socks for mountaineering boots

I have sensitive feet, and boot fitting has always been difficult.  Years ago I used a thin polypro liner with thick Dachstein wool socks, and that worked well for me on several trips to Denali.  I now need to get new mountaineering boots, and I've been told that now a days people don't wear a thin liner, and that the Dachstein socks are outdated.  I have a low volume foot, and the thick socks provided cushioning around my sensitive heel, and took up some volume in the boot.  I was wondering if this really is too old-school, and if I should instead wear something like a Smartwool mountaineering sock without a liner, or use the Smartwool (or something like it) with a liner.  I'm out of touch with how gear has changed in the last 20 years, and want to figure out what socks to use before I start shopping for boots.

It can just depend on the boot and how it fits you. I've needed thin socks in some boots that were narrow, thicker in others. So it doesn't make sense to go into boot shopping locked down on what socks to use IMO. You have to be adaptable. 

I don't personally use two pairs of socks but you certainly can. The idea being the thinner one next to your skin is easy to dry overnight, where a thicker sock might still be a bit moist in the morning. Also if you have issues with blisters it can help since it's an extra layer that can slide and reduce friction. Lots of backpackers and trail runners do it even though they're not dealing with cold temps (I actually do for these activities even though I typically don't in my climbing boots). 

If the 2 socks work for you, do it. Personally I find an extra pair of socks to be a pretty blunt tool in a rigid mountaineering boot. I have sensitive heels too, a little gel cushion sleeve helps with comfort and heel rise without affecting the fit of the rest of my boot. I particularly like to have a lot of vertical room in the footbox to wiggle my toes when it gets cold, thicker/more socks impede this and ultimately make me colder. YMMV. 

I do wear a second set of VBL socks on occasion when I'm using single boots for multi day trips, but this isn't really necessary with double boots. 

I personally fit my climbing boots with a pretty standard pair of midweight socks (Darn Tough, Smartwool etc..). I don't think sizing up for big socks makes a lot of sense in most cases. Socks are pretty inefficient insulation, just need a warmer boot at that point. But if you've been on Denali several times and your system works...why not. It has some perks (easy drying, blister protection). You do you, it's not crazy or outdated 

Check out Lorpen T3 series.

https://www.lorpen.com/product/t3-heavy-trekker-ca/

https://www.lorpen.com/product/t3-polartec-trekking-expedition-ca/

Prices are in CAD$

unfortunately, this is going to come down to personal preference and trail/error. I wouldnt say that thin sock liners are outdated at all. I just used a pair on liberty ridge this season under a light weight wool sock and it worked perfectly. IMO the socks that are branded as “mountaineering” socks are always too thick for me. 

Good circulation in your feet is really key.  If you cut off circulation, with too thick socks, you will get cold in any boot. 

I use Smart wool light weight ski socks, our guide was using extra thin synthetic dress socks. Both of us were happy for the duration of the trip.

Fox river socks. They are super popular with the military, but work beautifully for mountaineering boots. They are a synthetic sock, intended to be worn against the skin. They wick well when your feet sweat, are somewhat warm, and dry quickly.

I have waded through swamps with them, and worn them at 19000 feet. 

4 pairs will last the rest of your life. 

Noah Rodney wrote:

Fox river socks. They are super popular with the military, but work beautifully for mountaineering boots. They are a synthetic sock, intended to be worn against the skin. They wick well when your feet sweat, are somewhat warm, and dry quickly.

I have waded through swamps with them, and worn them at 19000 feet. 

4 pairs will last the rest of your life. 

Fox river makes great wool socks too! I wear them with a light weight liner sock as my daily winter work set up. I walk all day in all weather managing the building of custom homes.

Screw what anyone else says and go with what works for your feet. If that means thin liners and thick wool socks to get a decent amount of cushioning then that's fine - however 'outdated' it might be. 

Footwear is so personal that it's really, really difficult to give proper advice, even more so over the internet. 

A couple years ago I transitioned to thin socks (Smartwool Phd Mountaineer). I found this to work really nicely if the boot fits perfectly. Otherwise it’s blister-town. 

I have had a small handful of blisters (seems less than average), so I’m going to experiment with these + very thin socks over them. I’ve always carried a tiny roll of tape, but I’d like to ditch that. 

I found that the old thick sock concept lead me to buying too big of boots, that end up getting sloppy when the sock bunches or gets wet. 

