Winter Barefooting

Hi Guys

This will be my first winter attempting to go barefoot. Can anyone give me tips on how to get through a winter. I live in the Uk so gets fairly cold here, are there any other UK Barefooters here that go barefoot through the winter?

Anyone want to meet up for a barefoot day?

keep em bare

Andy

 

Just keep moving! It is extremely difficult to remain barefoot in the snow for long periods of time, without much pain/frostbite. As long as you keep yourself moving, and not stand in one place for too long, also limit your time out in the snow. Make sure every other part of your body is well covered, and your feet should be fine. Good luck!

 

Be careful, u can end up with frostbite.

I love going barefoot, but in the winter my feet are in shoes, at least when outside

 

I would love to see someone try going barefoot in Canada during the winter. They would end up with both feet amputated after the frostbite causes gangrene to set in.

 

Same in Maine. Duration is everything. Short and brief. Be near warmth and safety. Frostbite is nothing to triffle with. Very sneaky and sudden. There are periods in the winter when it isn't quite so cold. Restrict it to those times.

These pics were done when it wasn't particularly cold, trust me.

 

I have seen pics of people barefoot in snow. I havent done it, I live in florida, we dont get snow, just hurricanes.

 

It's only October and it's freezing cold and wet in Ohio.

I'm wearing shoes.

 

I wish I had the chance to go barefoot in the freezing cold, just to see what it would feel like. The coldest I've been barefoot in was when we went up to Modesto (Northern California) Christmas before last, I think it was in the high 30's or low 40's (F.) during the day. Felt really great on my bare feet.

 

For each person, their own limit of what they can take. Mine is a little cooler than yours, but I definitely have limits. I deal with a cold Maine forest environment, and I'm often alone, so in all ways, it is critical to treat cold weather sensibly.

Since we're having more cold rain than I've ever seen in my life, I've begun wearing flops or Chacos. The ground can draw heat out thru my soles. But I can still be bare on the tops. A little longer---

All of this will change soon---

 

We just got our first snow of the season. I honestly think it is warmer to walk in than the rain of the afternoon. Do wind chill and dampness affect everyone the same way? I feel my feet were dryer in the fresh flakes than in the puddles earlier. Cool Spruce, you're a weather watcher what are your thoughts? everyone else is invited to chime in on this as well.

 

My feet are always colder when wet due to evaporation. With snow, it has to melt first and if you keep moving, it doesn't have time to melt. Snow also acts as an insulation. It will never be colder than 32 degrees.

 

Dry snow starts out feeling very nice, and at least for awhile, probably easier to take than wet snow or ice cold rain. Probably because of the air spaces between the dry flakes, and we all know snow is a good insulator. But, as everyone in snow country also knows, the fact that the snow is dry also means that it's cold outside, sometimes very cold---so the risk of having things go wrong very quickly does exist. (Frost bite) Thus I limit how long I'm doing this. Also, your feet will try melting some of this dry snow, (while they can!) and that means having wet feet in cold dry snow rather soon. Not a good combination. Soon your feet stop being able to melt it, and you're in trouble. I can't let this happen.

The cold rain we see every fall is sometimes much like walking in a cold mountain stream, especially with all the puddles and rills. While we all know this feels very nice, it also becomes numbing very quickly. No risk of frost bite with cold water, but similar things can happen, with the circulation running sluggish in the extremities, (especially when you've slowed down for the day, or never even got yourself pumped for the day.)

For me, the kind of sloppy wet snow we see at this time of year in your climate and mine, then again in spring, is similar to what I wrote above about cold rain. It does feel nice underfoot. But it comes in murky chilly conditions with no sun to "time out" in, so again, it's limited.

In all of this, good blood circulation is critical, so if you're active, even hyper, and fortified in all other ways, it works for awhile.

In wet weather I'm good when the temp is near 50, as long as I'm doing things, perhaps even into the 40's, but this really assumes I'm doing some of my work, like pruning. Once I gave a talk in a public garden in fall drizzle, standing mostly still, of course, and even with Tevas on, I felt that old familiar feeling of numbness setting in. Normally I'm one of those types who doesn't park very well (still a boy in that way) so I do fine when I can keep moving.

Lastly---spring snow, any kind, old granular still laying around from winter, or a fresh dumping---as long as the April sun can get out, which is a major problem where I live, but if it is sunny, that's the way to bf in the snow. I have to cut across snow fields on most places I work, and the amount of time spent actually in snow is delicious. There's always a sunny ledge or stretch of sunny lawn or pine needles nearby, and I can't imagine this type of bf-ing to be dangerous in any way! Quite the opposite, in fact.

 

I properly freed my feet of shoes this summer, and for the first time in my life went about my daily buisness in barefeet. The only times I really doned my shoes was when I was working. But now the winds have returned and the temperature is dropping my shoes are firmly back on my feet and I don't like it, but I fear for my tootsies well-being.

 

Thanks folks for the replies !!
This morning's walk was cautiously short about 15 minutes 35f and very slushy. I still enjoyed it but did feel numbness creeping in. I'm going to continue to play it safe and expand my limits slowly. I'm also going to pay more attention to wind chill factors and the "real feel" index from acu weather.
take care, keep 'em bare

 

Snow *can* be colder than 32 degrees F, and liquid water cannot go much below 32 degrees. However, snow has a much lower heat capacity than water. It is almost an insulator when compared to water. So if your feet get wet, the water will very quickly pull heat away from the skin. If they stay dry in snow, however, then it will take longer for heat to be lost from the feet, even if the snow is colder than the water.

 

..

 

Yeh, I live in Georgia and I barefoot in the winter lol.....but my winter and yours are not the same....i think my winter is your summer lol....peace

 

Despite my "tough" talk about how much cold my feet and legs can take, I must lay some emphasis about when it's not good to venture outside unprepared.

The mild spot around here is Bar Harbor. View of downtown, on waterfront. A bit farther inland, where I live, colder, is the view out my window. Both of these were taken during extremely DANGEROUS weather, only a tad below 0 deg F, but with heavy wind. Also, the snow is VERY dry, but it wouldn't help your feet much. It isn't like this all winter, but often enough.

I do NOT barefoot at all when it's like this. I'm outside briefly in shorts, but never for long, and never bf. You can run out bf to grab a forgotten item in the truck when it's like this, but only if someone's still awake, who'd miss you if you don't come back in. Just for perspective and comparison. Be safe, everyone---

 

Didn't mean to go OT on this. With all the talk about winter barefooting, and my own support of it, within reason---I just didn't know how else to show conditions where it is NOT a good idea. Unlike my first pics of "mostly safe" barefooting in easy snow conditions, the second two show the dangerous stuff.

I heard of a young woman in Fairbanks Alaska, who just went across the street to a neighbor's house, in sandals, when it was probably even worse than in my photos. As everyone here knows, I favor sandals as a "pad" of insulation to keep the heat from leaving thru the soles. For awhile! It didn't work for her, or she was outside longer than just that jaunt across the street. The toes, or even the feet, were a loss. I'll see if I can find out more about this.

But I imagine most people reading these threads don't have to deal with severe conditions like these.

 

For the most part, I think everyone has enough sense to use their best judgement. There are those, as you've pointed out, who lack that certain sense. It's usually called "common". If you have it, use it.