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Yes, winter can be a tough time for the higher heels. In snowy or icy conditions I also prefer something lower and a block heel, such conditions can even be difficult in flats. But boots with a low block heel can be just as good. It's been like 15 years ago that I last wore any flat boots for winter, and I never had any problems since. This reminds me of a funny story a few years ago. We were (once again 😉) out at a christmas market with friends. Because snow was everywhere I wore a pair of boots with a block heel, something around 8 cm. While at the christmas market, we saw that on a nearby mountain there was also a christmas market which looked nice, so we decided to visit this one too. It was only a small mountain, something like 150 meters of altitude from the bottom and only accessible via a footpath. My husband and friends asked me "are you sure you can handle this path in your heels?", but I had no doubt because they had a good sole, block heel and weren't that high. And I wasn't wrong, it was really easy. Uphill was pretty much the same as with flats, and downhill I even had a bit of an advantage when walking on the side of the footpath where the snow was a bit softer. Because my heels could grip into it. I sure got some funny looks when other people obviously struggled more in their Uggs and such than me in my heels 😀 So this is my proof that heels can be as good as flats or even better in snow.

I may be in a holding pattern with my training for a while. I had planned to take a couple of days off from walking just because I needed some rest, but then the snow hit. On the last day of November, I had some extra time, so I thought I would walk a mile in something a little bit high, like 10 cm, just to keep myself from going downhill too much. The snow was over, and I wasn't in a hurry, so I thought, "Why not? It will be fun!" I thought I might even leave a few footprints here and there that would raise eyebrows. I pulled on my knee high boots, put on my coat and scarf, and headed outside. I got about 20 meters down the street and looked at the continuous sheet of packed snow and ice ahead of me, thought of my smooth, slick bottomed boots, thought of my less-than-youthful age, and then actually said out loud, "This is a BAD idea." I turned around and went back inside. I took the next day off, too. On the third day, I did walk, but I chose lugged rubber soled boots with 8 cm block heels. One never knows what the weather will bring, but at least for the next couple of weeks, I'm not going to be pushing any crazy steep heeled boundaries. Even the garage floor is kind of slick.

Sounds like a nice pair of boots for work. In a bigger size they won't be that steep and comfortable for a whole workday.

So today I pulled out my Nine West leather knee high boots and measured the heel, 4.75 inches, just over 12 cm, no platform. Small block heel. I have these in two colors, wearing the dark red/brown ones today. Haven't worn these in many months but plan on at least 8 hours in them today at work. Don't plan on having any troubles in them.

Yes. They imitate German Christmas markets here - badly! I would have liked to have worn my stilettos to the town fete but the walk along the towpath is just too rough. I am thinking of packing my 12cm boots in a knapsack and walking into town, and changing there. Or maybe taking the bus and the train and trying my stilettos at the imitation Christmas market in Leeds

Your Christmas markets in Germany sound lovely - and from all I’ve heard they really are, too. We have imitations of them here in Britain but they are not very nice - expensive, very fake and shoddy. I'm impressed with your going out to a market in 11cm boots for three hours. That’s great. We did have the town Christmas tree lighting event here where I am moored, and with the towpath frozen - instead of muddy - I wore some nice suede OTK boots with 8cm heels. It was about a 5km walk there and back plus standing around - nothing I fancied attempting in stilettos. It was a nice evening. Friendly little town. I think I was probably the only one in heels

@mlroseplant I only know strip clubs from movies or tv series, and am probably even too young to have recognized that "normal" heels were used in the 90s. Interesting indeed, I only have huge platforms in my mind when I think about stripper heels. It makes sense for manufacturers to use the same heel height for a few sizes to save costs. There probably will be many models out there which are manufactured that way. Wow, as if the height challenge is not enough you're also making a distance challenge! 60 miles in a month sounds a lot. I wonder how much I would make in a normal month. For the christmas market on the weekend I chose a pair of 11 cm boots. Up to now I've always chosen some lower heels like 7-10 cm for christmas markets, so it was really nice to wear something different this time. We were there for about 3 hours, so with all the standing it was not as comfortable as with lower heels, but it was OK. I now definitely want to wear 12 cm boots to a christmas market too, but therefor I will pick a smaller one where we won't stay as long.

Thank you, and I'll let you know that I'm probably taking the last two days of the month off. I barely made it under the wire before this snowstorm hit, which is supposed to last until 6 a.m. tomorrow. Maybe I will take some footprint pictures if the correct situation presents itself. Good luck with your editor. Hopefully, we'll both be back at the 12 cm thing soon.

Congratulations on your 60 mile month! And nice to see that you wear boots! 😊 Ive been stressed and under the gun trying to finish a feature that has turned into a nightmare by a new young and less than gifted editor with adolescent tabloid instincts and who simply doesn’t grasp the story. I’ve retreated to the safe stable height of my 10cm stiletto boots as I write

The last time I was in such an establishment was 1991, and the definition of "stripper heels" was quite different back then. Leave it to me to be more interested in the shoes than the other bits. What dancers wore at that time was what we would consider quite normal, almost boring shoes. Pretty much pumps with four inch heels. Platforms were not a thing at the time, at least not around here. Sometime between 1991 and now heel heights that seem normal increased dramatically, and platforms for exotic dancers got ridiculously thick. To me, "stripper heels" have never really been all that steep, because after all, one has to be able to at least pretend to dance in them, and for the better part of the entire night at that! I can give a very good example of where "the formula" doesn't work quite right. I have over the years owned a few different pairs of a Michael Kors shoe called Oksana. If you buy them in USW 8 1/2, you get 5 1/8" heels (with 1" platform). If you go up to size 9, the heels suddenly become 5 1/2". That's a full centimeter difference in half a size bigger. Because they are Kors less expensive line, they obviously didn't make a different heel for every single size. I'm guessing 8 1/2 was the cutoff for one length of heel, and 9 was the beginning of the next. ________________________ In other news, most of the reason that I have not been practicing toward the goal of 12 cm heels recently is because I have been working toward the goal of walking 60 high heeled miles in a single calendar month. I have come really close a couple of times, but I've never actually exceeded 60 until now. Here is a picture of me (wearing boots, no less) right after I finished walking the last high heeled mile. Although with the new system of proportional measurement, I'd technically have to call these mid-heels, as they are 1/8" (3 mm) short of being actually "high."