What do you do if you have multiple flowing stream crossings a day in winter?
>assume just below knee at max depth
Are there any light weight over-boot options?
All I can find for over-boot are heavy hip waders designed to be worn with your shoes off.
Pic rel would be great if it was large enough to go over a boot and had a thin 4mm rubber sole on the bottom
Anyone have pic rel and can give me a weight for the set?
Didn’t see it listed
lol dude what
that second one looks like gay fetish wear
bread bags trick works better than any purpose built product to coonsoom
Yah idk why they took weird pictures for it, but they are just the green part I’m pretty sure.
>bread bags
Yah that’s not gonna go up to your knee, and definitely not gonna hold up to crossing a river, let alone multiple ones a day for days
you shouldn't be going any deeper than a breadbag in the winter if you live anywhere with a real winter. please listen to me before you lose toes or something. just find better crossings where you can rock hop, or go around.
My guy, some thin ass bread bag is not gonna hold up to waking on rocks in a river crossing, plus would barely go up above my boot anyways, so pointless since my boots are waterproof.
Where I live it barely gets to freezing in December, and only gets down to like 15*F finally in like February.
Taking off my shoes and drying off multiple times a day is exactly what I’m trying to avoid, do you really think I don’t know what a towel is?
I would rather get some seal socks and just ford across in my shoes than that. Fricking snarky moron
>My guy, some thin ass bread bag is not gonna hold up to waking on rocks in a river crossing, plus would barely go up above my boot anyways, so pointless since my boots are waterproof.
Where I live it barely gets to freezing in December, and only gets down to like 15*F finally in like February.
The bread bag goes inside the shoe. How do you not know this? lmao my guy..
ITT we have a little microcosm of everything wrong with PrepHole
>OP makes a thread asking how to cross water in the winter, implying he's very inexperienced with winter backpacking.
>Anon (me) with 10+ seasons of experience winter backpacking in the most difficult locations in America replies with the correct answer, instantly.
>OP who just said he has zero experience is suddenly arguing with me like he's an expert.
>Taking off my shoes and drying off multiple times a day is exactly what I’m trying to avoid, do you really think I don’t know what a towel is?
Then walk around or find a crossing you can rop hop or a natural bridge. You have to divert your courses in the winter, you don't always hike the exact same routes as 3 seasons.
Look its okay if you're new to PrepHole but please don't try to present yourself like you have even remotely a clue. I hope you get gangrene and lose a foot homosexual.
>bread bag inside the shoe
How are you not understanding I’m looking for a way to avoid getting my shoes wet inside without taking them off?
Again, I would rather just get seal socks and wear those all day if my shoes are gonna get wet inside.
Doesn’t really matter, I already have my initial question answered, and am gonna try those nuclear waders.
All I wanna know now is the weight from someone who has them, so if you don’t know that, you’re useless to me.
>you must be inexperienced
No shit Sherlock, that’s why I’m asking questions here.
Fricking hell, why is everyone a snarky moron here?
It’s like I’m on Twitter or something
god you're acting like a c**t, who shat in your cornflakes
don't read the last reply i posted, i didn't read this thread at first but now i see that kind of advice isn't worthy of you
actually, on second thoughts it won't make a jot of difference as you're convinced you know the answers and you're too dumb to entertain experienced people's advice. good luck with your NUCLEAR WADERS, don't slip and get carried away by a raging snowmelt river with your (im guessing) 40kg pack, later dork
Now that I think about it, I could probably try and make a pair out of tyvek and tape the seams on both the inside and outside.
Would probably be just as durable and lighter weight than old milsurp, but might be too slippery without some kind of rubberized coating on the bottom.
Maybe truck bed liner?
Or flex seal?
flex seal a tyvek bag over your head and truck bed liner it for good measure
>avoiding youe shoes getting wet in a winter river crossing
HahahahhhahahahHHaaaaahahahahahahahhahaah
you actual naive child.
actual fricking moron.
actual reddit guesswork midwit.
that's not how reality works. listen to the anons who actually do this stuff or stay indoors. post on rokslide they'll say the same thing. post on reddit they'll say the same thing. call a local guide, same answer.
accept your shoes may get wet crossing a deep river in the winter. or WALK AROUND.
oh hey an anon who knows what he's talking about
who says the same damn thing as me but he gives consideration that your winters aren't cold so you can just saturate (i was thinking you were dealing with frostbite tier temps)
and you're a fricking twat to him too!
on my recent winter hikes I had no choice but to ford up to thigh depth in fast rivers (where Op's flappy bullshit would get him pulled over if he hasn't already slipped). breadbags work fine in snow and occasional melty puddles but they don't hold up for multiple days in my experience and really aren't suitable for the depth of rivers streams in the places I've been (no rock hopping nor shallows to be found sometimes)
lets be real if you're posting this stuff and this isn't a troll thread, you've never done shit in the winter.
