Here's an article from today's NY Times regarding exercising in the cold. Not skiing specific, but still interesting!
Too Cold for Exercise? Try Another Excuse.
Too Cold for Exercise? Try Another Excuse.
-
Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.
How cold is too cold?
- Thread starter ski diva
- Start date
IttyBittyBetty
Certified Ski Diva
Wind an Cloud Cover Make a HUGE difference
I skied Winter Park a few weeks ago and it was minus 10 F (real temp). Fortunately, there was almost no wind and it was sunny! I stayed nice and warm and was able to ski just fine until the sun started to go down.
A week or so later I skied Copper and it was minus 10 or 15, so similar to the Winter Park day, but we had a wind chill of more than minus 40. It was also cloudy. With the wind and the lack of sun, I was super cold. I ended up wearing eight layers on top, three on my legs, a balaclava, a scull cap a face guard (gorilla mask) and my helmet. I looked like that kid from "A Christmas Story"! I could not get warm unless I went inside frequently. I still skied until 3:00!
At those temps I think the snow is really slow, so they are not my favorite days to ski anyway. We stayed on the Copper day 'cause the freeway was closed and we couldn't go anywhere anyway.
I skied Winter Park a few weeks ago and it was minus 10 F (real temp). Fortunately, there was almost no wind and it was sunny! I stayed nice and warm and was able to ski just fine until the sun started to go down.
A week or so later I skied Copper and it was minus 10 or 15, so similar to the Winter Park day, but we had a wind chill of more than minus 40. It was also cloudy. With the wind and the lack of sun, I was super cold. I ended up wearing eight layers on top, three on my legs, a balaclava, a scull cap a face guard (gorilla mask) and my helmet. I looked like that kid from "A Christmas Story"! I could not get warm unless I went inside frequently. I still skied until 3:00!
At those temps I think the snow is really slow, so they are not my favorite days to ski anyway. We stayed on the Copper day 'cause the freeway was closed and we couldn't go anywhere anyway.
LouWho
Diva in Training
The coldest I've ever been skiing was actually a warm day (~30F) but with a good healthy wind and freezing rain! YUK!!!!! You couldn't even move when you hit the bottom, you were a icicle!
X-C skiing is different. We went out one night, full moon, -10F at least, no wind. That was probably the coolest (no pun intended) night skiing on the frozen lake, with the wolf howling in the distance and the glacier in the background glowing from the moonlight. Until my eyelashes froze together......................
X-C skiing is different. We went out one night, full moon, -10F at least, no wind. That was probably the coolest (no pun intended) night skiing on the frozen lake, with the wolf howling in the distance and the glacier in the background glowing from the moonlight. Until my eyelashes froze together......................
Quiver Queen
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
[Too Cold for Exercise? Try Another Excuse.[/QUOTE]
Great article! Makes my skin tingle just to read it!
Great article! Makes my skin tingle just to read it!
retromaven
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I missed my first day of ladies clinic a couple weeks ago due to -19 plus wind temps. Call me a wimp, but my aging body coupled arthritis/Reynaud's problems make me loathe to endure sub zero plus wind chill anymore. I went out skiing the next day instead, and I let them know today, if there are anymore of those double digit sub zero days, I'll be at home with my coffee. I think we all kind of concurred, as the majority of ladies were saying they were not up to braving that anymore, and wouldn't do it again. I think I could handle skiing down to about -5 with no wind...other than that, I'm too old and decrepit 
and have no desire to hang with that. I'll stay home or be inside having a beverage, thank you very much.
That being said, I don't know if it's that I'm past the hot flashes, or ski gear has gotten so much better, I'm a heck of a lot warmer skiing now than I ever was 10 or more years ago when I was in my prime. Knock on wood, but no cold fingers or toes, and I've skied now with the temps in the teens a couple times.
and have no desire to hang with that. I'll stay home or be inside having a beverage, thank you very much.That being said, I don't know if it's that I'm past the hot flashes, or ski gear has gotten so much better, I'm a heck of a lot warmer skiing now than I ever was 10 or more years ago when I was in my prime. Knock on wood, but no cold fingers or toes, and I've skied now with the temps in the teens a couple times.
IdahoSkiGirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I went night skiing last night and I had on so many layers I could hardly buckle my boots
amberula4
Certified Ski Diva
I saw the title of this one and laughed. Because that is the question I have been asking myself for the last few days. I have to decide if I want to head out this weekend. In MN it is suppose to be like -14 in the morning reaching a high of like -2 (and sadly enough those are the actual temps not accounting the wind), and 20mph winds. But I want to go out really bad!!! But it could be absolutely miserable, and not worth paying to go. We will see what I decide...
sibhusky
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, apparently it was too cold here today for the mountain to open. Chair 1 and 2 were shut down and I understand they finally sent employees home. Depending on whom you talk to, winds were creating -60 degree wind chill. I know it was in the single digits at my house, but I am wind-protected, so I was surprised to hear about conditions at the summit. I see they were reporting -1 degree F and 30-40 MPH winds at the summit at 1:14 PM.
