Posts Tagged ‘barefoot’
A visit to Frosting Cave
A visit to Frosting Cave
Along the Niagara Escarpments lies dozens if not hundreds of caves. Most of these caves are small, and uncharted.
This was the first of my barefoot adventure videos. I teamed up with Jeff from Ontario Caves.com and found the entrance to the cave quite easily.
It was a cold day in the Niagara Region, I was fairly new at shooting adventure videos. The largest challenge I had with this video was the cold.
April in Ontario, Canada can be a very challenging time for barefooters. The ground may have looked warm and dry, but it was quite cold and wet. It was sunny out, but still very cold.
Barefooting in the First Snow Fall in Toronto this Season
I can’t really say I am an accomplished “winter barefooter” by any account since I’m very much a summer type of guy through and through. However, living in Toronto, Canada, I must endure long and cold winters every year. And, every year, I do at least a minimum amount of barefooting outside to keep both my sanity and my feet in some sort of a decent shape for when the warmer weather comes.
We had our first significant snow fall last night and throughout the day today so I decided I had to go out for a few minutes and enjoy some of the white stuff before it gets all hard, slippery and dirty.
I took two videos with my cellphone and I thought I’d share them here – please excuse the poor lighting on the first video, since it was taken last night at about 1 am. The Sound is not the greatest either – I’m still figuring things out with this new phone.
In both cases the temperature was about -5°C with a windchill factor of about -12°C. Overall, the experience felt good; my only wish is that I could do longer barefoot outings in the winter. I guess, like anything else, I need to get used to it and build some tolerance as I go.
Here are the videos, I hope you enjoy them:
Dec. 6, 2010 – 1:30 am
Dec. 6, 2010 – 2:45 pm
Keep ‘em bare, keep ‘em happy.
Barefoot Moe
Bare Feet v. ‘Barefoot’ Shoes: The BIG Difference
I’ve got a bone to pick with some people. When barefoot running, Vibram Fivefingers (VFF) and other minimalist shoes became so popular, the lexicon used to describe how we cover — or don’t cover — our feet became muddied. Search Twitter or read news articles about the phenomenon, and you hear people talking about “barefoot shoes” or how they are loving running “barefoot” with their VFFs.
As confusing as it is to call something barefoot when it’s obviously not, the issue gets even worse when people tell their friends, “Wearing (fill in the blank minimalist footwear) is just like being barefoot.” Those of us who subscribe to fully bare feet are often asked, “Why not just wear flip flops? Isn’t it the same?” My answer to both of those questions: “No, it’s not the same.”And let me give an example why…
Don’t Get Cold Feet About Bare Feet As Cooler Months Approach
Many people are open to the idea of going without shoes in the summertime, but get “cold feet” about the idea of baring their feet in the fall and winter months. It’s true that we humans would typically prefer to be warm instead of cold. That said, there are still ways that you can get yourself — and your feet — more comfortable with the idea of going without shoes as the days get shorter.
Among questions regarding broken glass or fungal infections, another concern that we barefooters regularly hear about is cold feet. “Don’t your feet get cold?,” one person may ask. Another may state, “I’d like to go barefoot more often, but I can’t stand for my feet to get cold,” or “My feet get cold really easily.”
My Take on Minimalist Footwear
From left to right: Hand-made Huaraches, Vibram FiveFingers Sprint, Vivo Barefoot Runners.
In recent years, there has been quite a bit of development of the so-called “minimalist footwear”. While the definition of minimalist footwear tends to vary from user to user and from manufacturer to manufacturer, basically, any type of footwear that is designed to simulate, as close as possible, the experience of going barefooted by still providing an acceptable amount of insulation and protection from the environment (at least part, usually the soles) can fall into the category of “minimalist”.