Nuclear waders are sold out.
I had this problem too, so I made my own. There is no good solution anon. There is one company that makes waders for like 100 bucks and they wear quickly. Just make your own. Get some gortex seam seal it and glue some rubber soles. I wore my like overbook sacks.
Maybe look at the ones for motorbikes. They’re made big enough to go over boots and have a hard wearing sole. Not sure they go high enough for deep streams but I bet you could pair them with some tall bin bags to get the extra height.
god this is such bad advice. if you don't winter hike don't post and give op shitty advice.
here let me handhold op:
barefoot. crocs. or sandals w/ heel strap. and a towel.
you would be surprised how cold of water you can cross, and there will be nothing to dry off other than your skin.
if its cold enough that it will actually frick your feet up to do that, cross somewhere else, its winter you need to plan for that.
there's no product to consoom for this other than waders which are rediculous to bring winter backpacking.
OP asked for suggestions so I gave him one. Eat shit. I never said it was the best thing to do but I didnt know what he was planning on doing either.
How to speedrun hypothermia
You might be fine the first crossing with warm legs, but this method has a high toll.
flowing water stays liquid as low as -9C. Factor in windchill, ambient temp and evaporative cooling on top of this, and the accelerated flow rate of the water.
your ankles and thighs have a lot of large veins.
If you expose them you'll supercool your body and risk dropping your core temp.
You'll rush across the river and likely make a mistake like tripping, slipping, scraping legs on sharp rocks or twisting an ankle.
It will numb your feet so you're likely to misstep and fall in or have a hard time climbing the bank, and reduce control in your hands so "drying off" and putting your clothes back on will be very hard with claw fingers.
Not to mention which king-sized egyptian cotton bath towel are you packing that will adequately dry ice water in time to protect your legs from windchill and falling snow/slush/sleet/freezing rain? How are you drying this heavy wet towel in cold dark winter?
If you don't get hypothermic after the first crossing or two you'll burn lots of energy keeping your core temp stable and your extremities will be sacrificed as you lose circulation. Your mind will be clouded and decisions will be harder. If you have multiple river crossings like this, the process will get harder each time, your body will respond worse, and there's a chance night will fall or weather will worsen each time.
For very cold rivers: cross slowly using a tripod stance with a pole, take every care not to fall, wear protection against water exposure on your legs (waterproof trousers at the minimum), put on your microspikes if it's slippy.
he said it only gets to +15f in his region anon
>6 posters
>27 replies in less than 12 hours
Board tourist please frick off back to >>>/k/
Its fricked when noobs post things that kind of sound right on paper and could fool an inexperienced reader, but they've obviously never really tried in the real world. Stop doing that. Just lurk if you don't have experience.
>5 winter deep river crossings a day
Sounds like a planning/routing problem. Are all 5 absolutely necessary? I guarantee with better planning OP simply wouldn't have this issue. Maybe he needs to do easier stuff first and get a little winter experience under his belt. If he lived somewhere cold that's what my advice would be.
>wear protection against water exposure on your legs (waterproof trousers at the minimum)
Unless there's something lost in translation and you mean something different by "waterproof trousers" they don't seal at your ankle and you're effectively strapping two bags full of cold water to your legs.
+15f? Just wear shorts made from a material that doesn't absorb much/any water. Example: https://fiveultimate.com/collections/hydro-shorts
Wear wind pants instead of leggings so they're easier to take off for crossings.
You either need protection and need to go full on wet suit pants/waders/etc or just don't wear stuff on your legs and you don't have to worry about drying anything but your skin in the first place.
Another poster here, but I feel for op. It’s a very specific use case, but it is there. Here in the Japanese alps there is a famous ‘Kurobe traverse’ where you have to swim across the Kurobe river naked in -15c to complete the winter route.
But that’s another topic. I have some remote hot springs I like in deep canyons that require routing along the river. In summer it’s np, but winter has you crossing back and forth over the river to get to them. I guess you could ridge climb and rappel down, but that’s a pain in the ass. Anyway, a little on off goretex sack is pretty useful, because before I would have to undo my whole winter boots and take them off for every crossing which fricking blows.
