 Poster: A snowHead
|
We are having a discussion right now as to whether we need new snow boots. Historically we have always been dropped off at the slopes or done ski in/ski out. This holiday we are walking from our hotel in La Villa (Dolomites) to the lift (where our skis will be kept), probably through the main road in town. This will take about 10 minutes walk. The whole family have insulated boots of some sort and some with additional waterproof leathers. Can we save ourselves a small fortune? I would value your options please guys!
Thanks!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
???
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
I've never used snow boots, just 'sturdy' boots ; use the boots you already have
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
@mini_mo,
What on earth are "snow boots". If "The whole family have insulated boots of some sort and some with additional waterproof leathers", what else could anyone possibly want? In my humble way I have skied 2 seasons and am just starting my 3rd and have genuinely never encountered a snow boot. Have you nothing better to spend your flinging flanging money on?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
Currently no snow at all in La Villa( apart from superb man made stuff on pistes) so the answer to the question re snow boots is pretty obvious.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
@mini_mo, er is this a thread from the 1970's! please for the love of god, save hard earned dosh for the apres!!. Agood pair of standard boots will suffice and then some.
Have a great trip.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you use shoes and the snow reaches over them it just makes your socks wet. Any walking type boots are generally fine if you've not got to walk through deep (half way up your shin) snow really, we as a family haven't bought anything we wouldn't also use back here on a cold muddy walk.
Although someone, not me, in our family has far too many boots already 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| gazzaredcruiser wrote: |
| @mini_mo, er is this a thread from the 1970's! |
....and there was me thinking that a pair of Moon Boots were de rigueur. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
Saw someone wearing some very sparkly silver moon boots in Ischgl the other day. Thought she looked rather stylish.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Many years ago I was working in Sofia after it had snowed. The roads and paths were 10cm deep in dirty slush not a pleasnt walking environment. Some colleagues wore wellingtons. I wore yeti gaiters over my walking boots which were much more comfortable.
My advice is to wear good walking shoes or boots. It is what I wear in ski resorts
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
What would you wear in the UK on a wet or snowy day? I take normal leather boots as I find walking bouts too bulky. If it does snow, the pavements and roads will be cleared every day anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
@Old Fartbag, sounds like we're of a similar age! although i was in my teens in the late 1970's. But i still remember my girlfriend wearing a fetching pair of moonboots in Andalo Italy! she couldn't sski for toffee but god she was hot! Happy days
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| gazzaredcruiser wrote: |
| @Old Fartbag, sounds like we're of a similar age! although i was in my teens in the late 1970's. But i still remember my girlfriend wearing a fetching pair of moonboots in Andalo Italy! she couldn't sski for toffee but god she was hot! Happy days |
I was also in my teens in the 70s and bought a pair of Blue ones in Livigno....totally hopeless if used on anything but snow, as the heel edge wore through almost immediately.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
We just take our walking boots/trainers which worked great. I suppose as long as you have decent tread and waterproof you will be fine. My daughter used some wellies with decent treat and fur lining
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
I always take my trusted pair of timberlands never had damp or cold feet with a decent pair of ski socks on aswell
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Some thing to consider is the grip provided by the sole on hard packed snow and ice. Just like winter tires some soles grip much better than others. Today I have an ancient and much loved pair of ankle walking boots with grippy soles which I use but I remember back in the early 80s skiing with a colleague who tried several boots on succeeding holidays and was unlucky to find all had super slippery soles. Meanwhile I had bought a pair insulated snow boots and they gripped where ever I went. Bought on the drive out in a French hypermarket when it became clear that we were facing huge snowfalls over out holiday period. Best 10 quid I ever spent.
My friend was in the cowboy boot phase and we had a nightly ritual involving drying them then applying fresh elastoplast to the soles for grip in the morning. .
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
You need grip on hard packed snow and ice, waterproof through the slush and to be insulated and warm if standing around on snow waiting for kids lessons to start/finish etc. I tried various walking boots, doc martens etc and none were particularly good in all conditions. One day i noticed what the lifties were wearing - it was a kind of boot with a rubber waterproof insulated bottom half, good grippy sole and leather round the ankle. I bought a pair in the UK for not very much money and have been using them for the last 10 years. Best buy ever. I wear them on the plane and take a pair of crocs for the apartment/chalet. Dont take any other footwear with me apart from my ski boots.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
The way this year is going in the Dolomites you may be better off with flip flops!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yaktrax or micro spikes for your trainies are a better bet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Imagine being sent by your Dad on a school ski trip wearing purple C&A moon boots and silver salopettes to ""keep you warm on the journey"". Boy did I have fun trying to get changed on the coach on the way to the airport, but the damage had been done. Great at 17 years of age!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
| joeytriv56 wrote: |
| I always take my trusted pair of timberlands never had damp or cold feet with a decent pair of ski socks on aswell |
Is the correct answer, and you don't feel daft or over heated in the airport. Buy them abroad as they're cheaper (although now the pound's tanked, maybe not). Plus you can use them for no-boarding, which is what mine were doing today.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
"Killer boots dude"
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
@mini_mo, go on and ask for your Sorels! I bought some about seven years ago, heavy rubber soles that are very grippy, furry linings and a sort of suede upper part. Wear them all the time in the winter, snow or not, to keep my feet warm. I have some leather Timberlands here too but just wear them when it's absolutely dry and no salt around. If it's really wet then I put on ordinary wellies for dog walking. The Sorels felt like an extravagance when I bought them but worth every penny. But we do spend nearly all winter here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The OP I think pretty much already has what she needs, but Decathlon do some decent Quechua ones for a reasonable price. I got some in the sale last year and they are really good warm walking boot style so you don't look a prat in the airport and you get some back in the UK use out of them too.
