Help me cope with the cold!

[missyd]

What I usually wear for skiing ....

Top:
Odlo base layer (if very cold 1 wear 2 of them)
Fleece jacket
Mammut or Salomon insulated Jacket

Bottom:
Odlo tights (if very cold 2 of them)
Burton or Salomon insulated Pants

Feet:
normal light summer sox
Ski sox

Hands:
Level Mittens with integrated fleece finger gloves

Face:
if very cold I use a cotton bandanna to protect my face
goggles or sun glasses

Head:
Red or Smith helmet

I'm quite warm with my equipment .... but if I see what you are wearing .... I would sweat like in a sauna!

 

[Gumbelina]

I got what I'm assuming was frost nip in some fingertips and toes a few years ago, and I definitely feel like those areas were much more sensitive to cold for at least 2 winters afterwards, so be extra careful with those cold little piggies!

Now I am hypothyroid (and probably a little under-medicated for it) and have found that I get cold MUCH more easily than I used to, both generally and in my hands and toes. I just picked up a down jacket to ski in, which seems like such overkill to me, but I couldn't keep warm on days below 20F with the 3 warmest layers I had, so hopefully this will help. I have mittens that have a zippered pouch on the outside of the fingers to hold a handwarmer pack, and those help a little bit. I picked up some boot gloves and they definitely helped, I still need to try them out with a toewarmer sandwiched inside, or see if I can use some diva tips to finally get comfortable with having toe warmers inside my boots.

If your body has to work to keep your core warm it is going to do that by shunting nice warm bloodflow away from your "shell" (including your extremities), so keeping your core warm will help keep your hands and feet warmer.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I got what I'm assuming was frost nip in some fingertips and toes a few years ago, and I definitely feel like those areas were much more sensitive to cold for at least 2 winters afterwards, so be extra careful with those cold little piggies!

Happened to a friend of mine many years ago. I believe it was bona fide finger frostbite. Not only did she feel it for years, she developed Raynaud's syndrome not long after, couldn't even shop in the refrigerator section of grocery w/o gloves (hands would turn blue, then white---and mega-painful). Was so bad (obviously, she couldn't ski during this time), she wound up moving.....to Florida

 

[DeeSki]

Wow, that's a cautionary tale MaineSkiLady! Florida would fix my problems with the cold but I'd never stop whining about sunburn and heatrash!

 

[valli]

Let me describe what I was wearing in Big Sky recently, which was usually 10-25F. Two layers of long underwear bottoms, including a polarfleece layer, topped with insulated Marker pants. On the top I was wearing a fleece top, and occasionally a vest, topped with a down kids jacket from Lands End. I occasionally had to unzip it when we did moguls, but it was great on the windy lifts. I also had a helmet, which really helps. I had thin ski socks but thick ski mittens, and surprisingly enough considering my poor circulation, my hands and feet stayed relatively warm. When it's really cold, I drag out my Obermeyer ski suit, since a one piece suit really keeps out the cold, but looks a little skeeky. I am a firm believer that if you keep your core warm, the extremities also stay warmer, and both DH and my daughter were complaining about cold hands and feet. I also have been trying the antiperspirant on the feet trick, and I think it helps.

 

[Nautique Girl]

Try bengay on cold toes. It brings the blood to the surface. Works for me

 

[DeeSki]

Thanks again to all of you for your great advice. I got a helmet, which certainly keeps me warmer and I think improves my skiing by making me fees safer! I invested in some merino base layers. These are a little pricier than some of the synthetics but they are the best thing ever - absolutely toasty! I also got a light down vest, which I'm finding fantastic, as it warms up my core while leaving my arms free. I started wearing toe warmers and I've only once had cold feet at the very end of a long day. I still need to invest in some better insulated pants, but I think I'm just going to have to wait until next season, because my size seems to be gone everywhere. I'm keeping an eye out for better gloves, but my hands are definitely less cold now that my core and my feet are warmer, so this is less urgent. It was under 20 on Monday morning and I still had no problems. Cheers!

 

[volklgirl]

Sweet! Thanks for the update.

 

[LilaBear]

To keep my hands warm I wear liners, gloves and heat packs. My new gloves have a pocket on the back for the heat pack, but I found it way less effective to put them there than my usual trick. I put the hand warmers in the back of the liners next to the skin. When you take your gloves off to make adjustments the heat stays with you. At lunch I put my liners, gloves, mask, gaiter etc. into my helmet like a shopping basket, and they all come out toasty from the warmers in the liners.