Cold Hands
- Thread starter LittleBear
- Start date
Help Support vftt.org:
DougPaul
Well-known member
If you are eating a large meal, I suggest you try eating as a semi-continuous nibble. (Lunch begins the moment breakfast ends and ends the moment dinner begins...)Roxi said:
This is how I was taught to eat in winter. Keep snacks in your pocket so you can get at them frequently. I also maintain the discipline of eating and drinking at least once an hour. It works well for me--I eat the same way in summer.
Doug
DougPaul
Well-known member
Warming hands and feet
I just want to mention the field procedure for warming hands is to warm them in one's armpit or crotch. Feet require the help of a true friend: warm in an armpit, crotch, or on the friend's belly.
Doug
I just want to mention the field procedure for warming hands is to warm them in one's armpit or crotch. Feet require the help of a true friend: warm in an armpit, crotch, or on the friend's belly.
Doug
Tom Rankin
Well-known member
DougPaul said:
The back of the knee works ok too.
Roxi
Active member
DougPaul said:
I never eat a large meal while hiking, cycling, or exercising in general as I'd get nauseous if I did. And I do a very good job of drinking water regularly and often, as once you're thirsty, it's too late. I learned that while cycling across the USA. It's not about eating habits. Some of us truly do get cold more easily and more often than others, and the extremeties are often affected first. Layering myself in Smart Wool from fingers to toes, and choosing both my hikes and my hiking partners wisely has helped.
marty
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2004
- Messages
- 1,775
- Reaction score
- 231
Smartwool liners rock!
I also think highly of Smartwool glove liners. They stay warm when wet, too! Besides Sierra Trading Post, you can check Campmor.
Regards,
Marty
I also think highly of Smartwool glove liners. They stay warm when wet, too! Besides Sierra Trading Post, you can check Campmor.
Regards,
Marty
daxs
Active member
I know how you feel. I have raynauds and once my hands get cold it can take some time to get them warm again. I can have problems in the frozen food section of the market. I usually carry a ridiculous amount of gloves and mittens with me when I hike so I can change things around. I carry gloves even in the summer. Some things that work for me are the chemical glove warmers. In the winter I always carry a hot beverage either in a thermos or insulated coozie. Sometimes its nice to wrap your hands around the hot nalgene. Last year a hiking buddy told me about windmilling your arms and I found that can be really helpful. Mittens also work better than gloves. A combination that i like is a pair of glove liners underneath the wool mittens that you can pull back to expose your fingers. I ahve a pair of smartwool mittens like that. You can keep you hands warm in the mittens but when you need to use your fingers you can just flip back the top of the mitten.
TomD
New member
Glove Warmers
I have a pair of Mitts made by Heat Factory-they have a separate thumb and forefinger. They also have a small zipper pocket on the back of the hand that is meant to hold a small chemical heat pack, like the ones you put in a ski boot insert. I've never used the packs in the mitts, but have used them in a boot and they put out a lot of heat for several hours.
The mitts aren't particularly waterproof so using Polar Proof might help that-mine wetted out after about a day and half of snowshoeing. They make gloves too that take the heat packs. Worth a look for cold hands.
They have a website: http://heatfactory.com
I have a pair of Mitts made by Heat Factory-they have a separate thumb and forefinger. They also have a small zipper pocket on the back of the hand that is meant to hold a small chemical heat pack, like the ones you put in a ski boot insert. I've never used the packs in the mitts, but have used them in a boot and they put out a lot of heat for several hours.
The mitts aren't particularly waterproof so using Polar Proof might help that-mine wetted out after about a day and half of snowshoeing. They make gloves too that take the heat packs. Worth a look for cold hands.
They have a website: http://heatfactory.com
LittleBear
New member
Thanks everyone for the great responses. You have all given me some good suggestions. I will look for the smartwool liners and wool mittens. I know there has to be a combination out there that will work. I almost had the problem solved on Saturday - the EMS power stretch gloves with OR overmitts worked better than anything else I have tried so far, so I think I am close to finding a good solution. If I can't, I will be very depressed to think I may have to give up or cut back on winter hiking. 
