I would say my feet were damp because of the snow, not sweating. Also I think they got wet through the material and not over the top. It was spring time and there was a lot of old, fairly wet snow in generally warm conditions. So I was walking on perhaps 6 inches of lose snow on top of more packed snow underneath.

I guess my question is, if you have a standard over the ankle hiking boot that is advertised as "waterproof" but not specifically insulated, for winter or snow, how well should boots like that stay dry in 6-8 hours of wet snow? Would you expect winter / snow boots to do better?