Re: Barefoot Walking - Advice please

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:43:27 +0100, Peter Clinch
<p.j.clinch@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Peewiglet wrote:
>
>> The point is that walkers can expect late October in the mountains of
>> North Wales to be cold, and quite possibly wet/snowy too. Do you
>> disagree that one would *expect* to encounter cold, wet conditions up
>> a mountain there, at that time of year?
>
>For some values of cold and wet. My feet were soaking through all day
>Sunday up on the Arrochar Alps, wasn't exactly /hot/, my feet were fine.
> Wet of itself is less of an issue than most people think.
>"Cold" can be too cold. This time of years I've seen snow up at
>Arrochar and so I did have something a bit more solid in reserve, but
>looking at the weather when I started and backed up with a few forecasts
>I knew the chances of snow were very remote, so I wore my sandals.
>
>I have walked around winter campsites, in snow, in barefeet, and I've
>done that from since before I'd really hardened up my feet. Why?
>Because it's a lot less fuss than putting on shoes and socks to go
>outside. I couldn't sustain it for long, granted, but most people would
>assume it be instant pain and damnation, and they'd be wrong.
>
>> (Obviously you don't need to
>> point out that it can be blazingly sunny too. It normally isn't,
>> though.)
>
>it's normally cool, but not *cold*.
>
>> No, but they do get warmer. Cold and difficult conditions make walking
>> more hazardous than it is in mild summer conditions.
>
>As long as your feet are happy at the local ambients then it's a bit of
>a moot point. My point about kids playing happily on rocks was that
>hardness wasn't really an issue of itself. Cold is a different issue.
>One that needs to be addressed, yes, but a different one I wasn't
>looking at with my kids playing analogy.
>
>> I was thinking of the weight, mainly, as a factor both in stability
>> and in the consequences of any fall.
>
>As I've pointed out, shoes actually tend to make the consequences of a
>fall worse than having bare feet. How much weight are you carrying for
>a day in October? There's no real need for the sort of loads that will
>affect balance.
>
>> I'm very surprised that you feel there's a valid analogy there.
>
>People were wondering about the pain of walking on rock. It's a pretty
>good illustration that it isn't intrinsically painful walking on rocks
>because they're hard. Nothing more, nothing less
>
>> No, I didn't make that assumption: why on earth should you jump to
>> that conclusion?
>
>Because I'd taken what you said as a general rather than a specific
>case. Wrongly as it turned out, so sorry about that.
>
>> I knew from what the OP said that the bloke in
>> question is used to walking barefoot, so I drew the fairly obvious
>> conclusion that his feet have adapted to the conditions he's walked
>> in. It's just that you and I seem to differ in that I've generally
>> found mountainous conditions to be more, rather than less, challenging
>> for my feet than urban conditions.
>
>But how much time do you spend barefoot? Assuming that what carries for
>shoes also carries for bare feet isn't really a safe assumption, because
>towns have evolved for people in shoes and feet evolved for natural
>surfaces.
>
>One thing feet are very bad at is /relentlessly/ hard surfaces. Very
>few natural areas are very hard for long distances, which is why horses
>need shoes for roads but wild horses never had shoes and get on fine
>without them. Urban areas are characterised by relentlessly hard
>surfaces. Mountains aren't, in the UK they're mostly grass, heather and
>bog.
>
>> the OP said the bloke is new to walking, that his feet won't have had
>> a chance to adapt to walking in mountains, because he's not done that
>> yet.
>
>The main thing is are they tough enough?, and an urban environment will
>toughen them up probably better than anything else, because it's all hard.
>
>> Sharp? Do you really believe that pavements and roads are likely to be
>> sharper than rocks and tracks up in the mountains?
>
>I know very well they are from personal experience. A typical suburban
>road is actually very rough, rough enough that a rollerskater has
>relative trouble on it and seeks out smooth tarmac. And not only is it
>very rough, but it doesn't move around, and there's no escape from it.
>
>A track up a mountain is usually very easy to escape from, simply by the
>expedient of walking by it rather than on it. But many are no rougher
>than a suburban road. People stay on the track because it's easier in
>shoes. If it's easier walking off it in bare feet, walk off it.
>
>> Force? Who's forcing anyone? Not me. It's best to stick to what I
>> said, rather than something I neither said nor suggested.
>
>You'll tell them it isn't safe and it isn't sensible. That strikes me
>as trying to get them to change their mind, which involves a degree of
>force even if it isn't the same as forcing them into shoes at gunpoint.
>
>> I'm still amazed we're having this conversation. Are you sure you're
>> not disagreeing just for the fun of the argument? :)
>
>I'm disagreeing with you because I know for a fact that people go out
>and hike barefoot. And I also know that urban environments are very
>tough on feet (I walk around this one barefoot once in a while) so I
>expect it's a better preparation than most people would expect.
>
>If this character is new to hillwalking anyway then what would be
>foolhardy would be doing a huge expedition as a first thing with no
>bail-out possibilities etc. etc. /whatever he is wearing on his feet/.
>Given it would be an introductory walk in any case and will be thus
>loaded with extra cautious planning, surely that is a good place and
>time to see what one can do?
>
>FWIW I don't think it's the smartest move in the known universe, but I
>am *far* more interested in encouraging and enabling and letting people
>set their own boundaries than just deciding things are best left
>untried, especially when other people have shown they can be done.
>
>I ride a unicycle: it's a ridiculous form of transport, often no quicker
>than walking with limited control and range. I ride it because I /like/
>riding it, not because it's the best way to cycle from A to B.
>Similarly if someone wants to walk barefoot then if it's at all possible
>I think he should. The suggestion of some walking in advance to gauge
>how good his feet are was an excellent one, and I think if people set
>out to help him do what he wants to do then everyone could have a better
>time of it as a result. It's not too much to carry some emergency
>bail-out footwear and on an introductory walk for someone who hasn't
>been up hills before one shouldn't have to use it for too great a
>distance in any case. The usual limit for first time hillwalkers is
>they don't have the muscles to get up big hills, and that would remain
>the case and limit the seriousness of the walk in any case.

Ok! No point in going round in circles...

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

"We cannot let terrorists or rogue nations hold this nation hostile, or
hold our allies hostile."
g.w.AT [guessthisbit].com
.

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