Winter boot showdown

It was September and Tribune outdoors columnist Barbara Brotman and I were already anxious and unhappy.

Some people would make the case that I'm always anxious and unhappy. But Barbara? She's notoriously cheery.

What was worrying us both was the upcoming cold weather and our annual failure to find a solution to our big winter woe. That is, keeping our feet protected from Chicago's usual trifecta of misery: freezing temps, snow and flowing gutters of icy slush.

So we made a pact. Not one more winter of foot angst! We were on a mission to find the best possible boots.

We took all the word-of-mouth recommendations we'd collected over many years, then called the companies whose names kept coming up. We asked the manufacturers to let us borrow their warmest, driest models — their choice — to be put to the test by two extremely picky women who were fed up with cold feet.

The loaner boots arrived. We were eager to try them. And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Who could have predicted this headline: "Chicago having its warmest winter in 80 years."

Not that we were complaining. But, it did delay our testing. In fact, it delayed our testing so long that I was able to enlist a third Tribune reporter, Regina Robinson, to join our cold-feet squad.

Regina brought two important qualifications to the job. She's the most cold-sensitive person I know. She sits at her desk with a ladies snow boots covering her feet.

And, she wears the same size shoes as me and Barbara, so fitting into the eight pairs of test boots was no problem.

While we waited for the bad weather, we tested the cheap snow boots' waterproof claims by standing in icy puddles — in our bathtubs. And eventually, of course, it got cold and snowy and we were able to do some serious street testing.

Be assured that there's still plenty of rotten winter weather to come before the trees leaf out. And, with luck, our favorites will soon go on sale. So use this as your guide.

And the winner is …

Well, there are three winners. We couldn't agree. That's because, we discovered, there is no perfect winter boot.

In picking our favorites, each of us had to make compromises. I insisted that I be able to walk a mile and drive a car in the boots I chose. Regina needed to comfortably hustle to and from the train, look cute and stay warm.