During the wintertime we get away with wearing ski socks day in, day out for as long as we can before they start getting stinky, and no one seems to think any worse of us. Drying them over a radiator at night, ready to slip into ski boots the next morning is totally socially acceptable. So why doesn't this rule apply to non-ski socks?Su's in the process of training to walk up Mt Blanc, and the question of smelly hiking socks has come up. Is it ok to hike all day, dry socks overnight and continue in them the next day, for several days? Applying the ski-sock rule, the answer should be yes. But some people seem to find the thought utterly abhorrent.
Introduce high-tech fabrics, or low-tech natural fibres like merino wool, however, and the tune changes. They don't smell. They're designed for it. Washing them too frequently is bad for the sock, hikers say. Ah ha. The question is, how long can you wear said socks without offending your refuge bunkmate?
The question is entirely opinion-based and thus unanswerable. And yet, during her two-day training hike this week, Su was fairly certain that the fellow a few bunks down (who snored, by the way), should perhaps have carried a fresh pair. Or two.
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