Cold Feet

When I was a kid I froze my feet pretty bad playing hockey outside.  I remember they were frostbitten enough that for the next couple of days my toes felt like they were on pins and needles.  You know the feeling,  right?   Well, the hardest part of winter activities for me as an adult has been the dreaded cold feet.  But I believe that I have finally figured it out.  I was reading the blog wintertrekking last week and I came upon the vapor barrier method of keeping your feet warm.  This idea wasn't new to me but this particular method was somewhat different.  With this method you wear a very thin pair of polypro socks next to your skin.  Next, you take a thin vapor barrier and  wear it over your polypro socks, then you wear your insulation layer of wool sock over the first two layers.  The theory is that your feet sweat until they the socks are saturated then they stop sweating.  Finally, I added thermal heat packs into the toes of by boots and I'm good to go.  It is also very important to have boots that are at least 1-2 sizes too big for extra air space.  You can't have cramped toes or your toast, or should I say frozen.  Generally my feet get cold anytime below 40 degrees F., but the last two rides were the temperature as been in the teens and my toes have been awesome.  If your one of the dreaded cold feeters, give this method a try and let me know your results.   

Happy Trails.