Gris
New member
Two words...
D-O-W-N V-E-S-T
you will be remiss if you do not at least give it a try...
D-O-W-N V-E-S-T
you will be remiss if you do not at least give it a try...
DougPaul
Well-known member
See if you can find Dachstein (boiled wool) mittens. Very warm and nearly windproof.
I used to wear them ice climbing (without shells)--my knuckles would press against the ice and water sometimes flowed into the mittens. 10 min later my hands were warm and the inside of the mittens were relatively dry. (There would still be ice globs on the fuzz of the mittens, but I didn't feel them. After a little while those would disappear too.) Too warm for me to wear hiking.
Dougal Haston wore two pairs on the rather nasty summit day of the first ascent of the south face of Annunapurna (an 8000 meter peak in Nepal). Had all his fingers when he returned too...
They used to be readily available, now harder to find. (Try a search engine.) Still as warm as ever.
Doug
I used to wear them ice climbing (without shells)--my knuckles would press against the ice and water sometimes flowed into the mittens. 10 min later my hands were warm and the inside of the mittens were relatively dry. (There would still be ice globs on the fuzz of the mittens, but I didn't feel them. After a little while those would disappear too.) Too warm for me to wear hiking.
Dougal Haston wore two pairs on the rather nasty summit day of the first ascent of the south face of Annunapurna (an 8000 meter peak in Nepal). Had all his fingers when he returned too...
They used to be readily available, now harder to find. (Try a search engine.) Still as warm as ever.
Doug
HighHorse
New member
^^^ that's the old school, and you gotta respect it.
alternatively, you could get some OR altimitts if you're really serious about having warm hands. those things are the truth. they're also quite an investment, but they work.
alternatively, you could get some OR altimitts if you're really serious about having warm hands. those things are the truth. they're also quite an investment, but they work.
jfb
Active member
Sugarloafer
New member
Lots of good ideas here...just a couple of more thoughts that I've learned skiing over the years that I didn't see specifically mentioned already:
1) don't take your gloves/mittens off while you're outdoors...not even to pee or take pictures. Unpleasant?...yes, but constant on/off of your gloves contributes significantly to cold hands.
2) mix some cayenne pepper with baby powder and sprinkle on your hands and feet...keeps 'em warm and dry ! I gave some to my daughter when she first became a ski instructor at Sugarloaf and now she swears by it for those minus 25 days and you have to got to work.
1) don't take your gloves/mittens off while you're outdoors...not even to pee or take pictures. Unpleasant?...yes, but constant on/off of your gloves contributes significantly to cold hands.
2) mix some cayenne pepper with baby powder and sprinkle on your hands and feet...keeps 'em warm and dry ! I gave some to my daughter when she first became a ski instructor at Sugarloaf and now she swears by it for those minus 25 days and you have to got to work.
Maddy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2003
- Messages
- 1,801
- Reaction score
- 157
Yes...I think some of us are doomed to have cold hands and feet. My feet in the minus 40 Sorels don't give me trouble. The hands are the real problem. Windmills don't hardly work anymore and I have learned that gloves are useless. My real test was my Outward Bound course in Ely MN.
It is positively frigid out there.Everything freezes. I kept handwarmers in my mittens around the clock. I brought my BD glacier mittens but rarely used them.Way too bulky. WE used "choppers" most of the time. They are work mittens, leather outers and lined. I had no faith that my hands would be warm but those hand warmers really saved me. I just kept changing them if they cooled down too much. Use approx 6 per day. I kept them well insulated in my pack because my leaders told me that some people had trouble with them when they were exposed to bitter cold because it rendered them useless. Without warmers I would not have been able to do my course. If my hands get cold I just stuff they into the mittens with a warmer and keep moving my fingers around and they warm up fairly quickly. It's more of a nuisance than anything else. If I have to do something with my hands exposed for dexterity I will wear thin gloves but as soon as I feel the digits freezing up I warm them in the mittens and then take them out again to complete the "precision" task!
No matter what mitten/liner/overmitt system I use I could not play outside in the winter without warmers.
