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Reviews > Clothing > Socks > Darn Tough Vermont Boot Sock > Roger Caffin > Field Report
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| Reviewer: | Roger Caffin |
| Age: | 60 |
| Gender: | M |
| Weight: | 63 kg (138 lb) |
| Height: | 168 cm (5' 6") |
| Email address: | r dot [surname] at acm dot org |
| Home: | Sydney, Australia |
I started bushwalking (the Australian term) at 14, then took up rock climbing at University with the girl who became my wife and is my walking partner. Later on we took up ski touring and canyoning. Winter and summer, we prefer long hard trips by ourselves: about a week in Australia, up to two months in Europe/UK. We prefer fast and light in unfrequented trackless country. We would be out for at least three months a year. Over the last four years we have reduced our pack weights from 18 - 20 kg (40 - 45 lb) each to about 10 - 12 kg (22 - 26 lb), including food and water, for week-long trips. I designed and made much of our lightweight gear myself.
I am also the maintainer of the Australian aus.bushwalking FAQ web site www.bushwalking.org.au/FAQ/.
| Manufacturer | Darn Tough Vermont |
| Knitting Mill | Cabot Hosiery Mills |
| Style | Hike Trek, Boot Sock, Full Cushion |
| Material | 69% wool, 27% Nylon, 4% Lycra |
| Size | * |
| Weight (measured) | 103 g (3.6 oz) pr, Large |
| MSRP | na |
* I take an 8 - 8.5 size in UK fittings, which made my job of choosing a size rather difficult. The Medium size goes to 8 (UK), while Large starts at 8.5 (UK). The company resolved this by sending two pairs of each size.
I mentioned in the Initial Report that the company web site describes the socks thus: "High density cushioning surrounds the entire foot and shin. Custom shrink treated Merino wool. Ribbing above the ankle insures a proper fit. Reinforced heel and toe. Elastic support around the arch. Ring toe construction for a comfortable invisible seam." I added that the knit seemed very fine, the loops inside very tight, while the sock thickness was generous.
As mentioned above my foot size of 8 - 8.5 (UK) straddles the border between Medium (up to shoe size 8) and Large (shoe size 8.5 upwards) for these socks, so the company sent me two pairs of each size. Now my experience is that blisters are the result of the footwear being too small for the foot. Since adopting a policy of never wearing anything on my feet which could be taken as being 'tight', I have ceased getting blisters - ever. So I did a little experimenting with the two different sizes, and found that the Large size seemed much the better fit. The Mediums went on OK, but it just seemed that the sock was almost tight on my foot, and that is one thing I refuse to accept. This meant that my feet were at the small end of the size range for the Large socks, but so far my feet have enjoyed the experience.
That left the Medium socks without a home as it were. My wife has feet a size smaller than mine (7 - 7.5 UK), and she too is always interested in good socks. After a polite "Are you sure?" she swooped on the Mediums for herself. She reports that her feet have been very comfortable in the Medium size socks, and that they are lasting and performing just as well as mine.
Most knitted socks will stretch a fair bit, but these Darn Tough socks are very robust and probably a bit more resistant to stretching than most. My opinion from our testing so far is that the sizing information given by Darn Tough Vermont is quite accurate, and also that it pays to buy on the high side for sizing.
The first trip for the socks was a loop of three days which saw us (my wife and I) go over Mount Yellow Dog (~770 m, 2,500'), down to the Cox River (~150 m, 490'), a drop of about 620 m or 2,000', wade across the river with its sandy bottom getting the socks quite wet and a little sandy, then traverse Mt Bullagowar (1,070 m, 3,510'), Mt Guouogang (1,291 m, 4,235'), Mt Queahgong (1,150 m, 3,770'), Mt Jenolan (1,091 m, 3,580'), descend about 900 m or 2,950' back to the Cox River, cross it getting wet and sandy socks again, then climb Brindle Pup spur (750 m, 2,460') before returning to the car. Much of this country is extremely rough, and I was wearing very light footwear (Dunlop KT-26s) for the trip. Typical terrain is illustrated to the left, on the ridge near Mt Guouogang.
I have listed all these details because they form an important background to my experience wearing these socks on this trip. My feet got wet, which sometimes makes socks go 'flat' or lose their springiness. My feet got pushed around inside my very light shoes in all directions, especially down towards the toes on those long descents. Some sand got in and scrunched around, although the bulk of the socks inside the shoes limited the amount of course. And yet, all through the trip, my feet remained very comfortable. The design of the socks and the fine loop structure inside the sock really worked.
