Climb High Down Booties and Trip Report

“Went to Spence Field in the Smokies (of course) over the weekend. It was serene, and in some places - knee-deep snow drifts. Russell Field was even more breathtaking.

Anyway, I used my Climb High Down Booties for the first time. And my new Montrail Torre boots. The boots were fantastic - just some hotspots on the heels. I also wore these ExOfficio pants that did great in the snow. Yippeee!! I was so amused at my new gear...

So.. where was I at? Oh, the booties! The booties were great, except the bottoms of them were not very warm. Everything but the bottom of my feet was warm. I thought about putting some fleece or something on the bottom to keep the ground from sucking up my warm feets?

It was me, AzimuthCoordinator, and Skidder. Azimuth made hotcakes. He's been practicing. They were yummy and one filled me up. Skidder had some yummy peanut butter rice krispy treats. I took along some shrimp cocktail and some steaks for a hearty dinner to keep us warm throughout the night.

We all stayed warm and toasty!!

...but, to wrap this lil trip report up - I was disappointed in the performance of the down booties. :(”

“Get yourself a cheap blue foam pad (I heard Wally's World sells them for like $6) then cut out a pair of insoles from it to fit the bottom of your booties. Slip them inside. That's if you have the room, of course.”

“Thanks Seracer!
Good idea!”

“Do you get KOHO on your FM dial? I used to listen to that radio station online - I think it is from Sleeping Lady or Wanatchie...”

“Was this your first winter trip?...any photos yet?

Seracers idea with the booties works well...you may want to use a small square of that blue pad to sit on as well...also keeps your camp chair from getting wet.”

“You betcha. It's from Leavenworth, actually. Little town about 30 minutes west of where I work (Wenatchee). Great station, lotsa blues, jazz and bluegrass. They not online anymore?”

“MtnSteve - no, I went to Derrick Knob Jan. 11th weekend, and then to Big South Fork Jan. 5th weekend, and to Gregory Bald Dec. 28, 29th, and 30th. Winter backpacking is so refreshing!

Seracer - I would listen to it online everyday at work if I could!! They (meaning my company) cracked down so I can't indulge anymore!! :(”

“That's too bad. I wonder when that may happen to me too. I like to listen in to MP3.com a lot. Good stuff there.”

“I probably won't get my photos developed until next week or so. But they will be posted on my website. Let me try to do a hyperling. Footpounder”

“I did it! I did it!
that's hyperlink, by the way.

Yeah - it stinks, they monitor everything except after hours.. I am at work right now after hours.. I am about ready to go home and drink some cold Southpaws in my flannel pjs... ahhhh...”

“How do you do that?”

“Oh, Mtnsteve - good idea on bringing the leftover foam pad - I just remembered that I needed it for my Thermarest in cold weather too. (Learned that from the cold weather thread). Ahhh... I love TT!”

“I put Footpounder
... but put a space between the first A and the HREF, and it will just show Footpounder.
(that is, unless, this didn't post the way I indended :P)”

“Crap..
okay.. lets try this
UA HREF="http://www.footpounder.com"UFootpounderU/AU

but replace the U with <> and <>.
may be a complicated way of explaining it!!”

“<>A HREF="http://community.webshots.com/user/seracer"<>Seracer's Pics<>/a<>”

“Well that didn't work...”

“minus one bracket > so it looks kind of like this:

Footpounder
But A HREF and A in place of the X's.”

“INSERT LINK NAME

Insert the URL between the " and the name between > and < with no spaces”

“CRAP!!!

OH!! Bing! (a lightbulb illuminated Smokygirl's skull)

Go to your browser if you have IE, and click on the menu View. Then, choose Source. Look for my hyperlink, and you can see the placement of the brackets (<>)”

“

perhaps this....”

“Oh, never mind......”

“LOL!!! Mtnsteve, I tried to get around it, but....

Seracer - it looks like you hyperlinked to soemthing, but my company server said "access denied" so I couldn't see it...”

“Seracer's Pics"”

“Wow, that's a bit of work, ain't it? Wonder if I'll remember how to do that again.

Thanks for the info smokygirl. That link is for my pics.”

