Gaiters?

[saltysack]

I always wear trail runners and never had a problem with stuff getting in my shoe.I've never hiked in much snow. Worth buying a pair? I've heard alot of positive reviews about dirty girl gaiters? Thoughts ... I'm planning to do a 30-40 section next week in roan mtn area. Worth the $26 and weight???


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[fins1838]

I vote yes.

[louisb]

Love my Dirty Girls!

--louis

[Malto]

Yes, but not for snow, at least anything more than a couple of inches. If you are postholing the Velcro undo and they provide little protection. But for normal small rocks and dirt hey are great and provide a bit of life to normally drab hiking clothing. I also think they are much more useful out west on say the PCt than the AT. I rarely wear them on the AT.

[johnnybgood]

I would take the tall gaitors since we're talking elevation above 5 k.
Keeping your feet dry should be a high concern .
Look at wearing sock liners over your wool socks with the trail runners .

[Violent Green]

Yes, but not for snow, at least anything more than a couple of inches. If you are postholing the Velcro undo and they provide little protection. But for normal small rocks and dirt hey are great and provide a bit of life to normally drab hiking clothing. I also think they are much more useful out west on say the PCt than the AT. I rarely wear them on the AT.

This.... Although, I do like to wear them when on the AT or similar trails. Some days it seems like I get crap in my shoes every 30 mins unless I wear a light gaiter.

Ryan

[cliffordbarnabus]

spend the money on ayce's.....take a 15 sec break and dump out your shoes. done.

[Dogwood]

Love my Dirty Girls for desert or dry trail hiking to keep the sand, small rocks, sticks, etc out. You might consider in sizing up one if you have a high or volumous instep. Worth the wt? I never thought of Dirty Girl lycra gaiters as taking up much space or breaking this camel's back!

[RockDoc]

I've used dirty girl and running funky gaiters. The running funky are better made, better quality, IMO. $21.99.

[Drybones]

Love my Dirty Girls!

--louis

A pair of Dirty Girls is the best $20 I've spent on hiking gear...weigh nothing and do a great job...I never go to the woods without my Dirty Girls.

[sbeatrice13]

Im buying my dirty girls soon!

[Mobius]

Im buying my dirty girls soon!

Make sure you tell your significant other about them before they find the "dirty girls" line item on the credit card which might then result in a spirited phone call while you are at work.

[ChuckT]

I've carried gaiters before and could not make them send up. Suppose I could nail to my shins or something :). But I carried them to help keep my boots dry and they failed at that also.
However just bought another pair, shorter and lighter than before, not Dirty Girl tho I looked at them and was not favorably impressed.

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[JAK]

I love wearing sneakers / trail runners 'on' snow. Little trickier to wear them 'in' snow.
The essentials:
1. They should not absorb water, or very little.
2. They need enough room for insulating socks and waterproof socks.
3. Some way of keeping snow out, like gaiters, or snug enough to allow little snow in and meshy enough to allow snow water to escape.

The key thing is that the snow is insulated from your feet so that it doesn't melt, which reduces insulation further causing more and more snow to melt.

[Andrewsobo]

I love wearing sneakers / trail runners 'on' snow. Little trickier to wear them 'in' snow.
The essentials:
1. They should not absorb water, or very little.
2. They need enough room for insulating socks and waterproof socks.
3. Some way of keeping snow out, like gaiters, or snug enough to allow little snow in and meshy enough to allow snow water to escape.

The key thing is that the snow is insulated from your feet so that it doesn't melt, which reduces insulation further causing more and more snow to melt.

I'm thinking about maybe just trail runners, wool sucks, and bread bags over my feet? i imagine they will get sweaty but stay warm?

[ChuckT]

Get to camp/shelter shed boots/shoes/trail runners, hang socks to air dry, put on goretex booties and camp shoes (with soles!). Keeps my feet comfy-er cause I only gots 2 of-em.

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[Drybones]

I'm thinking about maybe just trail runners, wool sucks, and bread bags over my feet? i imagine they will get sweaty but stay warm?

This is what I did this past spring and the weather was about as bad as possible. The bread bags help but they get holes after a while but even if your feet get wet the bags help keep the water from changing over, snow isn't that bad but when walking in slush the water in your shoes gets constantly replaced with 32 degree water.

[CoffeeBager]

I've carried gaiters before and could not make them send up. Suppose I could nail to my shins or something :).

I ran a bit of shock cord through the top seam of my dirty girls and secured them with a micro cord lock: http://negativepackweight.blogspot.com/2013/12/dirty-girl-gaiters.html This way, I can use the same size with thick or thin pants or with shorts and have them stay up. Works pretty good!

[ChuckT]

Well I reasoned that socks with elastic tops stay up ... gaiters should. They didn't. Later reflection made me wonder if I just chose the wrong design and that the ones I choose wern't too heavy and stiff to stand up. We shall see.

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[Corsac]

I love my dirty girls, they work great!

[Meriadoc]

Gaiters for snow:
http://www.outdoorresearch.com/en/accessories/gaiters/mens-crocodiles-b76dbcdb50233a9ac2503749fd0037a5.html
(http://www.outdoorresearch.com/en/accessories/gaiters/mens-crocodiles-b76dbcdb50233a9ac2503749fd0037a5.html)And I mean SNOW. Good for postholing in a little more than a foot of snow. The bad part is that they don't breathe well. I wear synthetics under them and am okay. I have worn jeans (an impromptu after-work romp) and the jeans were wet at the end - no surprise there. These gaiters cover my shoes almost completely.

I'm not sure how deep the snow on Roan is - I would guess these would be overkill. But hey, they rock!

If you are carrying snowshoes, gaiters are less of an issue. I find that since the snow is farther away from my foot, less of it gets into my shoes.

My addition to the thread probably didn't help much :P.

[shelb]

Would I be better off to make my own (friend gave me a pattern)? Or, should I just buy Dirty girls?

[rocketsocks]

I always wear trail runners and never had a problem with stuff getting in my shoe.I've never hiked in much snow. Worth buying a pair? I've heard alot of positive reviews about dirty girl gaiters? Thoughts ... I'm planning to do a 30-40 section next week in roan mtn area. Worth the $26 and weight???
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I wear gaiters...worth every penny.
rocksNsocks

have a great hike:)

[swjohnsey]

Never used gaiters, didn't have a problem even in light snow.

[Tipi Walter]

In an ideal winter backpacking world we would all carry microspikes and gaiters and maybe a snow shovel and possibly snowshoes but the OR gaiters are around 10ozs which doesn't sound like much until you factor in food weight, fuel weight, the geese and all the rest. So, sure I'll pack the microspikes but won't pack the gaiters. Ergo--at the end of the day my boot tops are packed with snow and my socks are a mess, and so gaiters would be a plus but not mandatory as I can live with the snow inside. Get to camp---remove boots---loosen laces down to the bottom for night time freezing---shake off the now-moist socks and hang---put on my always-dry camp/sleeping socks, and don't worry about gaiters.

[louisb]

If you do get the Dirty Girls one trick I have found to help is to super glue the velcro to the shoe. And then carry a little extra velcro anyway. As for hiking in the snow with trail runners I have been looking at a set of these: http://www.rbhdesigns.com/product/34/vaprthrm-insulated-socks.htm Heard good things about them.

--louis