Keeping hands warm

Dump the gloves for mitts, even convertible mitts.

I haven't snowshoed, but from bike experience those liners and mitts sound sufficient. I'd add a vest. If you were already wearing a vest, switch it to a sweater. Got to get the warm blood through the arms to heat the fingers.

Find waterproof breathable shell like the MLD Rain Mitt, and then 2 or 3 pairs of lightweight (100 -150) fleece mitts that you can rotate from shells to inner jacket to dry pocket to shells.

In a wet environment your hands Will get wet. Rotating in a dry pair as needed usually works well.

Mittens are for VERY cold weather. And if you think insulated gloves are "bulky and inelegant" then try mittens for REAL bulk. That said mitten shells should be carried as safety item, to go over fleece glove liners in an emergency such as a severe drop in temps.

Good Gore-Tex gloves with REMOVABLE fleece liners of various thicknesses are the way to go until the temperatures get into the -5 F. area.

Removable liners permit you to change out damp liners or put on warmer/cooler liners as the weather and exercise dictates. Cabela's has the largest selection that I know of for waterproof-breathable gloves W/removable liners. Mountain Gear has a good selection too.

Finally, you can always pick up replacement synthetic fleece liners of various thicknesses at REI, etc., even K Mart.

If you were active, I am surprised.

Were you keeping your core nice and warm?

Did you have a warm hat, covering your ears, on?

If either of those is cold, it will be difficult to keep you hands warm.

— Bob

Here's what I've come up with–three layers:

Light thin liner gloves–especially important so you don't have to take off all hand covering to do something with your hands, such as lighting your stove.

Fleece mittens–mittens are warmer than gloves!

Water/windproof mitten shell–mine are the MLD rain mitts.

However, I generally find all three layers too warm when I'm actively moving around. I wear the fleece middle layer only at longer rest stops or in camp.

You don't want your body core to be sweating when you are moving, but you don't want it to be cold, either. I've found that adding or removing layers of head and hand coverings are really helpful for thermoregulation. Be prepared, though, immediately to put on an extra layer or two on body, head and hands when you stop moving–don't let yourself get cold before adding layers!

Good tips on swapping out fleece liners so they stay dry. For folks asking about core temp, yes, was warm, staying just shy of sweating. Weirdly, hands were warm on way up, cold on way down. I added another layer on core on way down though, so body was warm.

By and large I find that some light/medium fleece liner gloves under a Gore-tex mitt shell is adequate, PROVIDED that I have a good warm windproof head covering. Without the head protection, my head still seems to feel warm but all other extremities start to freeze. A very well-known situation.

I don't like heavy ski gloves because they tend to restrict the circulation around my fingers. Too much stuff between the fingers. Drying them out is a real pain!

Works for me.

Cheers

I am surprised that fleece gloves + overmitts were not enough while you were moving. As others have pointed out, mitts will be warmer but come with a lose of dexterity. There are certainly some mitts (especially ones with softshell shells and primaloft insulation) which aren’t so stiff and bulky.

Know that the normal human body sends less heat to the limbs if your core or head are overly chilled. One solution is the suggestion of a vest or otherwise improving your insulation. Another is your can train your body to keep the blood and warmth flowing such as the treatment for raynauds

–mark

One of the problems of keeping your hands warm is that you must keep the pipes warm. I mean the warm blood flow to your fingers must come a long way from the heart. For openers, many hikers wear packs with pack straps that bear down onto the critical areas around the shoulders, so blood flow gets slowed there. Then, if they don't have good enough insulation on the arms, the blood is cooled off even more. By the time it gets to your hands, it is not sufficient for warm fingers. So, make sure you have done what you can before you fool around with mitt and glove design. Personally, I find that I can keep my hands warm enough as long as I keep them absolutely dry. As soon as they get wet from snow or rain, then that is the beginning of the end. On a ski tour, I will generally have two pairs of thin glove liners to alternate, and then I will have one pair of waterproof over-mitts in case it gets really bad.
–B.G.–

A down hood keeps my head hot, and then everything else – hands and feet especially – have an easier time staying warm.

If its cold, a vapor barrier, like a latex or nitrile glove underneath all, does wonders to keep that nasty, heat-sapping condensation at bay. I don't do it often, but it really helps.

I've heard the same thing about latex gloves. I've started packing a couple pairs in my pack, but I haven't used them yet.