A day trip which gave the socks a good work-out took us out along Kariwoga Ridge in the Blue Mountains near Sydney and down to the Grose River, up the river a little way, then back up onto the ridge above. The day was pretty hot - close to 30 C (86 F) down in the valley. This may sound a simple trip, but it was all good 1 km/hr (1/2 mph) stuff over very rough sandstone terrain in my very light KTs, for a hard 10 hour day. Typical terrain is shown to the right. The socks got about the best recommendation socks can get on this trip: I never noticed them or my feet. This means of course that they were comfortable for the whole day, and did not slide around on the shoes. At the end of the trip I couldn't see any change in appearance - size, felting or whatever.
I have worn the socks on several other trips since these two. I have to say that the socks have continued to live up to their name - 'Darn Tough'. My wife has used the smaller size (the Mediums) on some of these trips, and as far as I can see the socks have been giving her great satisfaction too and showing equally little tendency to felt up or damage.
Looking at the socks in more detail, I have noticed some things on these trips which had not been entirely apparent before. The first was the cunning way the socks fit to the foot. The picture to the below/right shows the socks on my feet at the start of day 2 on Guouogang. The red line on my left foot covers the elasticised region around the arch of my foot: I had seen that before. But the yellow line on my right foot spans another elasticised region just above my ankle. This was really smart. The socks were maybe a tiny shade large for my feet, but the combination of those two elasticised regions made the socks fit really snugly to my feet. Better slightly too large than too small. With some over-sized socks I can expect to get some bunching, or even creasing, which is most uncomfortable. That did not happen here. On the other hand, the elasticised regions did not seem to cause any noticeable 'pressure' on my feet.
I found it very interesting that these socks have felt quite secure inside my very light KT-26s. They do not slide around at all. Clearly they have a significantly different surface texture from the Ulfrotte socks I have also tested. The latter had a very soft silky finish which allowed them to slide around dangerously in my KT-26s, although they were excellent in solid leather ski boots. Clearly there is a lot to selecting the right socks for the application.
This is the one criticism I have of the design: I found the part of the sock above the ankle region definitely a bit too long. This is the 'ribbed' region which Vermont says won't bunch up. There is an elasticised band at the top of the ankle, shown by the small purple line on my right foot. This was far too tight around my calf muscle unless I folded the sock down above the ankle, to put the band below my calf muscle. The fold is shown by the green line in the above picture on my left foot. OK, big calf muscles (ahem), but most walkers would have good calf muscles. To be sure, once I folded the sock down there was no problem, but it seems a bit of a waste (and extra weight and extra cost) to have that folded region there. It totally negated the intent of the ribbing. A version with a slightly shorter top would be nice. I note from the Vermont web site that there is also a '1/4 sock' version, but that design seems a bit too short above the ankle for my taste.
A worry with anything made of wool is that it will felt up. With the socks getting wet and being hammered inside the shoes, one might expect this to happen quickly. Well, some slight surface felting has been seen, as just visible in the picture with the pointers, but this is quite small. In fact, it is probably not much different from a good fully synthetic sock with this amount of wear. The fine terry loop structure inside the sock was also well preserved and had little visible felting.
I mentioned in my Initial Report that my wife and I have swung between pure synthetic and wool several times. Wool socks are supposed to smell a bit, even after being 'washed' (well, rinsed?) while walking, although in my experience they smell less that some of the synthetic ones. Be that as it may, these socks were not noticeable for having a high smell at the end of the day on the Guouogang trip - although maybe the river walking rinsed some smell out? On the Grose River trip I could smell the socks a bit when I took my shoes off for a swim, but I always can at a time like that! The end of other trips was similar. Let's just say the smell was never particularly bad.
I haven't done much intentional washing of these socks so far on trips, but they have certainly got very wet in the rivers. They have dried out reasonably well compared to synthetic ones, although the springiness of the knit may have masked some wetness during the day. That I couldn't tell that they were still wet is good, and perhaps the more important result.
Washing at home (inside out and according to the care instructions) seemed to be very effective. There was negligible smell after a warm wash. The springiness remained very prominent. I did find that a quick stretch of the sock in both directions after washing seems to free up the loops a bit, such that the original softness was preserved.
I undertook to evaluate a number of questions; herewith my findings so far.
