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Dealing with cold digits - avoiding triggering our bodies’ cold response

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
To close that gap behind the neck, get a jacket that has a large enough hood to fit over the helmet. Pull it up on the chair ride. It’s amazing how much warmer it is.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@dazman, for me it's just how much heat my legs can generate skiing and trying to best conserve that to keep core warmer and not waste it. I've sat on a lift (old Gentianes in Morillon)in heavy snow with thighs giving off steam in the cold air that made realise, right there and then, it was disappearing faster than I imagined.

Since then I've used merino base layer there when temps are low, I just didn't think I needed them before, wrongly as it seems. Made much more resilient heat source for hands and feet.
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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?
@abc, ….VERY good tip. On ‘tipping it down days’ you need to make sure that it is a hood which naturally by design sits flat against your back, where the opening is ‘closed’ to the elements when down, otherwise it’s a big dump of snow (or water) on your head when you put it up. Manufacturers who know how to design such hoods: Peak Performance, Picture (the best in my opinion), State of Elevenate, and Rab. Please add any others…

ALSO

Hand gaiters are VERY good - they usefully close the gap between glove and sleeve in a pretty complete way. Need to know the time? Use a cheap nurses watch in a rubberised fob casing, pinned in a side pocket. That way you neither drop your phone nor have to scrabble to release your watch ‘tween jacket and glove.

Ski3 - even in summer temps at easter I use base layer with shell ski trousers. In deep temps I use base layer with insulated ski trousers. That indeed keeps my feet warm. I can, like the Inuit, then use the vent zips at will to keep my body temp at the right level. They are forever removing and adding layers as they work, so that they never work up a sweat or cause their outer layers to defrost.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
dazman wrote:

Any other tips??

Little Hotties Hand Warmers
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Scrunch77 wrote:
dazman wrote:

Any other tips??

Little Hotties Hand Warmers


Or just take a little hottie with you?
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
I tend to have cold fingers, even when out walking in the UK in cold weather, so finally got some 3 finger Hestra gloves (All mountain CZone) a couple of years ago. Very good.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Can highly recommend a rechargeable hand warmer, was a lifesaver for me in selva last week when my heated glove liner stopped working, just left it running all day in my ski jacket and warmed my hand up whilst on a lift, amazing product.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@valais2, if you’ve not yet read it, there’s an excellent book that I suspect you may enjoy, about the science and design thinking behind outdoor clothing “Staying Dry and Keeping Warm” written by the founder of Karrimor (when it was a good brand) and others. Really excellent and useful read. Also lots of good stuff about the innovation history of outdoor gear on the accompanying website: https://www.outdoorgearcoach.co.uk/publications/keeping-dry-staying-warm/
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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.
@Inboard, excellent - good recommendation. Many thanks.

@rizzotherock, hmmm….this may be the O2 at 8000m problem - oxygen use in the high ranges - it’s great while you have it but when it runs out …WHAM you hit a wall, and then the trouble starts…Anatoli Boukreyev was very strong on this problem and the way he managed in 1966 probably saved the lives of many. So….not so dramatic in your case but if you use heated liners and don’t use the passive but powerful techniques mentioned in this thread, then you might be relying on tech a little too much. If you’ve covered all the bases above, then all fine. The big breakthrough for me was neck covering plus merino liners to wick away moisture from my fingers. Bang….warm hands in the lowest temps and no Reynauds.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I think this is the latest general review of the pathology of Reynauds’ and is a good piece….

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8884459/
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@valais2, I assure you, without active heating of hands and feet, Mrs U would not be active outdoors in winter.

She is otherwise fully covered up and snug, but the Raynaud's kicks in nonetheless.

But as with many broad and poorly understood syndromes, the range of symptoms and triggers is as broad as the population of sufferers.
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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.
The other tip I got in Mongolia/Russia when stepping out into temps well below -10C was to do up your clothes indoors THEN step outside.
Too many of us Brits are used to stepping outside with an open jacket while chatting with friends and then start doing up the main zip and then putting hat and gloves on. When temps are low your body will be stripped of crucial temperature which it then has to work hard to get back - and frankly below -20 it won't be able to.
Of course you need a bit of efficiency with this, we know if one is fast and the other is faffing about then the fast one starts to sweat. That's up to you to manage (I tell wife/kids "I'll be waiting outside", or I just wait to do the jacket up at the last second).
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
valais2 wrote:
@abc, ….VERY good tip. On ‘tipping it down days’ you need to make sure that it is a hood which naturally by design sits flat against your back, where the opening is ‘closed’ to the elements when down, otherwise it’s a big dump of snow (or water) on your head when you put it up. Manufacturers who know how to design such hoods: Peak Performance, Picture (the best in my opinion), State of Elevenate, and Rab. Please add any others…

Excellent point!

I didn’t realize that on my first purchase. The hood acted like a snow catch once it’s down. It takes only one run to remind me I need to fold the hood down when I pull it off the helmet at the top of the chair ride. Embarassed

Quote:

Hand gaiters are VERY good - they usefully close the gap between glove and sleeve in a pretty complete way.

Or a pair of gloves that has a long cuff.

Speaking of gloves. I don’t use gloves. I use mittens.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:

was to do up your clothes indoors THEN step outside.

Reminds me of a conversation with an instructor / assessor at Glenmore Lodge. When running Winter Mountain Leader assessments, the best early indicator of the competence of the candidates was how they got out of the van on the first day. Those who knew what they were doing would be fully kitted and dressed up before leaving the van, unlike those who'd get out the van, then put on / do up clothes or search for kit

Another hint is that you can lose a lot of heat locally through conduction by touching objects with high thermal conductivity. For example, first thing when carrying skis (e.g. to the bus) I'll make sure I'm wearing good gloves, even if the valley temperature is such that I wouldn't otherwise need them. Also, if I feel my hands are starting to get cold, I'll stop holding onto the metal shaft of my poles on the lift, and either hold them by the plastic handles, or grip them with my legs or boots
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@viv, I can make a reasonable estimate of how well someone skis by watching how they walk across the car park in boots with skis ...

But on the heat thing, when we had the really cold snap a couple of weeks ago (-16 outside the house at 09h00) two of the niblings schoolmates had to be rescued from having frozen their tongues to the metal school gates Shocked

- it won't have been the first time they'll have seen that degree of cold either rolling eyes
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@under a new name, frozen stories like that are amusing.

A Canadian friend tells me of kids stuck to the screen door (face and fingers) having to be warmed off with a hairdryer by their mum Very Happy

Also he got his face stuck on a snowshovel as a teen, his mate tried to "huff" the other side off with warm breath, picture two sizable canadian teens standing out in drive huffing either side of a snow shovel Laughing
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@ski3, …yep…me too…despite complete knowledge and experience…I respond to the shout from the main room for ‘any more wood for the fire?’ by leaving the washing up and going outside to top up on wood…grab an armful of logs and going back in reach for metal front door handle with wet hand and instantly…blam….hand welded to door handle. Duh.


Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Wed 1-02-23 12:31; edited 1 time in total
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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?
Snopes finally rate it as false. Still a funny story though.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/frozen-assets/
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Some good stuff here folks....I've bought some of those hand warmers that I'll keep with me, hopefully this helps.

I also may change my beloved gloves for some of the electric warming ones.

The first round is on me, what'll be?
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Make mine a little hottie, thanks Smile
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