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Trying On Ice Shoes
Home » Climbing » Rock Shoes and Ice Shoes » Trying On Ice ShoesThere are not many places where you can try on several different ice shoes and leave the store smiling. Most major chain outdoor stores don't sell leathers or the synthetics or all of the plastics. Oddly enough, the best place to find a great selection is not at the major chain outdoor stores but at the mom and pop shops located near major climbing areas.
No matter what your form of outdoor activity in winter, your feet are the hardest part of your body to keep warm because of their distance from the heart, and thus, along with your fingers, the most susceptible to frostbite. Warm properly fitted ice shoes can make all the difference between the happiness of a safe adventure and the embarrassment of showing a restaurant full of strangers your frigid, milky-white toes. Today's waterproof ice shoes offer superior warmth without the bulk and weight of previous generations of footwear. The type of ice shoes you need depends on where you're going, when you're going, and what you'll do there. Most ice shoes come in men and women's sizes.
At lower elevations and latitudes in the Northeast, trails are often largely free of snow and ice, but you need a hiking boot with enough insulation and sole to protect your feet from the frozen air and ground. A waterproof, mid- or high-cut backpacking boot may do the trick if the mercury doesn't plunge too far below freezing. On chillier days, though, you'll want something warmer.
Boots for all-around mountaineering — cramponing up standard routes on Mount Washington in winter or Mount Rainier in spring and summer, hiking dry approach trails, and moderate ice climbing — are getting more lightweight and less bulky, and have better structure in the sole to improve comfort when hiking. Some ice shoes have lightweight leather uppers, better suited to the moderate temperatures of a late fall or spring jaunt on Mount Washington or climbing late-winter through summer in the West rather than the fiercest cold of the Whites in mid-winter.
Plastic mountaineering boots with removable liners are the standard winter climbing ice shoe for their warmth, performance in crampons, and protection from the elements. Some ice shoes are built on a leather-boot last and has a thinner carbon fiber midsole and rubber outsole, placing your foot closer to the climbing surface than traditional ice shoes.
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