Garston ski hut

never had that but have held a sock like a plate once. Gaiters were just as solid Them and the boots which were beside them on the hut porch were not fun to put on

I'm a big fan of plastic boots for that reason.

Hmmmm.... Don't you stick socks and even boots in your sleeping bag to stop this from happening? Sure, it stinks, but I always smell when tramping anyway. With this new, simple biv bag, I'm considering making it a permanent part of my winter sleep system so that I can stick stuff in the biv bag but outside of my sleeping bag.

I hate jumping in my pit smelly. I always wash up at camp. Even in the freezing temps exhausted or not. Straight in a tarn or river. Then a clean bed kit. Feels good. Chuck a couple of boot sized rocks in the fire chuck them in when you hit the hay. Will help dry and keep warm.

I meant socks freezing into the toes of my boots _whilst I'm wearing them_. @gaiters: with you on washing. Even in snow I'd go outside for a snow-scrub rather than hit the sack sweaty. Leads to a warmer more comfortable night getting rid of that sweat. I know the clothes in sleeping bag thing works (though not sure I'd put dripping wet socks in there) but I treasure my clean dry sleeping bag too much to even use it to dry inner layers. Cold wet clothes warm up pretty quick on the morning ... always seems better than a smelly damp bag to sleep in.

Yes I think the trick with washing off sweat before hitting the pit is actually about removing the salts off your skin. Salts are generally hydroscopic, in that they attract water. Keep in mind that over the course of a night, your body will release at least a litre or more of water vapour, and salt will likely trap a layer of it in the liquid phase on your skin. And that in turn will increase the rate at which your body loses heat.

I often have a little sponge down before bedtime. Sometimes you can heat the water up on top of the stove in those steel ash buckets. I'm too much of a wuss to think about immersion in bodies of water or snow rubdowns!