Keep Your Feet Cozy with the Mountain Standard Merino Camp Socks

When I wear these socks, I forget I have them on. And I mean that in the best way possible.

I’m a sock guy. One of those people that wears obnoxious, bright socks to the office or matches their socks to their cycling kit. Because of this matchey-matchey mentality, I have at least 30 pairs of socks sitting on a shelf in my closet right now. Some of those were $5 socks and some, like the fancy wool cycling socks, were $30.

This makes me a pseudo-expert on socks.

And these, the Mountain Standard Merino Camp Socks, are right up there with the best of them.

Mountain Standard Merino Camp Sock Details

Made of 56% merino wool, these bad boys are going to keep your feet toasty on cold days and help with dissipating heat on warm ones.

They also have a padded footbed which is perfect for hiking, walking, or frankly lying on the couch with your feet up after a long day. If you want to know what a padded footbed feels like, put one sock on your left foot and two socks on your right foot. It’s going to feel like the cushy goodness on the right, but it’s nowhere near as bulky as the experiment I just made you do. Picking these socks up, you can’t tell they’re going to be hugging your feet. They just do.

I also am amazed at the sizing on these. I wear a size 15 shoe and finding socks that fit is really difficult. Typically the heel rests just after my mid-foot leaving me with an oddly snug sock that doesn’t feel very good in my shoes. For the Mountain Standard sock, I am rocking the XL and there are no fit problems whatsoever. The first wear was snug, but they fit from toe to heel. Since then they’ve gone right on my feet with no fuss.

Mountain Standard Sock Styling

Now that we’ve covered feel and sizing, here’s the most important thing – how they look. Who cares how comfortable they are if you look dumb walking around REI in them. Or god forbid you pose with your dog in a trailhead photo and they make your legs look all weird.

Don’t worry though. These socks are designed to make you look like you know what you’re doing. You’ll appreciate the understated color-block pattern with two earthy shades of green. And on the toes is a nice red cap, with Power On Compadres (Or Compadres Power On if you’re wearing them on the opposite feet like I frequently do) stitched into the front. The heel is also red, and there is a red band at the top of the cuff. None of this is overpowering, and there isn’t any obnoxious branding on the socks. The only way you’ll know this is a Mountain Standard piece is by the subtle RIMBY bars on the back of the socks. For you new inductees, RIMBY stands for Right In My Backyard, a nod to the badass outdoors access you’ll find in the Western states.

Merino Camp Sock Durability

Now that you know they are comfy and look fantastic on your feet, here’s how they hold up.

So far, I’ve worn these socks on multiple camping trips, a number of hiking excursions, and many nights spent at home watching snow fall outside the window. After all of this time, and about 6 months of use, there are no snags or holes in sight. I’m even getting my face really close to these things and can’t find anything.

Over the summer I drove to Portland, Oregon from my home in Denver, Colorado. When I left my apartment at 5:00 am to start this drive, I put these socks on. Twelve hours later I rolled into Sun Valley, Idaho where I went for an hour mountain bike ride before setting up camp. After the ride and into the night, these socks stayed on my feet. The next day I spent another 10 hours in the car before reaching my final destination. All in, I had these things on for about 40 hours, in multiple shoes and under various environments.

At the end of it all my feet were still feeling good and I couldn’t smell them. I’d say that’s a win.

Merino Camp Sock Pricing

One final thing you need to know about these socks before you buy them.

They cost $15. For two pairs.

That’s right. $15. For two pairs. For the price of my $30 fancy socks I could have had four of these. With how long they last before needing washing (still wash them though) that is a month’s worth of socks.

Here’s another story. I had a pair of SmartWool PhD socks that I was wearing while painting a wall. I spilled paint all over my feet and onto these socks. Those puppies were $24 and ended up turning into crusty, matte eggshell white lumps that had to be tossed. I’m not saying the Mountain Standard socks can be sacrificed, but I am saying that you can buy these, beat the shit out of them, and if they catch on fire, get covered in paint, or your dog eats them, you’re only out $7.50.