Toe Warmer Brands

Any negative or positive reviews for various brands of adhesive toe warmers?

I was at a slide show presentation by chad kellogg this past wednesday. He was talking about his time in Patagonia and his 3rd upcoming speed attempt of mt everest.

He mentioned he uses electric insoles to keep his feet warm for up to 17 hours. Since you're in AK and if you have money to throw down I'd look at those.

I don't know, Grabbers seem to work OK for me and aren't too bulky. Sounds like you're doing all the right things. Making sure to warm my shells before inserting the liners and putting them on can help a lot. A small nalgene or platypus filled with hot water that can fit in the toe area of your shells works, as can placing the shell on top of your cook pot while you're melting snow. Good luck.

Make sure you get the Baruntse liners molded with enough room to have the toe warmer pack and wiggle your toes (using extra toe caps when molding). You might also be able to mold the Spantik liners.

I've had my boot fitting expert (Austrian Ski Shop in Montreal) fit my fiancés Intuition liners in her Spantik with this in mind (will eventually get Baruntse liners though).
He's also modified double plastic boots shells and liners to add room for the head packs.

My friend used heated soles and gloves for his winter alpine attempts of Hidden Peak. That $350+ expense can save your toes.

Not big mountain advice, but when using the disposable toe warmers when ice climbing and standing around, I've started putting them above my toes. Putting them underneath can scrunch up socks, etc., and sometimes made them colder.

Did you ever try cutting down the thickness of your socks? In Colorado, I have always struggled with cold toes ice climbing/mountianeering. A buddy of mine suggested that my socks were too thick. The idea is that if your foot/toes are packed tightly in a boot, there's no wiggle room, then your toes can't move to keep blood circulating. Also, there is no room for air. I climb in the Scarpa Phantom Guides(single boot), but after I switched from a thick wool sock to a thin wool liner, the difference was significant. Not sure if same rules apply to a double boot, but might be worth a try. Also I imagine its much colder in AK. That's my 2cents...

I usually wear nothing more than a lightweight wool hiking sock with my spantiks.

this has kept my feet perfectly warm down to -20.

The one time I wore heavyweight wool socks my toes were freezing all day.

I have been enjoying my J.B. Fields socks. The value is really excellent. They hold up well and the fit is good. They may not be better in fit and performance than the other top brands, but they are comparable and generally less expensive.

I did a side by side taste test of warmers.

Grabbers suck IMHO. They don't get as hot and stay as hot. Worked horribly at Ouray.

Heat Factor ROCKS. Absolutely the best in my opinion. Worked great on Denali.

All toe warmers fail once they get wet, and despite the cold our feet sweat A LOT in boots (especially when active in them). A good liner sock and not over insulating is one approach. There's also better socks available than Smartwool, that offer same protection but don't take up as much space in the boot. A scrunched/compressed sock is less effective.

I also have Renauld's and find that I just need to wiggle my toes a lot, not tie my boots too tight, and wear a good non-Smartwool mountaineering sock (with liner) that's warm but not puffy. But there's always a point in the day where the only thing that keeps me warm is climbing.

I use Teko socks if you're curious. tekosocks.com/activity/ice-…

Kevin Heckeler wrote:All toe warmers fail once they get wet, and despite the cold our feet sweat A LOT in boots (especially when active in them). A good liner sock and not over insulating is one approach. There's also better socks available than Smartwool, that offer same protection but don't take up as much space in the boot.

What makes a sock so much better than smart wool? I imagine sock technology can not be that advanced....

EricSchmidt wrote: What makes a sock so much better than smart wool? I imagine sock technology can not be that advanced....

Theres lots of room for variability. And of course there's the increase cost for better materials and build quality. Just like with many things, you get what you pay for. I have a large collection of socks and every one has a particular purpose. I like smart wool for hiking but prefer teko for mountaineering/climbing.

Kevin Heckeler wrote: Theres lots of room for variability. And of course there's the increase cost for better materials and build quality. Just like with many things, you get what you pay for. I have a large collection of socks and every one has a particular purpose. I like smart wool for hiking but prefer teko for mountaineering/climbing.

Didn't really answer my question... I guess you are saying durability? How advanced can sock "materials" be. Isn't it usually just wool or some polypro material?

I guess if you have super sensitive girly feet you need something special.

EricSchmidt wrote: Didn't really answer my question... I guess you are saying durability? How advanced can sock "materials" be. Isn't it usually just wool or some polypro material? I guess if you have super sensitive girly feet you need something special.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynaud's_phenomenon

There's nothing girlie about Raynaud's. Hope karma slaps your ass with a chronic case of it. Says a lot about someone willing to climb in the cold despite having that condition.

Yes, there are a lot of variables between materials and how fine things are stitched, etc. Otherwise we'd all just plod around in $3 wool socks from Walmart.

The world of the internet awaits your thirsty mind. Try google.com to learn more about socks instead of pestering me.