Proper leather shoes

Sweat's a fucker for ruining good leather. So don't wear them all day. Let them dry out before wearing again. Wash off sweat salt with a sponge and water. Dry. Moisturise.

Cheaney veldtschoen

Need a new pair of boots for bashing around in (bit of hiking, mostly just wet weather shoes). Needs to be waterproof and insulated as they’ll be worn in -30. Nothing fancy or particularly fashionable. Meindl? Maybe too heavy...

Proper hiking boots are a bit too hardcore for my needs and not really casual enough.

Anyone owned Blundstones before? They do a nice looking thermal Chelsea boot thing.

-30 C??? That has to be a specialist shoe or boot.

I think Lowa do a Himalayan boot but that is obviously not what you want. From memory, they are around £1000 and rather bulky.

You’re gonna want to look for non-leather shoes. There are a number of thermal/composite brands you’ll find on shoes, I forget the names but we’re talking like whatever-tex is old news. You may find something ultralight with good non-slip grippy sole and ultra warm inner. I had a pair of cross country ski boots with thinsulate/goretex and they were crazy warm for Polish -15’C, but -30 you’ll wanna shop around.

Forget Chelsea boots, for real cold you want Kamik, Sorel, Baffin. Salomon, Keen, Timberlands for slightly more style.

Fill yer boots.
https://www.mec.ca/en/gender/men%27s/products/footwear/boots/winter-boots/c/1498

The best I've found for value and warmth are, surprisingly, a pair of Clarks boots. Leather with goretex, wool lined and foil lined soles and have kept my feet warm in winters in Montreal, NY and Moscow. Coldest there though was about minus 20, imagine -30 might need a bit more.

I'd stay away from goretex, it's a joke to put it in boots as you will sweat and get soaked feet regardless and the lining will slow drying even more than a waterproof leather or canvas.

I’d stay well clear of Blundstones if you’re wearing them in -20. Great shoes for farm/yard work but they’re not exactly a snug fitting boot.

Possibly a Red Wing/Irish Setter lace up?

Red Wings aren't particularly warm tho', my feet used to get freezing back home in moc toe boots... My RW work boots are better but needed two pairs of socks in cold weather...

Some choices here - again not exactly stylish but in temperatures of -30, I’m not sure who would be judging the style.

https://www.coolantarctica.com/Shop/antarctica-clothing/antarctic-boots.php

My loake Chester’s could use a good refurb maybe new sole and heel and a very good clean and polish.
The cobbler on Euston Road has done some bits for me in the past and other good recommendations?
Also where for a good polish and clean one of the arcades in the west? What do they charge?

Thanks for the tips, all. Been looking at insulated Salomons and the like - they seem lightweight which is nice. The -30 thing is on the extreme end and will be for short amounts of time but insulation is definitely important. My redwings get pretty chilly at a certain point and aren’t great for actual terrain.

Will check out the Clarks ones as well.

My experience in Ottawa last Christmas when it was around -30 was that most people gave up on fashion and wore Sorel boots. Sidewalks were pretty gross with snow.

I just ware my regular set of Zamberlan hiking boots and some warm socks, feet were toasty for shoveling snow for a couple hours or walking around town.

Keeping your face warm is the biggest challenge.

I love my blunnies but the soles gets hard when it's proper cold so not a great winter shoe. Doesn't stop me from wearing them though, but there's better options out there.

Size up in a pair of logger soled Red Wings and use a thin merino liner sock with a thick wool sock and you should be fine in the proper cold, unless you spend whole days outside but then you'll need some proper high end stuff.

The Finisterre welly sock is my favourite winter sock

https://finisterre.com/products/welly-sock-signal

Good to know! We’re talking about the same neck of the woods, so that’s handy. Always liked the Redwing logger boots.

Been slowly replacing all my socks with merino stuff...

For the proper cold days here, or when I'm out walking in the woods, I have a pair of Lundhags Park.

https://www.lundhags.se/se/produkter/kangor/skalkangor/1-lagers-skalkangor/park?c=905

They work really well both in warmer and colder weather as it's just a shell boot. Normal days I just wear a normal wool hiking sock and I very rarely get too warm. Have had them down to -20 for a few hours with a Finisterre welly sock and been warm.

They work pretty well with jeans as well I think. This is the best photo I could find

Lundhags also do a liner boot which is supposed to be good, I've never tried it though

https://www.lundhags.se/se/produkter/kangor/tillbehor/filtinnerskor/park-liner

This was with wind chill yeah? Lowest high temp I could find was -25º C.

Across the river in quebec where I was it got down to -28 one night before wind chill.

I may have missed this but what are they for and where?

Sorel boots

The default NYC winter footwear. Probably for a reason.

I'd eko what Motoko said about slush, etc. trashing shoes. Definitely don't get anything like Redwings, etc. you'd be better off with a pair of proper work boots with high rubber sides.

In NYC when the weather was at its worst I used my Meindl hiking boots (with red laces for that reddit look). The coldest those went was NYE -14° to -18° with a 2 pairs socks (M&S merino + proper snowboard socks). Fine to get about, and kept my feet safe, but not warm after being outside for a few hours.

The rest of the time (-4° to 0°) my Stylmartin motorbike boots, or Meindls if it was snow/slush, with warm hiking socks were enough. You're usually only ever outside for an hour max.

For socks - check out Bridgedale.
Check out Lowa for boots albeit maybe -30 puts you into mountaineering. But if it’s not long exposure, they should be fine. They have the rubberised sides too.
For face protection, check out Smartwool merino. They have hats and buffs etc. Or Military 1st for a variety of cold weather gear (15% off at moment)

I’m a recent convert to Darn Tough socks. Pricey but nicey.

Mate, those look perfect. Right up my street looks-wise, too.