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Cold feet and hands - boots size?

Skisnow

Certified Ski Diva
My kid is suffering horribly with cold feet and hands, to the point of tears after 1.5 hours of skiing. I’ve measured her feet in a Rossignol foot measure and found they are just under mondo size 20, her boots are a 19.5. Could this be causing her cold feet? Her toes are also damp coming out the boots.

I know the next mondo size is a full shell size larger. It’s not possible to get a boot fitting right now. She’s in a Lange RSJ 50 and they did her fine in Whistler for two weeks last February, we’ve gone up from 18.5 to 19.5 since then (unable to get a boot fitting then either). Also wondering if we should go for 20 or 20.5?

Her ski jacket and pants are also slightly short they’re still meeting her gloves but maybe the insulation isn’t stretching as far down? Could this cause cold hands? We are on our third pair of mittens with another pair from Canada on it’s way to us. Unfortunately not much gear available locally and we cannot get out the country right now.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Could be a lot of things happening here, so
1. Take the liners out of her boots. Take the insole out of the boots. Have her stand on the insole with her heel right at the back of the insole. This is quick way for you to see if the length is correct.
2. Wet toes - so while you've got those liners out, dry them out. I get moisture, that you can see, on the top of my liners. So putting them on a boot dryer isn't going to help. I have to remove my liners every night. And fresh, dry socks every morning!!
3. Mittens - well size could be part of it, but again...are they dry when she puts them on. What make and style of mitt have are you using?

Don't let her wear her mitts or socks that she will be skiing in on the way to the hill if you drive. The heat in the car will cause sweat. Once she hits the cold and start to ski, the sweat cools down, and next thing you're wet and cold.
 

Iwannaski

Angel Diva
is the gaiter to her ski pants going OVER the boot? Or is it getting tucked in? Both the squeeze of the gaiter in the boot on her calves could cause issues, and also, the gaiter going OVER the boot can keep it a little dryer.

For the jacket and pants, depending on the brand, a lot of them have a little hidden seam inside the arms/legs that will allow you to let them “out” ....basically lengthen to grow... Lands End and Spyder both do this, I don’t know who else. So, maybe you can peek and see if she can get a little extra arm length?

If either her hands or her feet are WET and cold, take a look at synthetic glove liners and socks? What kind of socks is she wearing while skiing? How many pairs?
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Sorry if this is basic and you are already doing it, but do you have handwarmers stuffed into her mitts? Btw a gap between sleeve and mitt would be uncomfortable to me. I always look for mitts with good cuffs.
 

elemmac

Angel Diva
Her ski jacket and pants are also slightly short they’re still meeting her gloves but maybe the insulation isn’t stretching as far down? Could this cause cold hands? We are on our third pair of mittens with another pair from Canada on it’s way to us. Unfortunately not much gear available locally and we cannot get out the country right now.

It's well known that you run cold water over your wrists when you're trying to cool down, but the opposite is true too. If you keep your wrists warm, it helps keep blood flowing to your fingers, keeping them warm. If her jacket/mittens aren't meeting up well you could try something like this under the jacket cuff: Wristies For Kids - Fingerless Polartec fleece gloves / glove liners

As for boots, I would first determine if it's sweat or leaky boots that is making her feet damp. If it's sweat, try thinner socks, as well as making sure the socks are dry before putting them in boots (as mentioned above, swap socks right before putting boots on in the parking lot). If it's a leaky boot, you'll need to determine where they're leaking and try to stop it. Lastly, yes, if her boots are running on the small side, that could be part of the reason. A little extra room generally allows feet to stay warmer.

Edited to add: You could also try adding a vest to her wardrobe. Keeping your core warm promotes warmer extremities.
 

Getting Ready

Angel Diva
Do her pants and jacket have that “room to grow” feature than many brands have. Letting out the seams for my kids help us get through the season.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
As for boots, I would first determine if it's sweat or leaky boots that is making her feet damp. If it's sweat, try thinner socks, as well as making sure the socks are dry before putting them in boots (as mentioned above, swap socks right before putting boots on in the parking lot). If it's a leaky boot, you'll need to determine where they're leaking and try to stop it. Lastly, yes, if her boots are running on the small side, that could be part of the reason. A little extra room generally allows feet to stay warmer.