“I just recently acquired more gear to make life on the trail more comfortable. Before the down booties, I used cheap Walmart slippers. They bubbled up in the campfires!!

Before the Ex Officio pants and Duofold long johns, I used Walmart special workout pants with stretch pants as long johns.

Before the Montrails, I had a 50-dollar pair of hiking shoes. I still don't have rain gear yet. I use PVC pants, and ponchos.

Little by little, I invest in more gear when I have the money. Its nice to have the "high falutin" gear, but here is one of my favorite sayings
from the Walker Sisters (one of the last living residents in the Smokies)
"Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
or do without."”

“:D

Seracer, will have to look at your pics when I git home. Company denies webshots and some other websites.

I am outta heah - talk to y'all later!”

“I can relate. This last year I decided to go lightweight. I spent a ton on new gear. So far it's been money well spent, but for years I used hand me downs and make do's. Used an old wool sweater from my grandfather, stuff like that. Still use a Svea, Sherpa snowshoes and a duck down bag from the 70's. They all still work, and it's kind of like losing old friends to just stop taking them.

One of my favorite sayings is:

"Function, not fashion."”

“Seracer:

Did you dig that snow cave?”

“Sure did. By myself on the solo trip, with a friend the next weekend (new cave).”

“I just bought a pair of climb high down booties. The booties aren't waterproof so I was thinking of spaying them down with camp dry. I realize this won't make them 100% waterproof, but will help. The only thing that makes me nervous is I'm not sure what this would do to the down. Has anyone tried this? What was the result?”

“Feet perspire a lot, like maybe a pint of water per day. Therefore, a waterproof cover over them equates to wet feet!”

“Good words to live by.You should try using seal skinz sox's they work great and they let your feet breath also.”

“Shouldn't they be "climb high UP" booties?”

“Spraying the outer shell with CampDry won't hurt the down. Most of the wetness that comes from using booties wicks from the damp ground or snow up into the bootie. I'm not sure how much good spraying them will do, but it won't hurt either. I've used Campdry on lots of gear and haven't noticed any difference in breathability in the jackets I've used it on so that won't be an issue.”

“Hey folks, I know some of you like the Climb Highs from Campmoor and some the Sierra Designs which are on sale right now.

Which are best? Pros and cons please.

Do I even want any since I will probably be in just wet/cold and not snow conditions?”

“I got my wife the Climb Hi down booties, and I think she forgot she has them. I have to remember to wave them in her face the next time she complains about cold feet.”

“Well heck if they don't work well out backpacking, I suppose I could wear them around the house.

I should maybe start a different thread under gear...”

“Personally I wear fleece socks. The down booties just look like they'll get soaking wet and nasty if I wear them in wet conditions. If the same thing happens to fleece socks you just wring them out and put them back on.”

“It's pretty rainy here. Especially the Olympics, which will be my next trip, next month. I'm biting the bullet and going to freeze my ass off to get my "fix." LOL!”

“I don't know if the Climb Hi's have a waterproof or water-resistant shell though. If they do, they might be okay.”

“I have the SD booties (I feel so vulnerable admitting I even own booties) and they are pretty good. If you stand in snow though it will melt a bit and freeze to the bottoms and not want to come off. I want to get a pair of the MH ones. $60 for a pair of booties sounds extreme but they have an actual tred sole and are water proof. I wonder what the tred is like if you wear them in the sleeping bag?”

“Smoky I would have kept them feet warm! Nice trip report buTTTTTTT now you got me trtin to do a HERF
Footpounder
Yo bear!”

“Well Thgat clearly did not work Hmph! I typed it in the body of the message!waz up”

“Hmmm. Maybe I'll pass on the booties. I don't know. It would be nice to have something warm and dry to put on when the boots are soaked tho.”

“pix fleece sox.
Why do your feet need to git wet?”

“They get wet because it's so darn wet here. Too rainy.”

“What kind of boots do have Pix?”

“Avoid the Climb High booties. They have a very thin sole with poor insulation.

I have been very happy with my sierra design mules.”

“I think it was budder that cut some foam in soles for his SD booties to give them more insulation. I've been thinking of doing this too.”