 Poster: A snowHead
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A friend of mine suffers from serious cold hands. It's not a problem I've encountered myself so beyond the usual advice, I was wondering if anyone with a similar issue has come across any surefire ways of managing this problem.
She's tried gloves and mittens of all descriptions and even bought heated gloves, though the problem with these seems to be lack of a heating element in the thumb and a battery life of about 1 1/2 hours.
All sensible suggestions would be most welcome.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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She could try doing what was discovered as a treatment for Reynards sufferers. Reynards causes blood vessels to not dilate - "poor circulation" - but this is ultimately what leads to us having cold extremeties. It's a bit novel but its been shown to work in Alaska so....
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/19/science/simple-method-found-to-warm-cold-hands.html
If its as bad as it sounds it might need a fundemental change like this to have an effect.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@macgyver, that's very interesting. My wife suffers "modeate" Raynaud's which is, believe me, quite debilitating enough.
The Times article gets a few things not quite right.
It is quite rare, in men. When TOH consulted our Swiss medic, his medical encyclopedia suggested that it affected most women, albeit mildly, in most cases. And he reckoned that if it was common in men we'd have solved it by now.
For her it manifests as a catastrophic constriction of the capillaries, sometimes even when she is warm and with heated hands and feet. Sometimes on a warm summer's day. Which isn't quite the mechanism mentioned in the Times, but there may be new information or I may be misinformed.
I'm not sure I'll persuade her to follow that regine, but any lead as to the trigger and a means of suppressing it is Good News.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Ade57, I suffer with very cold hands and now find that what works best for me are my leather mittens which have separate fingers inside them and then I no longer wear any liners but just use the 'teabags' - almost every day until it gets really warm, end of March/April. We (or rather a son who goes there) buy large boxes of the handwarmers from Costco so I have enough for all winter. My hands seemed to stay colder when I wore liners.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Pamski, Thanks. She has explored just about every permutation of gloves, mitts, liners, heaters (tea bags)
@macgyver, This sounds really interesting. I've already forwarded the article to my friend. The logistics for setting this up requires a bit of thought but worth trying. Thanks.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@macgyver, I did also read this article and thank you for posting it. Will have to think on that solution...
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More layers on your core. If your body stays warm it won't try and keep the blood around the vital organs, meaning plenty of warm blood will still flow to your hands.
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| More layers on your core. |
I'd qualify that with wear warmer layers, not more layers. There have been threads on here in the past where people have complained of still being cold despite wearing loads of layers... the trouble is, that outer layers squish the air out of inner ones, making them less effective insulators, and compression by all those layers can reduce blood flow to your skin and to extremities. If you're wearing 5 or more layers, it is probably time to re-evaluate your outfit!
One good layer of primaloft will be much better than a stack of three merino mids, for example.
(Also, consider fleecy wrist gaiters. This won't help much with Reynauds, but for everyone else it can make quite a difference. You lose a surprising amount of heat through your wrists)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Serriadh, sorry, that's what I meant. I blame the hangover 
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I often used to have cold hands but over the years I've figured out what works for me. Four things that work: make sure my gloves are dry, if I've been hot in the morning and they've become sweaty put on different, dry gloves, keep my core temperature up, overmitts (something like the Extremities Tuff Bags overmitts) to wear over my normal gloves and keeping my blood sugar level up.
I have an imitation down gilet and jacket from Decathlon made out of their answer to Primaloft which are far warmer than the very expensive North Face Primaloft jacket I tried first. My overmitts come out when it's about -15C and below. And if all else fails go and have a hot chocolate.
I don't like the tea bags because my hands can get too hot, then they sweat, then they become super cold because they're damp.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Ade57, my oh uses Klan heated glove liners ans Sidas heated boot insoles. Tea bags don't work as they only heat the palms, not the fingers.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| SaraJ wrote: |
| make sure my gloves are dry, if I've been hot in the morning and they've become sweaty put on different, dry gloves, keep my core temperature up, overmitts (something like the Extremities Tuff Bags overmitts) to wear over my normal gloves and keeping my blood sugar level up. |
I highly rate gloves with changeable liners... this is the area in which they really shine, if you can carry a spare set of liners. Synthetic liners will dry very quickly, and if you're warm enough just stuffing a damp pair in an inside pocket of your shell should have them dried out before the fresh pair have time to get damp.
