I've used a pair of my husband's short ankle socks over my shoes before and it made a real difference. My dog has little boots with gripper type pads on the bottom for snow and ice.

I wonder if the mental image I have conjured up matches the reality of you walking around with your socks on the outside of your shoes... :)

Glad it worked for you, but don’t the socks sometimes stick to the ice?

Trying to walk on ice is one of the most dangerous situations there is when living in winter conditions!!!!

It really is. My mom, who was in her 40s at the time, slipped and broke her pelvis!! Fortunately she recovered, though my grandfather wasn’t so lucky: though much older at the time of his fall (he fell while taking the Christmas tree out to the curb at age 85), a broken hip — and ultimately death — was the outcome in his case. :(

I have a pair of yaktrax in my car, front, this time of the year but mostly in the trunk. I also have a pair in my front closet, where my shoes live.

Somehow, never left them on some shoes/boots... prolly because of my hardwood floors?

Love my yaktrax pro!

Moni

Like Sammy, I would imagine the socks could stick to the ice--and that could cause a fall too. I tried Yaktrax some years ago, but they tended to skid on the coldest, driest ice. So I gave up on them and went back to sharp cleats that are worn over your shoes. The clerk in the hunting store recommended that I put them on an old pair of boots and leave them by the door. That has worked very well.

Glad that the socks worked for you! My driveway is still icy so I wear my cleats on my boots everyday. They are easy to slip on and off my smaller pair of boots but other years I was trying to pull them over my snowmobile boots and it was more of a struggle and took work getting them on. I'm thinking of buying a pair(cleats) to keep in the car in case I need them.

This thread reminds me why we left Colorado. :)

No, the sock didn't stick in the ice...but then again, I'm just using them at my back door for when I let my dog outside and sometimes I may have to step out to do something. I still walk very gingerly though. But NO, the ice isn't sticking to the sock. It is very tight on the shoe and just comes right off of the ice as I step. My other boots with the cleats are in the garage for going to the dog park or walking the dog if it's very icy.

Very clever - I'll keep that in mind for the next time I don't feel like dealing with my cleats. I slipped and fell on ice while bringing in firewood a few years ago and another time in a hotel parking lot. Both times I was alone in the dark; luckily all that happened was a bruised rib and having the wind knocked out of me. But, as I was laying on the ice like a turtle on it's back, trying to gather my wits about me, I realized what a scary and vulnerable situation that was especially for older, more fragile people. Definitely don't want to repeat that experience again!

OH yes, as Raven pointed out...the sock does (technically) stick to the ice which is what makes you not slip but it doesn't stick into it. Also, it's not as good as a cleat, you can still slip a bit if you aren't careful and I noticed that the sock kind of gets to a point that it's not as slip proof after a while so you would probably need to replace it or take it off and shake it out after a while. But definitely for an emergency situation and for those people that it freezes once a year like in Dallas or something, it's a great thing to know.

I'll never forget one time I was visiting my cousin in Dallas during a terrible ice storm and heard on the news that someone in their area slipped on the ice and fell and hit their head and died! I've been afraid of the ice ever since then.

Something that I just realized is that if the sock is damp, it is slippery so if you do like I'm doing and have a pair of shoes sitting by the door with a sock over it, make sure that you turn the shoe upside down so the sock can dry between usage.

Thanks for the sock idea. I do have Yaks & DH has spiked cleats. But for an emergency when we forget our cleats, this could work. Thanks!

Makes me happy I love here on the beautiful central coast where we rarely have freezing weather.