cold feet

[pratap]

I staeted skiing in lace-up boot.  My dad would pull all the boots out of the trunk after at less couple hours drive.  During the day when I told my dad that my feet were cold I would get this reply We all have cold feet just keep skiing.  Well now 58 year later my feet are shot.  I have tried boot warmer with luck.  I actually start to burn my feet when they were bricks of ice. 

Any help

I have very little room in my boot due to proper fit.

Thank You

[jim-ratliff]

I use the hotronics and also use neoprene boot gloves.
I have reynauds and my toes go absurdly cold very easily.
Even on 30*F days.


Also, make sure your buckles (especially the midfoot top one) are not
cranked too hard. Affects blood flow, therefore circulation/warmth.


Releasing the buckles for the lift ride and consciously move the toes around helps alot on cold days, I find.


(Reynauds syndrome: autoimmune disorder wherein body over responds to cold stimuli with vasoconstriction of fingers/toes then rebound vasodilation. Basically, over response to cold. )


EDIT: Above was written by midwif, not by JimR.  I don't have Reynauds and certainly don't have the medical background to throw around words like vasoconstriction and vasodilation. But I do have a pair of boot gloves that I wear on less than 10 degree days. Other than that my feet do OK.

[meput]

Boot Gloves work very well and do not alter boot fit. They also do a great job of preventing snow/water getting into the boot.

[jbotti]

I am also a big fan of the boot glove.

[pratap]

thanks  for the are suggestion.  I have had hotronics and they didn't help.  I had boot gloves they work to some degree.  So what I'm think about is a product from Gehwol ( www.gehwol.com ) is a salve for cold feet ( Gehwol Fusskraft Red ). 

Went skiing this morning high 20's low 30's of cause feet were fine.

On cold day I need to remember to unbuckle at the bottom.

Keep the suggestion coming.  Thank You!!!   

[HeluvaSkier]

Also look into how your boot fits over your instep and where your veins run in your foot. Most of the circulation in your foot runs on the top, so if there is anything interfering with it, your feet will always be cold.

Also second boot gloves and hotronics.

[jbotti]

BTW, no one has mentioned this yet, but most men seem to have ths macho thing going on about how they only need a thin base layer, a midweight mid layer and then a shell and that seems to keep them warm down to 0F (I hear this all the time on Epic and on Teton Gravity). My repsonse to that is they must either be skiing very inefficiently (and therefore generating huge body heat) or they must have some nice extra padding on them that keeps them warm. I need a lot more than that to keep my core warm on the mountain. In general if your feet and hands are getting cold, your core is not warm enough. Your core may feel fine but that is because your body has sent all the blood to the core to keep it warm. Your core feels fine but your extermities are turning blue. I ski in Montana on days when it is -15-20F before wind chil (luckily the wind isn't too bad in MT) and my feet and hands never get cold because I have dressed so warmly on my core. Get the boot glove, get the hotronics, but also add a layer or two or three to the core and see if this doesn't make keeping your feet warm quite a bit easier.

For me on a normal 18-22F degree day in MT I wear a midweight base layer (Mountain Hardware Butterman shirt) a Patgonia down sweater and a Patgonia down jacket on top. I'm never cold and I'm also rarely hot (which is easily rectified with pit zips or by taking off the head gator and or unzipping my collar some). My feet are almost never cold and I don't own hottronics only boot gloves.

Keep your core and your feet and hands have a shot. When your core is not wram enough (even if you don't feel cold on your core) your feet and hands have no shot!!

[ToddW]

Pratap,

To get more out of your hotronics, not only unbuckle the bottom 3 buckles between runs but also wiggle your feet (not just toes) vertically when you get on the chair to open up lots of opportunity for enhanced circulation.  Unbuckle and wiggle them even on T-bars and Pomas.  Cut slits in your boot gloves to allow the buckles to protrude so that it is easy to buckle / unbuckle.