Edited to add: You could also try adding a vest to her wardrobe. Keeping your core warm promotes warmer extremities.

Forgot you said, Lange's. Check the "toe damn" area and see if there are any leaks there. Duct tape is your friend for that.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
No doubt you know, but wool socks. No cotton which will get soaked easily and freeze her feet.

Stick-on toe warmers?

Best of luck!
 

Getting Ready

Angel Diva
Forgot you said, Lange's. Check the "toe damn" area and see if there are any leaks there. Duct tape is your friend for that.

Here are my lange’s all taped up. Makes a difference. 3DB54C95-6030-4C64-A3CD-28B19866500E.jpeg
 

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nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
It's well known that you run cold water over your wrists when you're trying to cool down, but the opposite is true too. If you keep your wrists warm, it helps keep blood flowing to your fingers, keeping them warm. If her jacket/mittens aren't meeting up well you could try something like this under the jacket cuff: Wristies For Kids - Fingerless Polartec fleece gloves / glove liners

As for boots, I would first determine if it's sweat or leaky boots that is making her feet damp. If it's sweat, try thinner socks, as well as making sure the socks are dry before putting them in boots (as mentioned above, swap socks right before putting boots on in the parking lot). If it's a leaky boot, you'll need to determine where they're leaking and try to stop it. Lastly, yes, if her boots are running on the small side, that could be part of the reason. A little extra room generally allows feet to stay warmer.

Edited to add: You could also try adding a vest to her wardrobe. Keeping your core warm promotes warmer extremities.

I was just going mention wristies! I love my wristies, totally agree on vest for keeping core and rest of body warm. I also use neoprene boot gloves- not sure how small they come?

Great suggestions to try, @Buttmonki hope you find some relief for your daughter!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
You could also try adding a vest to her wardrobe. Keeping your core warm promotes warmer extremities.
+1 on adding a vest. Keeping the core warm without adding bulk to sleeves is a lot easier with a vest. But can buy a bit large to allow for growth.

On one weekend trip (small hill, southeast USA) when he was about 8, my son's friend only had a winter jacket. It wasn't really a ski jacket. He was very cold because it was in the 20s. I had an extra puffy vest that my daughter wasn't using (she's several years older). He looked a bit odd with the vest showing underneath the jacket but he didn't care. He was happy to be warm enough to keep skiing for more than 20 minutes at a time.
 

Skisnow

Certified Ski Diva
Thanks all.

We are in the desert at an indoor ski centre (should be in Canada for 3.5 weeks next month but sadly not happening now).

She does get her socks on at home so could be getting sweaty feet on the way to the ski place - it being upwards of 85 degrees outside here. I’ll ensure she put them on when she arrives instead.

On the plus side her boots are pretty warm when we arrive and I pull the liners out and dry them after every session.

She had smartwool socks but we accidentally left them behind in our rush to beat the latest travel ban, so she’s been using Spyder socks (only ones available locally here). I’ve ordered some more smartwool.

I checked the soles and her big toe is over the end so have ordered some new boots although going to take a while to arrive. Also ordered new jacket and pants. The gloves on the way are Hestra mittens with liners, and also some Reusch race mittens as a spare. I’ll see if I can find the wrist warmers they sound great, maybe I can make some out of an old fleece otherwise.

She wears a merino base vest, merino L/S top, merino pants and POC vest. She did have a thin fleece but said she was too hot. I ensure the base layer pants are not tucked so far into the boot that they creating a ridge over the sock inside the boot (they’re still over the socks above the boot) and always ensure gaiters are pulled over the boot.

I’ve always wondered about that with kids gear, they always do LJ but not SJ and I don’t like the LJ tucked into the boot - do people normally tuck the LJ inside?
 

Skisnow

Certified Ski Diva
Update: she used rental boots the next full size up this morning and no more cold feet! But came out after an hour bawling her eyes out with cold hands.