If you find yourself getting too sweaty in your gloves, that might be a sign that they just aren't breathing well enough and hence will take ages to dry, too. I'm a big fan of gloves and mitts with no waterproof shell or insert, and a fibre pile lining that breathes extremely well and dries very quickly. Plenty of these about... Mountain Equipment Randonee, Montane Extreme, stuff by Venitex and Kinco, etc. Sure, they're not properly waterproof but neither are most gloves with 'inserts' instead of fully taped shells, and if you keep the leather well treated (or the DWR renewed on synthetics) they'll serve you pretty well.
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Thanks for all the ideas so far. Some great ones to pass on.
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You know it makes sense.
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@SaraJ, I'm usually much more susceptible after a lunch break - I've taken to stuffing my gloves inside my thermals over lunch but that doesn't help if they're a bit damp inside. I can't believe I didn't think of carrying a spare dry pair 
I've just bought a nice pair of Ortovox mitts courtesy of a good Snowshepherd deal. They are supposed to be very good at wicking with good breathability so may not be as damp inside. I'll take my old gloves as a spare for now in case they are damp and see if it's possible to buy a second set of liner mitts for a lunchtime swap. Thanks!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Ironically I'm not convinced that Reynauds is entirely to do with being cold. I used to get it regularly when driving any distance in my first car - small, underpowered and lots of vibration. The blood would just seem to drain out of my fingers. Nowadays I regularly come out of Sainsbury's after pushing the trolley round for the weekly shop and find one or two fingers have gone. I wonder whether it's related to cooling, and lack of movement/activity, rather than cold per se?
So a solution for me when skiing would be to keep moving - if I'm getting cold I've been known to drag people onto something steep and possibly bumpy, and get the short turns with pole plants going to get the blood pumping hard! Ski more dynamically. But I would also echo what's been said above about keeping the core warm so the blood is still warm by the time it gets to your fingers.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Not cheap; but Zanier Heated gloves are very good. Heater elements run down the top of all fingers and thumb; and have three settings which last 12, 6 or 3 hours. My wife suffers from cold hands and these mean she's able to ski all day rather than give up at lunchtime.
http://www.skibartlett.com/zanier-heated-gloves---ladies-6448-p.asp
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@karin, As a Reynards sufferer I can't shop in our local Sainsbury's without losing the feeling in a least half my fingers even during summer. Tesco, Morrison and Asda I generally have occasional problems but Sainsbury in town has weirdly become a no go area.
As for ski-ing I have North Face summit series mittens, I put tea-bag heaters in the ends and just move them about the mitten and thumb, still not brilliant but I think they at least an extra later of insulation and help keep the gloves dry and warm at lunch time. Keeping my core warm helps and it might seem obvious but keep moving, flatish runs I notice the cold but if its steeper and bumpy my hands (and feet) tend to warm up as the blood flows. The difficult balance is not letting extremities get too cold then the rest of the body starts to suffer.
20 ish years of ski-ing and various gloves,boots,socks,heaters,food etc I've still not sussed it, but until I can leave the supermarket with blood flow in my fingers I've no hope
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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My wife too suffers from cold hands, I'm just wondering if a leather glove outer (such as the Kincos) and a liner is a better option. Anyone have experience of using two gloves/
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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my partner suffers from cold fingers but not her palms or backs of her hands. She tried gloves with inners but they tend to be bulky with sausage fingers. Gloves alsio tend to be colder than mittens due to the larger surface area etc. She has used mittens with inner gloves and tea bags for ages and gets along with it. She manages on all but th coldest days such as -40c in Canada. I was at the motorcycle show at the weekend and looked at the Keis gloves for her. They felt quality and were quite warm on the display stand and werent bulky. JUst like her normal inner gloves in fact The element runs along each finger to the tip and down again. £120 for gloves, battery and charger. Sounds like a christams present !
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