For fording cold rivers, is there any special clothing (as opposed to makeshift bags or tightly connected raintrousers) to stay dry and warm?

Question

On my treks, I often need to ford rivers — on my last trek (3½ day) I forded five, including four on a single day (not counting >100 smaller streams). My current practice is to take off my boots and put sandals instead, but this is a dangerous practice that several books and agencies strongly recommend against. Many rivers are glacier-fed and some are quite wide, so the risk for hypothermia is real.

^{Njoammeljåhkå, Padjelanta National Park, Laponia, Sweden, August 2011. To ford two dangerous steps (flow and depth were worse than they might look), or to make a 40 km detour — that is the question!}

The Swedish mountain associations recommend to tie raintrousers tightly at the boots, warning explicitly that crossing on sandals carries a real risk for hypothermia. Although my boots and raintrousers are reasonably watertight and good enough to keep me dry when it rains (at least when it rains with a Swedish intensity), they won't hold standing in a (quickly) flowing river for a long time. As an alternative, the Swedish language book På fjälltur: Sarek by Claes Grundsten recommends, and I quote (translation follows):

Alternativt kan du använda vadarpåsar som träs over skodonen.

meaning

Alternatively, you can use fording bags that are drawn over the shoes.

The book goes on to state that they are for sale on the open market. I can't find information about those vadarpåsar, though. What is a vadarpåse / fording bag and where can I buy one? This forum post recommends to leave yer boots on, bring two heavy duty contractor trash bags with you, one for each leg, procede with caution, but that sounds a bit scary as well (bad maneauvability). Are there any more suitable garments, preferably at least up to the waist¹, for fording rivers? Preferably lightweight that can be packed in a small volume.

Some issues are addressed at "If I have to cross an icy, flowing river, what are some ways I can cross safely?", but the answers there do not really address the issue at hand.

¹^{I'm aware that one normally should not ford rivers that are deeper than knee-high, but I think one could make an exception if there is almost no flow at all.}

Answer 1

These products may be what you are looking for, they are hip-height waterproof waders:

• NEOS River Trekker Overshoe
• Wiggy's Light Weight Waders

Answer 2

A lot of this really does depend on the type of river - you seem to be talking about really quite big, cold rivers, and I'd question whether you should really plan to cross these by fording at all since they can be a big risk. Sometimes a long detour really is the best option.

Whether to take your boots off or not is really a trade off. I will also often put on sandals to ford a stream this way, though I've never forded anything as big as you seem to be describing and nor would I really want to! While there is a greater risk you may slip or twist an ankle without your boots on, if your boots get soaked (especially if we're talking about cold climates) then they're going to take ages to dry out, and may even freeze. That's going to be downright uncomfortable at best, and potentially frostbite / hypothermia inducing at worst. If it were me in this situation (and I had no other option other than to cross, I'd change footwear.

In terms of trousers - I generally wear shorts for this, since they dry off more quickly and don't weigh me down as much when wet. But again, practice will differ with big, cold rivers:

The Swedish mountain associations recommend to tie raintrousers tightly at the boots. Although my boots and raintrousers are reasonably watertight and good enough to keep me dry when it rains (at least when it rains with a Swedish intensity), they won't hold standing in a (quickly) flowing river for a long time.

I would agree with this advice, and perhaps wrap a few bags around for good measure (if they're available and I could do so without getting any loose bits in the way.) Yes, some water will still seep through, but you're fording a river where the aim is to get to the other side as quickly as is safely possible - you shouldn't be in there for a "long time!"

Answer 3

Here is the setup I have used in my long (1-3 week) treks in northern Scandinavia:

For shorter crossings

(or if the water is warmer)

• Good, sturdy sandals (e.g. Teva)
• Zip off legs of your pants, or remove them completely to keep them dry
• Keeping socks on can help some (but not a lot)
• (Fording stick and/or trekking poles)

IMHO the risk from sandals is not actually directly hypothermia. The risk is standing in the middle of a stream, up to your waist, with 25kg on your back, and your feed just completely, utterly numb.

I had that happen to me, and it's very scary... (Not to mention that you'll be in a lot of pain before your feet actually get numb.) Since you will might not see the bottom of the river due to the current you're mostly reliant on the feeling in your feet to accurately place your steps. Loosing this feeling makes it very easy to loose your footing / slip and fall / twist or break your ankle, etc. All of which can be very dangerous in the wrong place.

Hypothermia might then be a factor after the fact, i.e. once you've fallen in and you and your entire pack are completely soaked...

