Shoes in South Dakota Winters? (Rapid City: home, transfer, buy)

[Cranjack]

Good day everyone!

I will be moving to South Dakota for ten months, and, although this may seem like a silly question, I was wondering what shoes one wears in the winter.

I'll be living in a rural environment; southeast of Rapid City in the plains. I reside in California at the moment and thus have very little experience with snow (or cold winters).

I have leather boots, some with suede which I know doesn't do well when wet, and none of them with any sort of insulation. I also have hiking boots. Are any of these suitable options? Am I better of getting an actual pair of boots made for snowy conditions?

Thank you for any advice you can provide, and I apologize for any ignorance I exhibited on the climate, etc.

[eric#1]

For daily use in the winter I use a good insulated water resistant hiking boot (keep clean and spayed with waterproofing and leather will be ok). Keeps feet warm when inside a place with cold floors, and helps with snow ice etc. and keeps snow off ankles. You can sort of get away with an uninsulated boot, if you use good wool socks, but under 25 deg. or so that won't cut it for very long outside.

[601halfdozen0theother]

You don't say if you're male or female or if your home will be rural or in town.

In the winter, if you're female, don't even bother to own fancy high heel boots. I live on a farm in the country and own high top insulated snow boots, and low top snow boots which always have "Yaktrax" attached. I also have a couple pair of LLBean stormchaser clogs, which I love. My experience with regular hiking books is that they're too slippery in wet snow, unless you have yaktrax attached. I guess it would depend on what type of soles they have, though.

In the summer you can wear whatever, but watch out for burrs!

[WyoNewk]

It all depends on what you'll be doing. My wife wears a pair of clogs, daily, spring, summer, fall and winter. (She works indoors.) I work mostly outdoors, but in and out of my car, so I'm not outside for more than 30 minutes at a time. I wear lightweight, insulated hiking boots lined with Gortex the year around.

Those who truly work outside all day long need something warmer on the coldest days; those who mostly work indoors can wear whatever they wear in the summer.

Leather soles, for the most part, are the worst for snow (slippery) and the cold -- they become wet and transfer the cold to your foot, plus they wear out very quickly when wet. An open cell urethane sole works great in the winter, both for traction and warmth, and they're also good in the summer for comfort. For several years I wore little other than Rockports.

[SD4020]

Pack boots and thermal socks on the coldest days when I'm outside. My duty boots are Danners.

[North Beach Person]

Look for boots with Thinsulate insulation (there are other names for it now) and Gore Tex type waterproofing.


Polpropylene socks (not cotton), some come with a fleece type inside. Cotton holds sweat, the poly wicks it away.


Make sure you can wiggle your toes in the boots, constricted toes make them cold. I buy 1/2 size larger for boots than regular shoes to account for sock bulk. Some brands of boots, I'm thinking of Rocky which are tremendous, run small.


What I listed is the new tech replacement for traditional materials like wool and silk.