Next month I am going up to my cabin where I store my winter gear, if this thread is still up I will post my homemade winter hip waders.
Please be silent inexperienced noon
Find me any distance hikers using your theorycraft techniques in winter
And I've seen you shilling those shorts before. Guess what - if its made of woven or knitted nylon or polyester, there is no way they are hydrophobic, any non smooth surface (especialky interlinked fibres) is on a macro level porous and holds water. Unless you use fishnet leggings to trap an air bubble between your skin and the fabric, wind pants will saturate and let fresh cold rain through while being supercooled by evaporation by the wind.
Last year I did a hike in 1C weather with a -15C wind chill factor. 3+ thigh deep river crossings each day and countless knee deep streams, hours of marsh and slush. Your moronic advice would have killed me.
>strapping two bags of cold water to your legs
>shorts for winter river crossing
Uh oh stinky, someone just revealed how nicely polished and aerodynamic their brain is
>Where I live it barely gets to freezing in December, and only gets down to like 15*F finally in like February.
i missed this bullshit, this makes it 10x worse
THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST CROSS BAREFOOT/WATER SHOES/ETC LIKE EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET????????
anon you don't need to keep your feet dry at those temps its barely below freezing.
if you really don't want to towel off just walk around.
its so simple.
Too much time added up stopping 5-6 times a day to take everything off, cross, dry, and dress again.
Those nuclear gaiters are the most minimalist solution for what I want, something that only takes seconds instead of minutes.
I just wanna know the weight first from someone who has them
let me guess you're a fricktard who's wearing army man boots for a hike with 500 river crossings and you don't want to repeatedly take them off because you're a dumbfrick who doesn't know thats what trailrunners are for.
also lmao
>arguing with me
>you don't even have real winters, probably no real mountains there either
hey moron i solved your problem again, because i actually know what i'm doing (from experience)
https://www.salomon.com/en-us/shop/product/quicklace-kit.html
My Solomon lows already have speed laces, it’s the drying off that takes a long time, not tying laces.
If there is snow, I’ll probably have thru gaiters on all day, and dealing with that 5-6 times a day is a slow pain too
reeds chillcheaters calf length (thigh length if you're doing some canyoneering type shit) worn INSIDE your shoes (quick draining) but over your socks, with the top of dishwashing gloves cut off and used as seals against your bare skin to keep water out. Forget membrane socks, if it's damp and cold enough the shoes will be saturated all the time so the membrane won't work and river silt will frick it up very quickly and start leaking (ask me how I know). Thin impermeable rubberlike socks with a gasket seal at the top if wading are ideal, basically.
your socks will eventually saturate with sweat so wear wool as they'll feel dryer for longer. Thin wool so it has a chance to dry somewhat by a cooker and can wring out. Or fleece if you want to properly dry them (squeeze then swing them around).
Oh, and brynje super thermo leggings instead of fleece or wool, with cheap waterproof trousers to keep out wind and fresh cold water, ideally thin and made from hydrophobic material so they don't hold water and chill nor weigh a lot. No need for gaiters.
for anyone else reading these are basically upgraded durable breadbags with a cheap solution for sealing them for submersion. They're kinda expensive and they stink if you don't flip them inside out occasionally so change your socks regularly and dry them properly when stored, but it's currently the best solution I've found, durable enough for 2 seasons so far and blows neoprene, breadbags, goretex, sealskinz etc out of the water, so good I wear them in spring and autumn too when its wet and not too warm, and for a wind blocking vapour barrier when cycling in cold climes.
Jump
Sometime last year there was a huge thread about how PrepHoleists cross a stream in mild temps. There was a stark dichotomy between those who just walk through and those who take their shoes off. That thread taught us all that many people who post here are totally inexperienced or clueless.
>Not to mention which king-sized egyptian cotton bath towel are you packing that will adequately dry ice water in time to protect your legs from windchill and falling snow/slush/sleet/freezing rain? How are you drying this heavy wet towel in cold dark winter?
You've never heard of hollow fiber towels? You don't need to dry them out, you can just wring them when its humid dark or cold. You can bring more than 1 on extended winter trips, they're 1/3 the weight of microfibers.
>flowing water stays liquid as low as -9C. Factor in windchill, ambient temp and evaporative cooling on top of this,
his ambient is +15f at the lowest. op is in a semi tropical climate.
