I have La Canadienne boots and hands-down, my Uggs are MUCH warmer.
There is nothing warmer than Uggs, period. If you say otherwise, then you either wore them with socks (which defeats the purpose) or you've never owned a pair. Walking around in them in the store doesn't count - you need to get outside in the freezing cold, sockless, and wear them all day long to understand just how warm these boots are.
What's more, your feet don't sweat in them; they wick away moisture. Other boots can get too hot when worn inside, then when you go outside, your socks are sweaty and wet, and this causes your toes to freeze.
Personally (and no offense) I think the Columbia boots are ugly. I have owned such boots in the past, and find them uncomfortable - and not all that warm either. Plus you clomp, clomp, clomp in them! They're heavy. They're inflexible around the ankles. Your legs get tired in them. Whereas the Uggs are lightweight like a feather.
While I don't recommend overdosing on them and wearing them constantly, I notice Ugg-like boots in the Jcrew catalog and with the right outfit it's a very cute outdoorsy look. Like Yublocka's brother!
I think Ugg's work provided:
1) You wear them for function and practicality - such as for getting from one place to another, and you swap into indoor shoes once you get indoors. (I've been known to wear my uggs with a formal dress, to get myself from home to a holiday function in an ice storm! The uggs are swapped out for high heels immediately once indoors).
2) You wear them for an outdoor winter look, and deliberately add certain outdoorsy touches, like Yublocka's brother has done with his plaid jacket, and like the models in the jcrew catalog have done.
I really abhor the mini-skirt, bare-legs, Uggs look. However, I think uggs can look adorable with a sweater dress or sweater tunic, and chunky knit tights.
I did wear mine on the plane to iceland, but that was about practicality: they took up too much room in my luggage. I didn't actually like wearing them in the airport. My momma raised me to dress nicely when I travel, and Uggs to me are outdoor boots. Plus when I had to take them off at security, I was sockless... ewww... I forgot about that part.
Otherwise, in Iceland, I wore my leather knee-high boots whenever we were in town and there wasn't too much snow on the ground and temps were above freezing; I wore my Uggs when we were out of town driving in the country where the weather is completely unpredicatable and we were sight-seeing tromping around outdoors in snow.
As for the comment about slipping in the snow, the newest models have more traction. But the older models - which were flat as can be and had thin soles - weren't so bad, actually. Because they are so wide, they provide natural stability. They are my shoe of choice when our driveway is a solid block of ice and I must get from house to car.
I don't own flip-flops or crocs, but I will never let go of my Uggs. You'll have to pry them out of my dying hands, hee hee....
You just have to be judicious about when and how you wear them. I do agree that it is easy, like with Crocs, to go overboard and end up wearing them constantly, well past the time when weather demands warm boots, and never taking them off.
I do rue the day when Uggs became a big trend, and suddenly everyone was wearing them everywhere. However, if I was a college student, I probably would wear them all the time, to and from class. Wish they were around when I went to college. My college got tons of snow and I often froze my toes off.