For longer and deeper crossings:

• Keep on hiking boots, including socks
• Take of trousers to keep dry
• Put on rain pants and tie them to the top of your boots (with some cord/extra shoelace/...)
• Make sure the rain pants are a tight fit - if they are normally very "roomy" you can make them tighter artificially, by tying some strings/cords around your leg to keep them tight and snug.
• (Fording stick and/or trekking poles)

I have tried the rain-pants-tied-to-shoes trick on multiple occasions - the biggest drawback is obviously that you will have to get your boots dry again over the next 1-2 days, but with good hiking boots and modern socks this worked out OK for us.

Once in the Rocky Mountains we walked in a more-than-knee-deep river for over an hour, since it was the only way forward with the valley sides being steep labyrinths of bramble and deadfall. The mentioned method (shoes + socks + rain pants) kept us reasonably warm while walking, as we made sure to keep us warm above the water level.

Of course it does not keep your legs dry, but this setup will work a bit like an improvised wet suit. The rain pants will trap a layer of water against your skin that will be quickly warmed up by your body heat. This water will then mostly stay there, since there is no easy inflow/outflow and will isolate you to the water outside the pants, which might be 4°C...

Alternatives

I have actually looked into this topic a fair bit in preparation of a Sarek national park crossing where we (correctly) predicted many difficult fordings.

Possible options basically include bringing various forms of actual wetsuit clothing pieces, such as socks/over-socks from neoprene, actual wetsuit pants, or the rubberised fishing pants.
--> These options are expensive and more importantly (with the exception of the neoprene socks) rather heavy. At the time we deemed the additional benefits not worth the drawbacks, but your mileage might vary.

I have also played around with trash bags, but to limited success: if you place them over your shoes they will rip at the bottom and water will come it quickly (unless you bring some crazily sturdy ones, which I wouldn't know where to get). And if you use them inside your shoes (i.e. protecting only socks/legs) then your shoes will get wet again, thus removing a bigger part of their potential upside.

Answer 4

We are planning to do the Auyuittuq traverse next summer in Canada's Arctic where we must cross glacier-feed streem that can ve wide, deep and swift.

Respecting shoes to cross rivers, we are looking at three options and I would like your view on them.

A) the traditional combinaison of water sandals and neoprene sox. B) Sea kayaking boots. C) the NEOS River Trekker overshoes (voir http://www.neosovershoescanada.com/NEOS-River-Trekker-Overshoes-Non-Insulated-RTK7).

For options A and B, here is what we can see as the advantages :

· It works and tested it in 2011 while in Auyuittuq.

· It is ligth (aprox 1kg for the sandals and the sox)

· It is very durable (you can’t really perforate them the sox and, if so, you cant repair it easyli with sewing kit).

· You can use the sandals as camp shoes.

· You can have soft soles with a very good grip in wet rocks.

For the disadvantages of options A and B,,

· It does not give you a good ankle support.

· You have not protection for rocks mowing under water

· You spend a fair bit of time to put on and take off.

· If you keep them on between nearby rivers to reduce time for taking them off and on, you don’t have ankle support.

For option C, here is what we see as the advantages :

· You don’t need to take your boots off.

· You can really stay dry during crosings .

· You can use the overshoes in places where it is really wet to waterproof your boots..

· You ankle support is really good as you keep your boots.

· Your boots give you a very good protection for rocks moving under water.

· It seems very easy to repair a whole with Aqua Seal in the overshoes . Apparently, it is less durable than the heavy fisher pants but much more than the lighters (500 grammes) and cheaper Light Weight Waders from Wiggy’s http://wiggys.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=5.

· The soles of the overshoes look good but it is made with a hard material from Vibram (hence the durability) but my experience with Vibram soles are that it does not have such a great grip on wet rocks.

For the disadvantages of option C :,

· The overshoes are heavier at 2 kg

· They are 36’’ high and thus go at the higher part of the thighs and, except if you manage to add a good seal such as by attaching to it a drysuit neck gasket, water can get inside if you misstep or you must go into deeper water even without current. If so, you can quickly be in big trouble and go down.

Option C looks great. It may even be too good to be true. However, I find it surprising that no one talk about these overshoes for Auyuittuq. I am mostly worry about that last disadvantages and the hard sole grip. Most reviews come from hunters in Alaska and they may not have crossings with a lot of current.

If you got time, I would really like to hear your views on these 3 options.

Thanks

Answer 5

Many rivers are glacier-fed and some are quite wide, so the risk for hypothermia is real.

I doubt that. A river is at most a couple of degrees below 0°C. Suppose it takes 10 minutes to cross and it's knee-high. That will not lower your core temperature significantly. The biggest danger is feet becoming numb and you falling into the water, which can be mitigated by some diver's gear (neoprene socks).

But crossing icy waters barefoot is safe for <10min for a healthy adult. Source: I (and many Finns - I actually live in a warm climate) take icy showers and enjoy it.