How cold is too cold?

[ski diva]

Some people are never happy. Two weeks ago all the talk was about how unseasonably warm it's been and people were complaining. Now they're forecasting minus 30 with the wind chill today, and people are complaining about that, too.

Anyway, it got me wondering. How cold does it have to be for you to decide to stay indoors? I mean, we're all pretty die-hard here. So what's the point where you'll decide NOT to ski?

As for me, as long as I'm dressed for it, I'll go out when it's zero -- no problem. Yesterday the high was 8, and I was fine. And I've skied when the temp's below zero, too (hey, this is New England!). I can do without the wind, though.

I think the more often I ski in a given season, though, the pickier I feel I can afford to be. For example, I've been out three times this week. So when they said it was going to be minus 30 today, I figured I'd give it a pass. Hey, there's always next week!

What about you?

 

[RachelV]

This depends way more on wind and sun than temperature... I've had days at Killington where it was in the 10-15 range, but also cloudy and windy, where we were miserable and were going inside every 2-3 runs. During our trip to Utah a few weeks ago the highs over the weekend were 5-10 with absolutely no wind and perfectly blue skies, and we were pretty comfortable and stayed outside all day no problem.

In "typical" New England conditions (i.e., some wind, some clouds ;) ), anything below 10 generally has me second-guessing whether we should drive up or not.

(P.S. talking Fahrenheit here)

 

[Pequenita]

As long as the summit is > -20F, it is skiable. I remember one morning a few years ago it was 0F, and my friend and I were both telling a third friend that it was warm. Talk about skewed!:o

 

[volklgirl]

We stood around at the top of the hill in our speedsuits last night. It started at 6deg f and dropped to 2deg f. Brrrrrrr!! I had 4 layers on underneath and never really got cold (except my toes - even with toe warmers!).

 

[Jilly]

For me its the wind chill factor. I can dress for cold, but wind on the face even covered can be too chilly. I have the neoprene mask, but I find when I wear, no matter what I do, I get moisture into the goggles. Then you can't see etc. So, like our Ski Diva, with a seasons pass you can pick and choose. So, I'm choosing to go up to Tremblant this weekend. The high both days is to be -15C. Remember we're different here in Canuck land. By the way it was -20 C this morning and my poor ole Jimmy didn't like it. New battery on its way this morning.

 

[skigirl]

I was just in the barn and it is too cold to put the horses out. It is about 10 degrees with wind today. I hate skiing in the wind on really cold days. I always figure if it's too cold to put my horses out I'm not going skiing!! That is the nice part about season passes you can pick your days. On days around zero and no wind I can last a few hours.

 

[snobound]

As long as it's not too windy, I don't care how cold it is. I can dress for the cold but can't ever stop the bite of the wind. But then I've frostbitten my entire face, hands, feet, and ears. Ahh childhood in MT.

 

[volklgirl]

The coldest

I have 2 "the coldest days" memories;

First was a day at Whitecap Wisconsin....almost 20 below, but not a lot of wind. They have a really cool warming hut at the top of one of the peaks...so we'd ski a couple of runs then go in and have hot chocolate and wine, then go back out. :D

The second day was at Crystal.....10 below with 30 to 40 below wind chill. It was snowing so hard, we literally couldn't see our hands with our arms outstretched. It was skiing by braille ! All the whiteboards at the upper lift shacks had notes saying "Do not ski alone! Check your partner for frostbite!". It was another do 2-3 runs and go back in day, but the skiing was fantastic!!!

 

[ISki]

I'll pass on minus 30 + wind. Just reading that makes me want to go get a cup of hot chocolate and put my feet over a heater!

 

[RachelV]

I remember one day in college night skiing at Jiminy in MA, my roommate and I took one run down the hill and left. It felt SO COLD, our hands were killing us and our eyes were tearing like crazy. I don't know how cold it actually was, and back in college I didn't know how to dress for the cold the way I do now, but looking back I'd guess somewhere around 0. It was also reaalllly windy, which was the real problem.

