The Best Winter Boots
Snow and freezing rain can turn a typical grocery-store trip or post-office visit into a slippery, cold, wet affair for your feet.
You may encounter dry pavement, wet pavement, packed snow, fluffy snow, chunky ice, black ice, wet ice, slush, a slick cocktail of oil and grit, or some combination of all of these things.
After 125 hours of research and in-the-snow trials wearing 36 pairs of boots, we picked a variety of options to help you navigate the ever-changing underfoot topography of winter.
The top performers include traditional lace-up winter boots for men and women.
We have recommendations for slip-ons that provide better-than-average traction in ice and snow. (If you spend a lot of time on ice, however, adding ice cleats to one of these picks can boost traction.)
There’s a snow slipper, for winter driving or air travel, and a plush, wool-lined leather boot that functions better, overall, than anything else we tried.