>put on your microspikes if it's slippy
i can't imagine being foolish enough to attempt a winter river crossing in the same shoes i'm going to be hiking in all day in the first place.
spikes are dope for river crossings in fall weather if you're wearing some runners that dry out in 30mins.
but i think op can get away with this in his climate.
i just wish they would lurk instead of posting moronic shit that could actually be harmful to new people. yeah its not a big deal if they've giving bad advice to other summergays but winter hiking doesn't have the margin for error and more consequences.
Oh also on your last point, winter boots are waterproof and most rivers are way lower in the winter. Plenty of river crossing at ankle deep are just fine in your all day boots.
>i can't imagine being foolish enough to attempt a winter river crossing in the same shoes i'm going to be hiking in all day in the first place.
Why not I did it hundreds of times and the water just drained out of the trail runner mesh while my waterproof socks and liners stayed nice and dry
Don't tell me you use waterproof boots, I want to retain a shred of hope that you've actually hiked in wet cold weather before.
here's an example of a hollow fiber towel https://www.discoverytrekking.com/ultralite-backpacking-towel
i'm sure there's cheaper ones but they're kind of hard to find.
if you've never heard of them before i'm about to change your life. if you don't want to take my word for it talk to anyone who thru hikes they're pretty popular specifically because you don't need to dry them off to dry yourself off and because they can get dry enough to work when its humid.
I have not seen these before. Looks interesting. How durable are they? It looks like unspun cotton.
>But that’s another topic. I have some remote hot springs I like in deep canyons that require routing along the river. In summer it’s np, but winter has you crossing back and forth over the river to get to them. I guess you could ridge climb and rappel down, but that’s a pain in the ass. Anyway, a little on off goretex sack is pretty useful, because before I would have to undo my whole winter boots and take them off for every crossing which fricking blows.
Completely off topic but these japanese gay bear PrepHole chads I found on twitter appear to be the happiest human beings I have seen in my life. A magical and pure form of existence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfXDeP1QMxw
pdurable
they're a polyester, its like a really thin almost meshy synthetic towel and it absorbs stupid amounts of volume compared to what you think it would looking at it. they can be wrung to near dry. its similar to a microfiber, just with the fibers being hollow, if i understand correctly. i haven't really deep doven on why they work so well, but they do.
kinda pricy for what they are, dunno if anyone else makes one, but winter backpacking ain't cheap to begin with.
here's how real men cross the river
Since you all have been thoroughly unhelpful, here is what someone actually helpful pointed me to
https://sectionhiker.com/wiggys-waders-for-boots-review/
Decent but poor grip. Why are you using waders instead of the tried and trusted waterproof socks? Waders are baggy and will be thrashed around by river currents which are stronger during snowmelt seasons, don't allow sensitivity of the river floor for strong footing, invariably have much worse grip, weigh a lot and pack large, are a pain to put on and off multiple times a day, have much worse abrasion resistance than shoes and pants, and are totally compromised by even a small hole. They're designed for stationary anglers on predictable lakes, whereas waterproof socks are designed for Op's needs
Says they are 13oz for a large set, and they pack down small since they are PU coated nylon with a thin rubber sole, and only thigh high.
That shit wears out in a trip, as I mentioned. Overpriced junk.
You aren’t supposed to wear them all day you know.
You put them on, cross, and take them off.
Do you actually have experience with them, or are you talking out your ass?
>it’s the latter, cuz you would have mentioned them sooner otherwise
I already mentioned the, you colossal homosexual. I was on hunter forums and others looking into them, because lots of people actually want this type of product. Lots of people said they wore them out too quickly and they were junk. So instead of wasting my money, I made my own. Maybe they are great, maybe you got lucky, I don’t really care. Yes obviously you take them on and off each time. Get better reading comprehension. Hell, I bet made my homemade gortex ones are better and cheaper anyway.
Fricking larper c**t.
This is the thread that convinced Wiggys was trash and I should make my own:
https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/lightweight-hip-boot-over-boot-wader-for-creek-crossings.108914/
Post the ones you made, I would rather save some money and make my own too
As I said earlier in the thread, I will post them next month when I go to my cabin if the thread is still up. If its not up, I will maybe make a how to thread or something.
I doubt it will be up still.
What did you do for the bottoms?
I aquasealed some rubber to it. Was thinking about layering different materials, or something else, it is the weak point. Lots of room for experimenting there.