Info on gear, conditioning, and preparation for hiking/climbing.
Forum rules
This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
Sorry, not a post about bouncing up a mountain Just curious if there are any clever hacks out there for dealing with wet boots, as it's quite easy to end the day with soggy feet after hiking through springtime slushy snow.
Currently using boots that were waterproof once upon a time but I've logged a lot of miles in them so they're not as good in that regards as they used to be and on the last couple of hikes they've gotten too waterlogged to dry fully on their own from one weekend to the next - and that's with using gaiters to block snow from intruding from the top, plus alpine starts to minimize time out after the sun cooks the snow.
It's always interesting to compare notes on those simple little things that can improve the hiking experience...
Take the footbeds out, let those dry. Then stuff the boots with newspaper, or place them over a fan to dry out the lining.
I do this with my snowboard boots, which are completely drenched in sweat after a day on the hill. If I can't do that, they go in my car and I run the floor heat to get rid of some of the moisture, with stinky results.
I mostly use ski boots this time of year but I’d say it still applies. If I’m out overnight, throwing a couple of hand warmers in my boots helps to dry them out overnight. If I’m at home, I have a couple boot dryers that I just throw into the boots (these plug into an outlet but also have an adapter so I can use them if I’m out in the van if I need to). If your boots are getting seriously drenched, I would definitely re-waterproof them before you go out again. This time of year though some degree of wetness is likely. Also make sure you are taking the insoles out when you dry them.
“Climb mountains not so the world can see you, but so you can see the world.” -David McCullough?
Maybe some sno seal on them too keep the leather from getting water logged.
The goretex liner might be clogged with dirt and sweat, trapping your sweat, and adding to the moisture.
If you like the boots and don't want new ones, I'd clean the exterior, then sno seal.
Also wipe out the interior but there's not a ton you can do.
Then when you get back and they are wet, pull the laces as open as possible, take out the footbed, fold the tongue forward, and I use newspaper to soak up moisture, swapping it out after a few hours or overnight until the paper doesn't come out damp. After doing that a bit, I set them on the air vent in the house and I've never had a problem with them still being wet, certainly not for a week.
Just curious if there are any clever hacks out there for dealing with wet boots, as it's quite easy to end the day with soggy feet after hiking through springtime slushy snow.