It is positively frigid out there.Everything freezes. I kept handwarmers in my mittens around the clock. I brought my BD glacier mittens but rarely used them.Way too bulky. WE used "choppers" most of the time. They are work mittens, leather outers and lined. I had no faith that my hands would be warm but those hand warmers really saved me. I just kept changing them if they cooled down too much. Use approx 6 per day. I kept them well insulated in my pack because my leaders told me that some people had trouble with them when they were exposed to bitter cold because it rendered them useless. Without warmers I would not have been able to do my course. If my hands get cold I just stuff they into the mittens with a warmer and keep moving my fingers around and they warm up fairly quickly. It's more of a nuisance than anything else. If I have to do something with my hands exposed for dexterity I will wear thin gloves but as soon as I feel the digits freezing up I warm them in the mittens and then take them out again to complete the "precision" task!
No matter what mitten/liner/overmitt system I use I could not play outside in the winter without warmers.
Nessmuk
Active member
Just curious, did doing #2 above lead to the necessity of #1? I would guess that if you try option #2, then you would only forget to follow option #1 just one time before you learned to never forget #1 again!Sugarloafer said:
Last edited:
Stan
Well-known member
"Cold hands, warm heart." I think you'll just have to learn to develop a mean streak.
Reynaud's comes in many varieties, or perhaps severity. I've heard of people who can't walk past the frozen foods section in a grocery store without a reaction but I doubt that's the case with you. However, the root cause may be similar. Reynaud's is a localized vascular issue, that is, circulatory, that I understand can be treated to some extent with medication. So, my next tongue in cheek suggestion is to find out what that medication is, determine the main ingredient and see if it comes in a liquid form available at the State Liquor Store.
On a more serious note, you might also consider whether you're getting the fullest circulation in your hands. Might there be some constriction caused by your clothing, your grip on hiking or ski poles, the elevation of your hands as part of that grip on poles or by some other idiosyncracy or injury?
It has been determined that wrists are the radiator of the body's circulation system ... there are more blood vessels near the surface of your wrist than anywhere else in the body and they are easily exposed. That could impact how your body heat is maintained so maybe you need to be as conscientious of the heat loss at your wrists as your hands.
Take this advice, call me in the morning and send the co-pay to my swiss bank account.
Reynaud's comes in many varieties, or perhaps severity. I've heard of people who can't walk past the frozen foods section in a grocery store without a reaction but I doubt that's the case with you. However, the root cause may be similar. Reynaud's is a localized vascular issue, that is, circulatory, that I understand can be treated to some extent with medication. So, my next tongue in cheek suggestion is to find out what that medication is, determine the main ingredient and see if it comes in a liquid form available at the State Liquor Store.
On a more serious note, you might also consider whether you're getting the fullest circulation in your hands. Might there be some constriction caused by your clothing, your grip on hiking or ski poles, the elevation of your hands as part of that grip on poles or by some other idiosyncracy or injury?
It has been determined that wrists are the radiator of the body's circulation system ... there are more blood vessels near the surface of your wrist than anywhere else in the body and they are easily exposed. That could impact how your body heat is maintained so maybe you need to be as conscientious of the heat loss at your wrists as your hands.
Take this advice, call me in the morning and send the co-pay to my swiss bank account.
LittleBear
New member
Stan:
I did some quick research and I think the medication you referenced is the same thing that's in tequilla
I did some quick research and I think the medication you referenced is the same thing that's in tequilla
Stan
Well-known member
LittleBear said:Stan:
I did some quick research and I think the medication you referenced is the same thing that's in tequilla
That doesn't surprise me, it's also good for arthritis, hang nails, post hiking blues and postholing.
Pete_Hickey
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2003
- Messages
- 1,976
- Reaction score
- 222
Hot peppers have the same effect, but they don't cloud your judgement. Not an issue at a gathering, but may be on a summit in bad weather.LittleBear said:I did some quick research and I think the medication you referenced is the same thing that's in tequilla
Note that when using chemicals to increase circulation to the extremeties, it is VERY important that the core temperature is kept warm.