Plus 1 for the Smartwool Mountaineering PhD socks, as long as your boots are warm enough. I use them with my Scarpa Phantom Techs for ice climbing, and Mont Blanc Pros for everything else.

jdejace wrote:

I have sensitive heels too, a little gel cushion sleeve helps with comfort and heel rise without affecting the fit of the rest of my boot. I particularly like to have a lot of vertical room in the footbox to wiggle my toes when it gets cold, thicker/more socks impede this and ultimately make me colder. YMMV. 

^^ Thank you for this tip, I had decent success on Shasta with pre-taping (Leukotape for-the-win, even better with tincture of benzoine) combined with these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NYS22QG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1, but I like the full sleeve design better.

They stayed relatively stable, but I could feel them shift around a few times. 

For those with low volume feet (I have a double-whammy of low volume and very wide), two other tricks:

1) Use a footbed with good arch and heel support, it adds some 'volume' to your feet

2) I like to isolate the different lacing zones of the boot (i.e. over the toes vs over the forefoot/ankle) by adding a surgeons knot (just a few cross-overs of the laces), that way I can leave the forefoot loose but really cinch down the ankle to prevent heel blisters on the way up and toe bang on the way down.

Chris C wrote:

I have had a small handful of blisters (seems less than average), so I’m going to experiment with these + very thin socks over them. I’ve always carried a tiny roll of tape, but I’d like to ditch that. 

Two tricks in this domain:

1) I always pre-tape at home (sometimes even a day-or-two in advance) with leukotape and tincture of benzoine, I can usually get 3-5 days out of an application (including multiple showers)

2) Rather than carrying a roll of tape, I make stick-and-go pre-cut tape pieces:

https://sectionhiker.com/leukotape-blister-prevention-tape-for-running-and-hiking/

Rather than as-is with their instructions I like to:

* Always round off the corners, this will keep the tape on your feet for much-much longer

* For pieces that need to wrap around something (i.e. back of ankle) I always add a little bit of a catenary incut (maybe 1/8-3/16") which helps prevent folding/bunching. For hot spots on outside of pinky toes, I find that rounded triangles work well (asymmetrical for left or right)

This is a nice rainy day activity where you can make a whole batch of these, and then make kits to throw in every one of your packs so you're never without quick/fast blister care (and, bonus, if you tape at home, you rarely need to raid your cache in the pack).

One trick already mentionned it to pre-tape with leukotape the parts of your feet you know are sensitives.

As far as socks goes I have never use liners. I use Smartwool PhD Outdoor Medium Crew.
Bought 2 pairs 2 years ago and they are still in very good shape, never had an issue with it. 

I don't see the point of the Mountaineer model, it goes too high IMHO but it may be useful in a touring boot for winter mountaineering.

Darn Tough Mountaineering socks. 

It looks like the Smartwool PHD mountaineer model is discontinued... besides the high cut, what was the difference compared to the other thicker models?

Stever wrote:

It looks like the Smartwool PHD mountaineer model is discontinued... besides the high cut, what was the difference compared to the other thicker models?

https://www.smartwool.com/shop/phd-pro-mountaineer-socks-sw001095

I used thin merino wool liners or short runners inside a tnin/medium hiker in all my trekking boots.  The leather mountaineering boots I bought wouldn't permit the space without squeezing blood from the foot. My touring ski boot would be too tight, I've already swapped liners and used a thin merino hiker.  The Intuition liner had my feet toasty all day.

Two socks reduces or eliminates blisters.  Take your preferred sock setup to the boot purchase and fitting. Buy 5 sets of what works, but maybe try a day with solo socks

Newt Riverman wrote:

Fox river makes great wool socks too! I wear them with a light weight liner sock as my daily winter work set up. I walk all day in all weather managing the building of custom homes.

Wool fox river are great low volume socks. There is a brand I'm using now who's name escapese. Wool, very durable. They have a Target crosshair on the toe. 

I also used to use smart wool mountaineering socks

An old Army trick I used was cheap panty hoses from any grocery store etc underneath the shitty, issued Army socks. Worked like a charm. I would also vouch for Fox River socks, love them!

Just recently had a bad experience with heel blisters with my Phantom Techs so am going to try that panty hose again and otherwise try some of these solutions above. Thanks all!

Jack Crackerson wrote:

An old Army trick I used was cheap panty hoses from any grocery store etc underneath the shitty, issued Army socks. Worked like a charm. I would also vouch for Fox River socks, love them!

Just recently had a bad experience with heel blisters with my Phantom Techs so am going to try that panty hose again and otherwise try some of these solutions above. Thanks all!

Interesting idea. Especially because I find that most liner socks take up too much volume in my boots. I have a wide forefoot, so I end up with tight toes and sloppy heels.