]

Put one boot under outer edge of your sleeping bag, near your lower back and one near your front, mid-body. If you're on a slight incline, they help you from rolling back or forward while sleeping plus it helps to avoid freezing boots. Carry two sets of wool socks and put in sleeping bag at night. Alternate sock use each day.

[RangerZ]

I have a friend who advocates hand or foot warmers in the sleeping bag on really cold nights. In the AM he puts them in his boots with whatever residual warmth. I haven't seen his results or tried it myself yet.

[T.S.Kobzol]

I put them under my head as a pillow with stuff bag with clothes on top. This help a little bit to give them some warmth but most importantly there is absolutely nothing wrong with your leather boots freezing over night. You put your feet in and they will soften quickly with the warmth off your feet.

[nsherry61]

Interestingly, this is not something I have spent much time thinking about. I've never really had a problem with it. I think most of the time I am either wearing well treated leather ski boots that don't get wet enough to freeze significantly - maybe some dampness freezing and getting them a bit stiff, but never sold, or light-weight trail runners that when wet and frozen, are light enough they flex even when frozen.

Maybe it's that my shoes or boots only get wet in relatively warmer weather where it doesn't freeze too hard at night?
I kinda like the chemical foot warmer idea. It would make cold starts a bit warmer for my feet for that cold first hour or so.

[colorado_rob]

Simple: Wear double boots with removable liners. But yeah, they are expensive. Warm up you liners in your sleeping bag in the morning, though a lot of boot liners are closed-cell foam that don't really absorb moisture anyway (google up "intuition boot liners"

mountaineers (including myself) have been doing this for decades, and it works great for simple winter hiking in deep snow.

[Tipi Walter]

Nobody on the AT or in the Southeast during the winter wears double boots with removable liners; you don't even see Sorels or Baffin pac boots out here during the winter. And yet we get some frigid days on occasion, like -10F. We suffer thru it cuz we know in a few days it'll warm up to 20F. And we like to hike unencumbered. Anyone who has backpacked in Sorel type rubber boots with felt inserts and leather uppers knows how terrible they are for backpacking---Clunky is the operative word.

[Leo L.]

When doing winter outdoor trips here in the Alps, it usually means snow and skiing. So it's obvious and easy to take out the inner from the skier boots and keep them in the sleepingbag.
What I tried a little bit during my last trip and will try more during more cold trips to come is, to fill two small drinking bottle with hot water in the evening and put them in the wet boots.
This is leather boots and includes gaiters, can't imagine to use trailrunners in the winter conditiones here.

[Engine]

Lots of good advice already, but there's one VERY IMPORTANT thing I haven't seen mentioned yet. If your boots are leather and do get soaked, NEVER dry them near a fire! Two things can happen, they shrink and the leather gets pretty well destroyed. I hiked for two days in boots which had turned into a BDSM torture device after leaving them near the fire to dry...

[russb]

I also do not recommend putting wet things inside your sleeping bag. A trick I use is to put wet boots inside a plastic bag, then that inside the stuff sack for my sleeping bag. This gets placed under my knees so my legs are not totally flat. More comfortable for me, and it keeps the boots from freezing. If they are dry, I don't bother and just use other stuff under my knees.

[egilbe]

Hot water bottles in your boots will dry them out. If they are dry, they won't freeze.

[cmoulder]

Treat the outside of leather boots with SnoSeal, using a hair dryer to heat it up so it really soaks in. Or for other boots use some DWR spray such as Techtron, etc.

Wear a pair of thin liner socks, a VBL sock for mid layer, and a thick wool sock, and the boots don't get wet in the first place.

[Lyle]

I agree with the "no wet gear in or under my sleeping bag" crowd, also, a too large sleeping bag (so you have room for gear) is much less efficient at keeping you warm than a properly sized bag.

To keep my winter boots from freezing, as well as keeping water bottles mostly in liquid state this method has worked well for me on nights as low as 13 below zero Fahrenheit.

Just before bed:
1) Heat water to boiling or very close.
2) Have a cup of hot chocolate (the warm liquid and extra calories will help warm you, which in turn warms your sleeping bag). Some high fat food will fuel your furnace longer.
3) Fill two water bottles with the Hot/boiling water (Old nalgene bottles handle the hot water well - experiment with others)
4) Place these water bottles inside a pair of heavy wool socks.
5) Loosen the boot laces, and spread the ankle open.
6) Place the water bottles/socks lid down into the boots. and place them inside your tent, on your sit pad.

In the AM the boots will still be supple, and most of the water will still be liquid. The first part of the bottle to freeze will be the upper most part, thus inverting the bottles the night before - the neck and lid of the bottle will not be frozen, so you can open and use it in the AM.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Before going to bed I loosen every section of my boot laces and push out the tongue as if I were about to put them on. They stay like this overnight and can be easily put on in the morning even if mildly frozen.

[rocketsocks]

For extreme frozen boots. Heat water for breakfast, pour in Nalgene bottle, place bottle in boot for 10 min. and place under sleeping bag...repeat.

[colorado_rob]

Nobody on the AT or in the Southeast during the winter wears double boots with removable liners; you don't even see Sorels or Baffin pac boots out here during the winter. And yet we get some frigid days on occasion, like -10F. We suffer thru it cuz we know in a few days it'll warm up to 20F. And we like to hike unencumbered. Anyone who has backpacked in Sorel type rubber boots with felt inserts and leather uppers knows how terrible they are for backpacking---Clunky is the operative word.

I wasn't talking about Sorels, for goodness sakes, and these days double-boots (AKA: boots with removable liners) are no longer clunky. But I'm not doubting folks back in those parts never wear them, but I wasn't aware we're strictly talking SE USA, but sure, this is an AT oriented site. Just throwing out my own type of winter hiking Modus Operandi.

This is an example of a removable liner boot, not at all clunky nor too expensive:

http://www.campsaver.com/bora2-mid-g...ing-boot-men-s

[Lynnette]

My footwear comes off the feet - shaken, dried some if sunny, goes in a Reynolds clear plastic turkey bag - then into the bag my sleeping bag came from. Always. My standard practice. Goes outside the s bag, beside my thigh in tent or by my shoulder if shelter. Socks, phone, camera, water filter/hoses everybody else way down in foot bed. You can make this work even if you put headlamps, earrings and eyeglasses in the shoes.

[Tipi Walter]

I wasn't talking about Sorels, for goodness sakes, and these days double-boots (AKA: boots with removable liners) are no longer clunky. But I'm not doubting folks back in those parts never wear them, but I wasn't aware we're strictly talking SE USA, but sure, this is an AT oriented site. Just throwing out my own type of winter hiking Modus Operandi.

This is an example of a removable liner boot, not at all clunky nor too expensive:

http://www.campsaver.com/bora2-mid-g...ing-boot-men-s

Hey Rob, just wondering about these kind of boots. When buying and sizing, does the liner affect normal sizing, as in: If I wear a size 10, will the inner liner affect boot size so I'd have to get a larger size to fit like size 11 etc??

Also: In a cold rain I believe the liner (along with your socks) would end up getting soaked---along with the boot. Then you end up with soaked boots, soaked liner and soaked socks---all freezing solid overnight. Who wants to wear a soaked liner in your sleeping bag all night just to dry out? Hmmm . . . . .