Taking the Heel-toe-express
Backcountry ski touring is like hiking, except when you reach the summit of the mountain you get to glide down on a blanket of white fluff. It is truly a beautiful combination.
The best skiing zones are often far off and remote. In order to gain access to these rare places and truly explore them, over night excursions are often undertaken. These big missions are full of peaks and valleys, the heel-toe-express knows few boundaries.
Multi day ski touring adventures are physically demanding and hard on the feet. Having comfortable footwear to put on after a big day can make all the difference in the world. Giving your feet the ability to recover is curtail to facing the next day’s objective.
First Over nighter
I remember my first backcountry ski touring hut trip like it was yesterday. It was a cold February weekend. A group of my best ski buddies decided to go to a top secret hut up the Duffy highway, just north of Pemberton, BC. We parked on the side of the highway as the sun was rising over Duffy Lake.
Ski touring up to the secret hut didn’t take long despite carrying heavy packs laden with the necessary supplies (reamen, oatmeal and white lightning vodka). We briefly checked out the quaint, pragmatic cabin in the middle of nowhere, ditched some gear and supplies in the hut and proceeded to summit one of the three surrounding peaks. We descended 900 meters of steep, untouched, cold smoke powder snow under calm blue skies. It was glorious.
When packing for this mission I was trying to keep my pack as light as possible. One way I decided to cut weight was by leaving my extra footwear. You see, I didnt have slippers, and my shoes were heavy and bulky. Besides, why bring extra shoes when you have perfectly good ski boot liners to walk around in? Well, I’ll tell you why, because it wrecks your ski boot liners! Sometimes in life you learn things the hard way…
The second day of skiing was not as enjoyable. The conditions were equally as fresh and spectacular but it was hard to enjoy them with wet ski boot liners that had a hole in the left heel and the sole ripped off the other…
That maiden voyage into overnight backcountry adventuring exposed me to a piece of gear I, now, never leave home without: The cabin bootie.
Hut Moc by Merrell
Merrell Footwear has the best cabin booties in the game. I would describe the Hut Moc as “Rugged slippers.” They are insulated and they have a cushy rubber sole to keep your feet warm and your soles dry. They are lightweight and flexible making stuffing them in your backpack easy.
Keep your feet warm and dry while your ski, snowboard or hiking boots are safely drying beside the fire.
The Hut moc is perfect for hut trips, camping, traveling and wearing around the house.
For lightweight and packable rugged slippers, look no further than the Hut Moc by Merrell.
Pro tip: They fit small so consider going up a half size!
https://www.merrell.com/CA/en_CA/search?q=hut%20moc#q=hut%20moc&start=0&sz=48
