How to keep your hands and feet warm

Getting cold hands and feet can ruin an otherwise perfect day out. It can happen to anyone, but some of us are more prone than others. Unfortunately, female sex hormones can play havoc with our thermoregulation which makes keeping comfortable more of a challenge. They also make us more susceptible to Reynaud’s Syndrome, which is when blood flow to the fingers or toes is restricted, causing them to go white and numb (even when it’s not that cold).

The key thing to remember about keeping your extremities (the ‘technical’ name for your hands and feet) warm is that it’s easier to keep things warm than it is to heat things back up. Obviously wearing warm gloves, socks, and boots which insulate well help keep them warm, but there’s more to it than that.

Start with the core

What keeps your body warm is your blood supply. Think of it like a central heating system. Your body’s core is the boiler (or furnace) which keeps your blood at a toasty 37.5°C; we humans are very particular like that!

Your heart pumps the warm blood around your body, and the further from the centre it is, the cooler it gets. As it travels down increasingly smaller blood vessels and into smaller ‘pipes’ (your arms then hands, then fingers, legs then feet then toes), it cools quicker. This is most noticeable where you have a large surface area but small volume (like in your fingers). Think of it like the radiators in your house.

Keeping a good supply of warm blood to the extremities is the key to keeping them warm. That means keeping your whole body warm, a bit like turning up the thermostat in your house. Try and avoid getting cold in the first place by wearing enough layers for the conditions (but avoid over doing it, as if you get hot and start sweating you’ll end up feeling colder later). A vest (either thermal, worn under everything, or insulated and worn over other layers) adds warmth to your core without adding too much bulk so you can move freely.

Protect key areas of heat loss

There are certain areas where your blood vessels are closer to the surface, so it’s worth insulating those parts well to reduce how much warmth is lost. These include the inside of your wrists and ankles, and also your inner thigh where the femoral artery runs close to the surface. Keeping these areas warm helps preserve the temperature of the blood entering the extremities, which is a bit like insulating exposed pipes to prevent them from freezing.

Wrist warmers can help prevent gaps between your gloves and other layers, the same with long socks or ankle warmers. Wearing thermal underwear (shorts-style or longer length leggings) can make a huge difference to keeping your feet warm. While most men don’t ‘feel’ the cold in their legs, a lot of women suffer with cold thighs (‘polar thigh’ can be particularly nasty), which also contributes to colder feet. So don’t forget your lower body when it comes to layers. Insulated trousers, shorts, or even skirts can be a game changer!

Best foot forward

When it comes to what to wear on your feet, the normal principle of layering doesn’t apply so much. Generally speaking, you set out for the day wearing the socks and boots you intend to wear all day, and this is usually dictated by the terrain, temperature, and gradient you expect. If you’re heading out to climb near vertical ice, you’ll be in stiffer and likely warmer boots. You might be tempted to wear the warmest boots you have whenever possible, but bear in mind that you may end up getting hot feet while walking up hill, drenching your socks in sweat. This can cause damp and cold feet later when you’re stood still or moving more slowly. Wearing wool-based socks can help reduce this (as wool can buffer your temperature more effectively than synthetic fibres and stays warm even when wet).

The other factor that will affect the temperature of your feet is how tight your boots are. Don’t be fooled into thinking an extra pair of socks can make your boots warmer. Unless you fitted them with that in mind, you’ll end up constricting your blood flow and getting cold toes. Take care not to over tighten your boot laces to start with; you can leave them looser for walking in, and then tighten them up just before you start climbing.

At higher altitudes where you won’t be moving as fast, you’ll need warmer boots than normal, with extra space to allow for your feet to swell, as well as for thicker socks. A top tip for starting the day with warm feet is to keep your boots (or liners if they are separate) inside your tent and/or sleeping bag overnight. This helps them dry out, and they’ll be warmer to put on. You can even pop a hand or foot warmer in beforehand.

Keep your hands happy

Finally, your hands. Here you can apply a layering system that you can amend during the day depending on the conditions and what you’re doing. The key is not letting your hands get cold in the first place. Wear a thin lightweight liner glove, and once you reach the snow line, try to avoid taking them off. Get practised at doing things like tying your boot laces or crampon straps with your gloves on. We’re a big fan of silk gloves as they are so thin you can fit them under anything – and still do fiddly tasks like tying your hair back.

It’s easy enough to switch your gloves during the day, so having a number of different options is handy (ahem), so you can tailor how much insulation you need depending on what you’re doing. Don’t be tempted to wear too many at once though, as you’ll limit your dexterity (and if the layers are too tight, you’ll restrict blood flow and actually make your hands colder). Keep your gloves warm by stashing them inside your jacket, rather than in your pack, which also makes it quicker to change over at a belay.

There are certain activities that cause your hands to cool quicker; anything that raises your hands above your heart makes it harder for the blood to reach your fingers. Obviously when climbing this is somewhat unavoidable, but make the most of any opportunity to lower your arms to rest and let gravity help keep the blood flow to your fingers. Using walking poles walking up hill is another culprit, so if you can manage without, maybe save using the poles for the downhill. Gripping things like poles, ice axes, or rock also constricts blood flow, so do what you can to relax your grip as much as you can (which also saves energy) and shake out when possible. Contact with cold surfaces sucks the heat out of your hands really fast, so if there’s an alternative, use it. For example, grip the rubber covered part of your axe instead of the metal, or lean your pack against the rock instead of using your hands to balance. If you do feel your hands starting to get cold, some vigorous arm swinging or windmills can help push warm blood back into your fingertips.

If you struggle to keep your hands warm in gloves, then keeping your fingers together in a mitt is generally warmer, but you do sacrifice some dexterity. A useful compromise is ‘trigger finger’ mitts, where the index finger is separate so you can still manipulate things like carabiners and the rope, but your smaller fingers stay warmer. You can get handwarmers (some of which are re-usable) you can slip in the back of your gloves to help raise the temperature. There are even electrically heated gloves out there, but it’s worth having a back-up anyway in case you run out of power.

So to sum up, start off by keeping your core and limbs warm, layer appropriately and use action to keep you hands and feet warm and happy. Stay toasty out there!