greekpeakskier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
it was definitely cold today. single digits before you considered the wind chill. but i found that, having followed the layering advice i've learned here, it made a HUGE difference. feet got a bit cold, but hot chillys from the inside, multiple layers of fleece and ending it all in goretex (even put up the goretex hood over the helmet) left me downright toasty. i really did read every article in this forum and then followed the advice -- buying some of it used on ebay. i found that i did not envy the great skiers today, rather i felt sorry for most of the poor fools who had not read about how to stay warm.
feet were still cold though. i hate (and my kids, who bailed on me after two hours, hate) the footwarmers that you put in your boots. they bunch up on the bottom. we all have smartwool socks. but that was enough enough in single digits. i can handle it (my boots are better), but i wonder how to keep the kids' feet warm.
feet were still cold though. i hate (and my kids, who bailed on me after two hours, hate) the footwarmers that you put in your boots. they bunch up on the bottom. we all have smartwool socks. but that was enough enough in single digits. i can handle it (my boots are better), but i wonder how to keep the kids' feet warm.
I found my breaking point... 65-80 mph winds on top of Mammoth this past week. Actually rode back down because I didn't want to be pummelled by ice bullets again after encountering 65 mph winds the couple days before. I'm a small person so the gale forces were blowing me around a bit too much.
volklgirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Make sure you get the Toasti Toes (they have sticky on the entire surface) and stick them on the upper side of the liner just over your toes. Ooch you tootsies in underneath and you're good to go. We've been doing this for 4 years now and they very rarely bunch up.
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well, today was the first day I quit because of cold. I've skied in 0 degree weather before, but today beat that and sent me inside by lunchtime.
I was at Wildcat in NH, across the highway from Mount Washington, where the winds are know to rage on occasion. With sunny skies and hero snow, one would call it a perfect day ... except for the air temperature and wind chill factor.
A cold front came in while we were skiing. By noon the base temp was 9 (F) and the summit was zero, and there were continuous upslope winds of 25-45 mph (not just gusts) all the way from the base to the summit. When we skied in the morning we assigned each other buddies to check our noses for whitening so we could catch frostbite before it happened. That worked. But by noon everyone else had quit and even though I was determined to keep going my eyes inside my goggles were frosting up from frozen tears, and my nose was in danger with no one else to check on it. I quit.
So I guess that's what's too cold for me.
I was at Wildcat in NH, across the highway from Mount Washington, where the winds are know to rage on occasion. With sunny skies and hero snow, one would call it a perfect day ... except for the air temperature and wind chill factor.
A cold front came in while we were skiing. By noon the base temp was 9 (F) and the summit was zero, and there were continuous upslope winds of 25-45 mph (not just gusts) all the way from the base to the summit. When we skied in the morning we assigned each other buddies to check our noses for whitening so we could catch frostbite before it happened. That worked. But by noon everyone else had quit and even though I was determined to keep going my eyes inside my goggles were frosting up from frozen tears, and my nose was in danger with no one else to check on it. I quit.
So I guess that's what's too cold for me.
Liquidfeet, I'm with you on this one. I quit today too because it was just too cold. There was just enough wind blowing up the mountain and the cold that I just couldn't take anymore. I hate wearing the neoprene mask to ski as I get more hot air into my goggles than I need. I started with a nose guard, but it doesn't really fit with my goggles. I end up with the edge of the fabric in my eyes. So DH and I quit at noon. Went home, ate, pack up and left. Going back Friday!
greekpeakskier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
i wil try the toastie toes. at about 3:30, i thought my otg goggles had fogged up but found instead that they had iced over. i had to chip ice off the inside and out. yikes. i quit just after that. i had to bribe my kids with new books to get them to go up tomorrow. i thought, "what is the matter with this picture. i'm bribing them with reading to get them to go skiing!!" they say they'll sit in the lodge if i'll get them each a new book. sigh.
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I can't get my hand into the boot that far down, so I just stick the Toasti Toes to the TOP of my sock (despite the instructions saying to put them on the bottom), and gently slide the foot in. In four and a half years of use I've only bunched up the toe thing twice. I buy these by the box at the beginning and middle of the season. They are cheaper by the 50s, and really work.
Boot warmers on the outside of the boots help bunches too.
SkiMonster
Certified Ski Diva
Ooh, if this works for me you might have just changed my life!
One "under the toes" try and the resultant wad under my foot was enough for me; and i have a veritable stockpile of toasti toes hanging around, because my land surveyor parents give them to us as "stocking stuffers" (hah) every christmas, yet I can't seem to use them right.
Now I need to go skiing just to try it out
MaineSkiLady
Angel Diva
The Cat's a cold mountain, for sure. Not far away to the east, Sunday River was apparently weekday quiet on Monday, same reasons. Moderating this week (figures). MLK weekend seems to produce some extreme weather out here....I remember one year it rained....continuously.
liquidfeet
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I think the rain was last year. I remember it, anyway.
