 Poster: A snowHead
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I was skiing in the Dolomites during the "beast from the East" (2018 I think?) and it was down to around -25C at the top of the Marmolada glacier. It was sunny without wind, but even so my ski clothing was not quite good enough, kept getting numb toes and fingers, had to stop regularly. Only went up to the top once. Generally I find skiing when it's below -15C to be not ideal, especially if it's cloudy/snowy/windy.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| PowderAdict wrote: |
2016 Three quarters of the way up Asahi-dake on Hokkiado
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Looks like low visibility too - I'm surprised you went up there!
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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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We didn’t go much further as that was the go/no go point, and being exposed to the wind from that point it was only going to get colder. As we were taking that picture, we turned round to see a fox amused by our antics, but it legged it before we could take a picture. The picture was taken near the end of our tour, and our Aussie guide was flying back home the next day to +35C, so had his wife bring suitable clothes to the airport so he could change on arrival.
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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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La Grande Motte glacier above Tignes in 1987. Thermometer said -25c inside the lift station. Thermometer on the wall outside said -40c. We got the long chairlift up to the cable car.
I recall trying to sing Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys on the lift but we couldn't because our faces had become numb!
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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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| Snowsartre wrote: |
Read this old thread with interest -iSKI app has got temperatures in Canada as low as -41 Celsius and mid -30s day time temperatures - do resorts even open in these conditions as that’s ten degrees colder than my freezer?!  |
As I mentioned before my coldest day was max -35C in Marmot Basin. We'd pre-purchased lift tickets which needed to ne exchanged for day passes each day, and had left one day clear (it was xmas week so we thought we might take a day off). On that particular day the lift office said they weren't issuing the day tickets, so give it a try and see how it went, i.e. that they were not charging, as so many people would only do one run then give up. So we got a free day out of it.
On the hill everyone was struggling and needing very frequent stops, on one of which we were chatting to a waitress in the lodge, who said that the Piste Patrol had had to stop at least a dozen people already that day who were showing the typical white patches on their face of frost-nip, the precursor to frostbite, and tell them that they would not be allowed back up the lift. Sensible policy, I thought.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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As long as you have the right gear, a place to warm up, a buddy to check you for frostbite, lifts that run and skis that move, you can go. I have done -20f many times at Sun Valley. How cold is that? Well, driving home in a brand-new Honda in that weather, we had to scrape ice off the inside of the windshield for the first three hours, and we wore full ski gear!
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Have skied from -35c to +25c.
The key to staying warm below the tipping point of -30c / -22f is to totally cover the main (big) bloodvessels of the neck, face, wrists, lower back, thighs, etc.
Leave no skin exposed to the wind or frost.
Warm blood = warm body.
Neck gaiter, balaclava (ski mask), wrist gaiters, long upperbody rollnecks, leggings, and so on.
Heated (battery) gilets are good now, from Am*zon, and also useful for short periods.
Plenty folks in Russia (Siberia) work and langlauf quite happily down to -50c and -60c, such as Yakutsk.
The key is to leave no exposed bloodvessels.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Fri 5-01-24 19:54; edited 2 times in total
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Mount Tremblant short time after New Years in 1992. -40C plus wind chill. Remember lifties using blow torches to warm up equipment. Ivana Trump was filming a movie( I think it was called For Love Alone or something similar) and the actors were skiing in traditional Austrian ski gear. Managed about 4 runs with an hour spent warming up between them. Levi in 2021 not quite as cold but with ski gear that was 30 years newer made it much more bearable.
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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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| homers double wrote: |
| Coldest I've experienced was Winter Park a few years ago, apparently when the combined wind and temps reach -40 degrees the lift up to Parsenn Bowl closes. It was only open a couple of days whilst we were there and it wasn't that windy. |
That’s the coldest skiing we’ve known, January 2001, that top chairlift was totally exposed to a wind from the north. -25c, wind chill god knows. We invested in gloves/mittens with heated gel cells. Nearby Fraser I think records the lowest temperatures of the 48 contiguous states.
The other was a non-skiing Santa trip to Rovaniemi in early December 2021, it was -27c. Before we went we purchased highly rated cold weather boots etc but they weren’t enough, as well as already having technical ski layers. Visitors sheltered in a pizza/burger take away, it was mobbed and we quite literally caught Covid.
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