Got to feel for @endoman, being sent on the bus in his / her salopettes, 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
I have also have Sorels. Also have a cheap work pair that I bought for £20-30 at the beginning of last winter. My first winter out here, just brought along my hiking boots as Sorels too heavy for my luggage allowance - they were rubbish! I slipped all over the place. Switched back to Sorels when someone visiting brought them out and the difference in grip and not falling over was night and day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
If it's snowy and icy, Sorels, and otherwise walking boots.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
I think it was a sensible question. I have some Salomon winter boots, and for years my wife and son have had sorrels. But we live in Sweden so you need decent footwear from November to April. This year the heel split on my son's pair of Sorrels, and we didn't keep the receipt... 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
@mini_mo, @Themasterpiece, ... indeed OP asked a sensible question. For those dropped off from a coach in a resort devoid of snow, there's no need of snow boots. But contrast:
When there is snow in resort you need hyper-grippy soles. Sorels, Timberland etc have exactly these. You can use decent aggressively soled walking boots too for this purpose. But we and our kids have shoes (Salomon) and boots which have the soft rubber which is needed to avoid falls on secret ice, which can appear in many places and hide under gravel etc. But of course it all depends on context. If you are ski-in, ski-out and the only walking you are doing will be to the accommodation on arrival and departure, then ordinary tough shoes will probably do. If you want to explore the narrow, ice-covered alleys of La Grave at night, and not break a hip, then you need Sorels or suchlike.
We frequently need to clear 63 steps when we arrive (not this Christmas, obviously) and keep them clear when we are there. Last time I had to clear on arrival there was over a metre of snow on each step. Sorels are pretty important in those circumstances.
Our kids barrel off into the snow to do all sorts of things - up through the woods and into the meadows, and we like walking with them. In Summer the paths are beautiful leaf-strewn alleys between trees. In winter they are deep snow, and if you want to go anywhere in the woods you need snow boots.
And finally, if you want to go up the hill to a restaurant and toboggan back, as our kids love to do, you need snow boots.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Sun 8-01-17 16:00; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
it used to amaze me when I worked seasons in the alps, how many people seem to leave common sense behind when checking in at an airport, The amount of holidaymakers who got of the transfer bus in unsuitable footwear was staggering (excuse the pun!!), its a ski holiday in a ski resort with snow not a fashion parade!!!!.
I know it doesn't snow that much in the uk, but when it did people tended to dress accordingly with proper footwear.
when my business partner was planning his first ski trip to megeve with his girlfriend a few years ago they both bought 70's style furry snowboots, even against my advice. last march, when me and him went on a short ski trip together he went over on his A!!E on the snow as he had winkle picker shoes on, seemed to think it was my fault as I had not warned him the lift office was only accessible across a slope!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
| Quote: |
Yaktrax or micro spikes for your trainies are a better bet.
|
Agree and you can get some cheaply on Amazon. @Old Fartbag, Saw loads of Moon Boots for sale yesterday in Sport Fabrik in Conthey....happy days
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
I think it very much depends where you are staying. In Norway, you would struggle without boots, even at Oslo airport if its been snowing your feet would be drenched just walking across the car park. Up in the mountains there is nothing but snow, so unless all you do is ski and dont go anywhere on foot you need snow boots. Last year in Alpe Dhuez you could get by without them, but really i think they are a requirement. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
@Scarlet, I cannot agree that the roads and pavements are cleared every day when it has snowed. In Les Gets the pavements certainly do not get cleared.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sturdy walking boots are more than sufficient for 99% of the time. In fact, you could probably get away with trainers or bedroom slippers 50% of the time. Two problems to look out for IMO:
1. Snow boots/moon boots etc. might be lovely and warm working across the piste to a restaurant, but your feet may spontaneously combust when you get inside.
2. My Timberland boots were good and robust, but the sole was such stiff plastic they had zero grip and were useless on snow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
not in Norway if it is -20
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
I had a friend who took stiletto heels on her first skiing holiday to Bulgaria.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There is a time and place where you have to have them.
Skiing in Euro resorts you can just get away with good boots.
But if you are going ice fishing by ski-doo to lakes in the Canadian wilderness .... You need them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