Then one night at the end of the season (late March?) it was so warm at ~8pm that some guys were snowboarding shirtless. Ah, New England.

 

[smpayne]

Oh my gosh, I have only skiied at negative numbers once and that was nearly 20+ years ago. I'm not saying I wouldn't ski in that temp, but I wouldn't know what to wear to stay warm. Living in So CA doesn't give me any experience in the REALLY cold. We do tend to get winds with gusts upto 25+ mph fairly often and that is just plain irritating, especially when they have to shut down the lifts.

When I ski locally, the best time to go is if the temp are in the single digits because everyone else stays home or leaves early(So California's are wimps in the cold). If I'm on vacation, no thinking, just ski, if I have the proper clothing & wax. Then again I have never experienced -20F... My oldest son would be fine, my youngest would be sitting by the fire.

 

[nelsapbm]

I'm with some of the above posters..it's not so much the cold, its the wind. No way in heck do I go out if the windchill is below 0. I just don't find it fun. If it's calm and 15 I'll go out. Usually below 15 I bag it and do something else.

 

[Lori_K]

Single digits are about our limit. It's been below zero in the morning on some days, but then if it gets 0F or above, we're usually ok if the wind isn't too bad.

 

[sleddog]

I skied -25F one time in Michigan's UP - staying warm wasn't as big of a problem as getting the skis to slide on that - we had waxed for cold but even then you had to be on a very steep pitch to keep moving. Fortunately we hadn't paid for lift tickets that day so we didn't feel we were wasting a lot of money for so few runs.

The coldest day where I had to be out all day was at a PSIA event at Wild Mountain, Minnesota which sits in the St Croix River valley - I think the wind chill was -40 with the air temp at -10. The wind just whipped through the river bluffs and channeled to the ski area. BRRRR

 

[Pequenita]

Hm. When I left my car for the base lodge this morning, it was 28 deg. F. When I returned at 3, it was 51 deg. No wonder the snow was softening and I was sweating to death.

 

[ski diva]

Hm. When I left my car for the base lodge this morning, it was 28 deg. F. When I returned at 3, it was 51 deg. No wonder the snow was softening and I was sweating to death.

Where the heck was that????

The high here today was 11 -- the highest it's been for the past few days. Last night when I was out in my car it was -12. Brrrrrr!

 

[Pequenita]

Just across the PA border from Maryland at Whitetail.

I don't know why it's saying the high temp was 41 today. Maybe summit, but my car definitely was saying it was 51. I left the lot with the sunroof open. By the time I got back to DC, it was 58. Insane. Of course, a cold front comes through tonight, and we'll be back in the 30s next week. Then I got to Utah. Yay! :D

 

[Quiver Queen]

A couple of years ago the temp @ the base of Killington was -1 and the wind was so strong I couldn't close the car door by myself, but the sun was out and the snow was fast. I was dressed well and toes even stayed warm with boot covers over hand warmers. There have been similar days since then, even with no sun, that I've enjoyed so I've learned it would take some pretty extreme conditions to make me stay indoors.

 

[Kimmyt]

well, Friday it was -9 at the summit at Okemo (at least that's what I read, with the wind I have no clue... but it wasn't too windy luckily). Skiied all day with no problems, just had to stop every few runs to go into the lodge and attend to the extremities to make sure nothing was going numb. It wasn't the lift or face (I was covered pretty much from head to toe with some sort of windblocking layer) but that the wind seemed to cut right into my feet after a long fast run.

But the coldness was totally worth it! Empty slopes and GREAT conditions!

I think I've a skiied a few other times in the minuses, at Jay Peak and night skiing in PA when there was a -11 temp with windchill. It's not too bad if you pay attention to your body and take frequent breaks to make sure nothing has gotten too cold.

 

[Lilgeorg]

I talked to my granddaughter last night. She lives and skies in Alaska and was shocked to hear about this discussion since it was minus 30 at her house without the wind chill. She has a great saying from when she was a tot, "If you wait for the weather to be right, you will never do anything!" She misses Okemo and would love to be skiing with the Divas here.