So I decided not to wait for international shipping and have been fleeced in the local store here who had literally two jackets and two pairs of pants in her size. It’s a nice if a little 70s style jacket but looks to be super warm and most importantly has sleeves long enough and the inner cuffs (am just crying at the price, we could have got 4 or even 5 jackets back home it was nearly 400 USD ), but then I can’t watch her crying with the cold after an hour anymore. Fingers crossed this cracks it.

I have duct tape at the ready for when the new boots arrive just in case! - Thanks for all the advice and feedback.
 

MontanaMom

Certified Ski Diva
My daughter is always cold, my son is always sweating hot while skiing. He wears a simple base layer, not even a sweat shirt, she wears a 3-4 layers.

I've bought really good gloves with gortex and the pocket for hand warmers and if it's going to be at all chilly I add toasty toes for her. It isn't ideal, but it has worked. She's 7 and in an 18.5, he's 5 and in a 19.5.

She doesn't have a major love of skiing, I think because she can't stay warm enough so I try really hard to keep her as comfortable as possible so we can all enjoy the sport. It isn't like there is someone else to sit with her while we hit the hill. :(
 

Skisnow

Certified Ski Diva
My daughter is always cold, my son is always sweating hot while skiing. He wears a simple base layer, not even a sweat shirt, she wears a 3-4 layers.

I've bought really good gloves with gortex and the pocket for hand warmers and if it's going to be at all chilly I add toasty toes for her. It isn't ideal, but it has worked. She's 7 and in an 18.5, he's 5 and in a 19.5.

She doesn't have a major love of skiing, I think because she can't stay warm enough so I try really hard to keep her as comfortable as possible so we can all enjoy the sport. It isn't like there is someone else to sit with her while we hit the hill. :(

Aww so sorry to read that. We found mittens work best. I got the Hestra Army Patrol mittens as they have liners. The jacket we have has a stretchy wrist inner and a cuff which goes over so the Hestra gloves with the small cuff go nicely over the inner and under the outer cuff. All the other kids ski jackets we saw were single cuff.

She wears merino thermals a vest and a long sleeve on top and merino leggings on bottom, they’re by Polarn O’ Pyret. We fold the leggings up so they are not tucked into the boots so no crease inside the boot. Then she has smartwool PhD ski socks. She also wears a POC back protector/vest.

Hope you can find a resolution for your daughter.
 

MontanaMom

Certified Ski Diva
Aww so sorry to read that. We found mittens work best. I got the Hestra Army Patrol mittens as they have liners. The jacket we have has a stretchy wrist inner and a cuff which goes over so the Hestra gloves with the small cuff go nicely over the inner and under the outer cuff. All the other kids ski jackets we saw were single cuff.

She wears merino thermals a vest and a long sleeve on top and merino leggings on bottom, they’re by Polarn O’ Pyret. We fold the leggings up so they are not tucked into the boots so no crease inside the boot. Then she has smartwool PhD ski socks. She also wears a POC back protector/vest.

Hope you can find a resolution for your daughter.

She's a real trooper. Poor kid hangs in there and is awesome. She usually does ok, but we are usually at our local hill where she can hangs out in the lodge or we can both go in and warm up. I bought her a pair of better snow pants and she hates them because they're so big, she's a tiny little thing. It was fairly warm on Sunday and she was actually begging to do the ski team, etc. So maybe there is hope yet!
 

scandium

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
She's a real trooper. Poor kid hangs in there and is awesome. She usually does ok, but we are usually at our local hill where she can hangs out in the lodge or we can both go in and warm up. I bought her a pair of better snow pants and she hates them because they're so big, she's a tiny little thing. It was fairly warm on Sunday and she was actually begging to do the ski team, etc. So maybe there is hope yet!
Does your daughter wear glove liners as well as having the hand warmers? I used to get cold hands and feet as a child with glove liners, thickish wool socks, and decent gloves, and would need a hot drink and a sit in the cafe at lunchtime to warm my hands back up. As an adult I could never keep my hands warm in gloves and now pretty much only wear mittens+liners+hand warmers as a standard.
I still run cold - on days my friends are wearing sunglasses, a t-shirt and a thermal under their jackets, I have 2 merino layers and down plus a balaclava and face mask under my goggles! And I add more layers for 'normal' winter skiing. So she might need more layers yet!!
 

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