Wondering what shoes to wear in the snow that is perfect for the cold weather? Then keep reading! I always wondered what I would do if we did not have access to the internet connection. I mean, I google most of my day-to-day tasks even without knowing.

And it is a headache when you don’t find what you are looking for in your internet research. Recently I came up with one such topic. I was planning my winter holidays and wanted to try winter trekking.

Shoes for snow

If you are not familiar with winter trekking, it basically involves trekking but in winter. And mostly, it involves a lot of snow. When it is the first time, you obviously want to be prepared, and like any other Gen Z user, my first research stage involved asking Google.

I searched for what to pack for snow and not to my surprise, it gave a lot of educational content. But in almost all the content, the focus was on the layers you need to have and very few suggestions on what shoes to wear in the snow. There were recommendations of course, but most of them failed to answer many of my curious questions.

So, that is when I decided to do a bit of research myself and bring to you this mini-guide of what shoes to wear in the snow. Special thanks to Ishani Jamwal(Mountaineer), Geetica Srivastava(Entrepreneur), Abishai Dmello(Mountaineer), Shekhar Singh(Founder of Alpine Husky), and Huzefa Siamwala(Founder of Blue Bolt Adventure Gear) for sharing your experienced inputs on the topics. So without further ado, let’s dive into the basics.

What shoes to wear in the snow

Before you decide on what shoe you need for snow, there are two questions that you need to have a clear picture of. 

What shoes to wear in the snow

The first one would be the intent and the second one would be the type of snow you would be experiencing. It is impossible to conclude the second question without getting your intent clear. By intent, what I mean is, you should know for what reason you are purchasing the shoe. Is it going to be a skiing shoe?

Or a trekking shoe you can wear on snow? Or is it simply a snow boot that would help you walk on the snow when the roads are covered with it, nothing too adventurous? Once you have your intent clear, it would be easy to answer the next question. 

Snow can be soft or dry/hard. Soft snow is powdery and might need a bit of practice to manage, dry/hard snow can be manageable. As Huzefa recollects “Walking in soft snow is hard work and you will sink with every step. Takes turns to lead and follow the footsteps made by others. Using 2 hiking poles with a large snow basket will be most helpful in balance.”

So depending on the intent and type of snow, you can choose.What you need to look for in a good shoe for snow can be divided into 3

• Fit
• Insulation
• Material

Fit denotes the grip and style of the shoes. Depending on the occasion you can choose your shoes to be ankle length, knee-high boots, or the ones with good traction. Your shoes need to be a snug fit and have a good grip as you don’t want them to fall off when walking in the snow.