The tips about keeping your head and core aren't bad, but mitts are really the only thing that have kept my hands warm unless my body was already overheating. At rest I doubt there's an unheated glove out there that can keep my hands warm. I have expensive mitts, but I still haven't experienced weather cold enough to need more than my $30 convertible fleece mitts can handle. For my thru hike I'll also be carrying latex gloves and the shell from my expensive mitts. They combination should handle any weather I run into, especially since I can improvise extra insulation under the shell.

Mitts are so much better. I would never buy another set of cold weather gloves if I didn't ride a motorcycle, and that's only because no one makes a good set of lobster gloves…which are halfway between mitts and gloves….and I already have Tourmaster Winter Elite gloves which have a removable lobster claw rain shell.

"Went snowshoeing yesterday up in Rockies, 20 degree day, windy. "

Depending on the wind speed the wind chill could easily be MUCH colder than 20F. Most of my thoughts have already been covered, except perhaps:
-Mittens aren't ALL bulky as implied by one poster
-Chemical warmers can help in such a situation, good to carry as an emergency addition to your winter kit anyway
-You can layer the hands just as any other body part

I live and climb in the Rockies. In such a situation as you describe (with wind), I typically layer as necessary a thinish liner glove, one or two medium to light insulating mittens, and a shell. I always carry chemical heaters, they can be placed in the mitts or near the armpits where major vessels are located. And if I'm going above timberline in winter I usually carry very warm bulky mitts.
Tim

> Depending on the wind speed the wind chill could easily be MUCH colder than 20F.

That's why you wear a windproof outer layer.

— Bob

This is a great topic!

2 cautious points of beta:

1) (From a WMI course): Many people have their hands trained, by default, to be cold. This happens in cooler climates when people dress with sweaters and such, in order to stay warm, but avoid gloves for day to day activities. People often get used to moderately cold hands (and feet) under such circumstances and their physiology adapts. When the temp drops outside, the affect is accentuated and lower extremities don't get the circulatory attention that the rest of the body does. The solution proposed is simple:

Over the period of a few weeks +/-, while you are reading, watching film, or otherwise sedentary, and in a cool room, or outdoors, wear little to no clothing and soak your applicable extremities in very warm water. This supposedly retrains your physiology to keep them warmer and encourages circulation to your lower extremities. I don't recall how long it takes, but it likely varies significantly among individuals.

2) Alcohol (the "potable" kind), in small quantities, promotes circulation to the extremities as well. I'm not advocating boozing on the trail, or anywhere (especially while skiing!), but I have found just an ounce or so of wine to go a long way in helping the smaller capillaries get more priority than they otherwise would. Extreme caution is obviously in order, as even a little too much can have a much more negative affect on the physiology for cold weather safety. for what it's worth, a little drink before bed can also help achieve a restful sleep. 16 oz. of red wine on the trail will last me about a week, and adds some pleasantry to certain meals as well.

When in doubt, try the BPL FeatherLite Vapor Mitts.

I have a pair of RBH Designs Mitts and they are like an oven. They work well in below freezing temperatures. Pretty lightweight as well.

They have VBL liners. The only downside – they are pricey.

once hands get cold it may be difficult to get them warm again if you don't do anything more than adding insulation. Try this: swing arms vigorously up and down in a semicircle. This forces warm blood out to your limbs. If hands got too cold, if may be painful but it works.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Backpacking-Light-approved combination of PossumDown gloves and Backpacking Light Featherlite Vapor Mitts.

On a trip in Northeast Pennsylvania with temperatures ranging from 13 degrees Fahrenheit in the day to 3 degrees F overnight, my hands were toasty warm wearing this combination in camp. Wearing just the mittens (which have a vapor barrier built in) during the day hiking left my hands a little sweaty. One of the benefits of PossumDown, like many animal fibers, is it keeps you warm even when it's wet with sweat or snow.

The knit gloves are not really sturdy enough to hike with trekking poles all day without wearing out, but I find as a glove to wear in camp alone in warmer (20-40F) cold conditions and under the mitts in colder (0-20F) cold conditions, they work wonderfully.

When I was a Nordic patroller at the 1979 Pre-Olympics it got down to -40 F. on the last day of a very cold week. I had nylon mitten shells W/leather palms, VERY heavy (dense) Dachstein boiled wool mitten liners and U.S. Army surplus wool gloves.

My hands got so hot just skiing slowly to stay warm that (at -40 F.!) I had to take off the wool gloves and was very warm with just the shells and Dachstein Austrian wool liners.

Though I still have the Dachstein liners I now have double layer EMS fleece liners and larger OR GTX shells. They are much thicker but I wonder if they are as warm as my old combo. I haven't had extreme cold temps yet to do a comparison test.