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Posted by Bill S on June 5, 2007 at 6:38:38 pm EDT
In reply to Bodyglide? Who the heck recommended this stuff? posted by dax702 on June 5, 2007 at 2:18:10 am EDT

Alicia and Steve -
The purpose of liner socks (and Wright's double layer socks) is to allow the foot to have something protective that does not slide around on the foot, rather than having your foot slide around in the boot or shoe, generating friction and thus a blister. The liner sock, as Steve said, will slide on the outer insulating sock, and not on the foot. When the socks get wet, your foot slides around in them and a blister develops rather quickly. Interestingly enough, having the boot too tight will develop a blister just as fast as having it too loose (as Goldilocks said ... "just right"). The liner socks (and the inner layer of Wright double layer socks) has as a second purpose keeping the foot dry. Note that - keeping the foot *dry*, so the sock does not get wet and slide around generating friction and hence blisters. Antiperspirants and foot powders are also intended to keep the foot dry, plus foot powders generally provide some lubrication so the foot can slide with reduced friction. The very few times I have gotten blisters have been when my socks got wet, either through perspiration (when walking in ski boots for a few miles to or from the snow line) or in the process of fording a stream or river.

I don't know whether your podiatrist friend hikes a lot or not, Steve, but I got the advice to have *dry* feet first from an MD friend who is the medical instructor for our outdoor courses, then later from a number of runner and hiking medical sources plus books like "Fixing Your Feet." Dr. Dave, my MD friend, has been on literally hundreds of hikes and backpacks over the years with groups like Sierra Club outings (in Kaiser Wilderness this weekend, for example) and scout groups. He has probably worked on more foot blisters than any 2 or 3 other people I know combined. A couple of comments from him - "More backpacks are brought to an abrupt end from blisters than from all other causes put together," and "The majority of blisters show up as hot spots in the first mile of trips, and if untreated, develop into full-fledged blisters within 5 miles." I have to say that I have also observed the wet sock blister problem on many backpacks and expeditions in other people (most of the time, when the person starts complaining about blisters, the socks are at least damp when they pull their boots off), and the short distance before the hot spots start manifesting themselves. We generally teach in our courses to check everyone at about the 1 mile point for hot spots on the feet, pack adjustment, layering of clothes, etc.

dax -
It sounds like to me you could probably solve the problem by a change in your boot lacing. Since it is your heel that is sliding, you want to have a fairly loose toebox, fairly tight across the instep, and looser at the ankle. Since the Moab does not use hooks across the instep, you are somewhat restricted in the adjustments. However, that style of lace loops does allow you to leave the toebox looser (lowest 2 crossovers), then pull the instep crossovers tight (they will lock against each other, so the 3rd and 4th crossings should be tight), with the next (set-back) loop moderately tight and the top hook with the lace back-hooked to lock it, leaving the tie-down a bit loose (1-finger just slides under it). Play with this a bit on that right foot to end up with a tight instep cross-over. You probably will need to double-knot the tie-down to keep it from coming undone during hiking, though back-tucking the tie-down loops back down under the laces keeps the loops from flopping or catching on stuff and pulling loose.

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• Re: Bodyglide? Who the heck recommended this stuff? - Alicia 19:13:35 06/05/2007

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