Winter camping: What to do with wet gear?

So I've heard of people shoving their wet boots down to the bottom of their sleeping bag over night to keep them from freezing... I guess it sorta makes sense if you have ton of room in your bag and think you'll be able to dry out your bag the next day but...

Does anyone else do this?

lnr

Thanks for starting this lnr...as I haven't looked into at all. I'd want to pick up some sort of battery-pack to run the boot dryer off of, or maybe there's a battery-run dryer or hair-drier...y/n?(anyone)...
Think I might wanna look into something with a larger diameter to blast/heat-dry clothes quickly as well...but haven't tried looking so maybe I'm into Sci-Fi land.

What I have done in the past is make sure that when I get into camp I change into dry socks immediately. I have a big pair of wool socks that I pack specifically for this purpose. Doing this will usually wick the water out of the boots and dry them out most of the way. Just before bed, I will then take my boots and put them in 2 plastic grocery bags (one for each boot) and put my boots at the bottom of my sleeping bag (one on each side next to my feet). I will keep the big wooly socks on until my bag warms up enough, then I take them off and add them to the bottom of my "pillow pile".

I am only 5'-4", so I can use a "regular" sized bag (REI Kilo Expedition -20) and still have plenty of room for my boots at the bottom. In the morning, the heavy socks go back on with an adhesive toe warmer on each foot and put my boots back on. there is NOTHING worse than putting boots that are frozen solid on first thing in the morning. I found that out the hard way on one of my first winter hikes.

Hmmm yeah i wonder if travel versions of shoe warmers/dryers exist. It would probably take a lot of juice. I definitely think it's a good idea for me to go for a long bag when I get a good winter one. I'm 6'2 so there's really not much room for any stuff in a reg size...

Um... how about make a fire and dry your stuff out? The first thing we do when winter camping is make a fire and get enough wood for the night, even if we make camp at night!

A fire is always a possibility, but to be honest most of the "legal" camping areas (at least in the White Mountains) are so high up, finding dry firewood is almost impossible. Not to mention that most shelters/campsites have big "NO FIRES" signs.

We always base camp and day hike the peaks. Could always use your stove I guess.

$.01
If the boots you're talkin' are hiking boots, the utmost important move is to clean the leather, let it thoroughly dry...then waterproof, letting each coat dry for 24+ hrs. That way they'll never get wet inside. Once wet, it's a lot tougher...(but you know that...duh..LOL).