Don't turn on the hotronics until after a couple of runs because even a slight amount of perspiration from trudging up to the lift etc. will make for a cold day.  Apply heat once the boots cool down some.  If you're man enough to do it, apply an antiperspirant (not deodorant) to your feet and between your toes an hour before you boot up.

This works for me with 95mm last plug boots and tight race foam liners even though I have a wide forefoot.

PS given the price of hotronics batteries, use some kind of leash to tie them down because the metal clip can slide off of your booster strap.  (the hotronics strap brackets made for this purpose are better but batteries can still come loose with them.)

[pratap]

BTW, no one has mentioned this yet, but most men seem to have ths macho thing going on about how they only need a thin base layer, a midweight mid layer and then a shell and that seems to keep them warm down to 0F (I hear this all the time on Epic and on Teton Gravity). My repsonse to that is they must either be skiing very inefficiently (and therefore generating huge body heat) or they must have some nice extra padding on them that keeps them warm. I need a lot more than that to keep my core warm on the mountain. In general if your feet and hands are getting cold, your core is not warm enough. Your core may feel fine but that is because your body has sent all the blood to the core to keep it warm. Your core feels fine but your extermities are turning blue. I ski in Montana on days when it is -15-20F before wind chil (luckily the wind isn't too bad in MT) and my feet and hands never get cold because I have dressed so warmly on my core. Get the boot glove, get the hotronics, but also add a layer or two or three to the core and see if this doesn't make keeping your feet warm quite a bit easier.

For me on a normal 18-22F degree day in MT I wear a midweight base layer (Mountain Hardware Butterman shirt) a Patgonia down sweater and a Patgonia down jacket on top. I'm never cold and I'm also rarely hot (which is easily rectified with pit zips or by taking off the head gator and or unzipping my collar some). My feet are almost never cold and I don't own hottronics only boot gloves.

Keep your core and your feet and hands have a shot. When your core is not wram enough (even if you don't feel cold on your core) your feet and hands have no shot!!

I will take this advice to heart.  I agree that us man try to be to macho.  I'm somewhere between that and you.  So on the colder day I'll add a layer to core the core warmer.  Thank You.

[pratap]

ToddW

That is advice on the Hotronics "Don't turn on the hotronics until after a couple of runs "   I don't even like putting on boot that are to warmer because that my start my feet sweating to quickly then it hard to keep sweating a that rate for the rest of the day.   

Again thanks for all advice so far.  My true test of cause will be this January. 

I will keep updating this thread.

Henry F

[meput]

JB brings up a great point re: core warmth and its relationship to feet and hand warmth. He left out the importance of head warmth and its relationship to body warmth. Core and head warmth facilitates hand and foot warmth. If your head is warm, everything tends to be warm. If your head is cold, you shiver, fingers and toes go cold (as in numb).

I must be lucky in that I have never noted my feet getting too warm and sweating. I start out heating my boots in a HotGear bag, put on the BootGloves, keep the rest of my body warm, and my feet do just fine. If I go inside, take off the BootGloves while inside, put them back on to go out. I have never tried Hottronics but I have never had the need.

[meput]

Max, sorry to hear that. Hopefully you are not like Jim #1 and have Raynaud's phenomenon.

When your head is cold, how are your fingers/hands doing? I suspect not so good.

I too have had a sweating head and cold fingers. I've been skiing/exercising hard on a cold day and should have chosen warmer gloves/mittens  .

[smackboy1]

Not in my case. My head can be sweating while my fingers are freezing!

Spray antiperspirant (not deodorant) on your head! 

J/K

[midwif]

Max, sorry to hear that. Hopefully you are not like Jim #1 and have Raynaud's phenomenon.

Hi Meput

Sorry for the confusion above. I am using Jim's computer while away and forgot to log in under my moniker.

I am the one who has raynauds. Mild case I am glad to say. But annoying.

Jim is one healthy dude!

Lots of great advice on this thread on the warmth thing. I had gotten lazy about undoing buckles on the lift. It makes a difference!

L.

[ToddW]

Spray antiperspirant (not deodorant) on your head! 

  Got video?