Posts Tagged ‘winter’

Camilo, barefooting in Coyhaique, Chile. Standing on the Simpson River Mirador.

Our Friend Camilo, from Santiago, Chile, has shared a new batch of photos from his trips to the Chilean country side between 2006 and 2012. Please take a look at them and be inspired by Camilo’s trips and the beautiful images he shares of his own country.

You can see Camilo’s updated photo album here »

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

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.”

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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”.

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I recently had a very interesting, and somewhat disturbing exchange with a friend of my partner’s, who happens to be a nurse and has also been training for a running competition. While I have always known this person has never been supportive of my barefooting lifestyle, I never thought she would be so closed to new information.

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