Mittens for really cold hands

I have Reynauds and have used the Seirus Therma-Lux Glove Liners with Heat Pocket sometimes with and without the heater. I wear some less than dexterous (sic) Thinsolite nylon shell gloves over them. I agree with the advice to keep some food in the stove during the trip. I always try to start out with some cheese or other fat containing food. Never allow bare skin to touch something cold. I have trouble in the early AM in the sleeping bag as the metabolism seems to drop. I always carry OR mittens with shells (clumsy and less than fun on the trail but they are the back up to save the fingers from frostbite) and wear the liners at night. I have recently started to use the UnderArmour Light fleece gloves as liners. (Under $25) They have good dexterity due to rubberized logos on the inner finger and palms. They are not supper warm in themselves but better than the purely knitted liner gloves to just keep something between the flesh and the cold cruel world when I take off my regular Thinsolite gloves. Between all those gloves I seem to find a happy medium. The best advice keep moving and when you stop for any length of time put on the Himalayan Summit Antarctic Mittens.

MadRiver said:

I just received mine in the mail. I’m not impressed, at least not for $30.00. They appear to be your standard wool mittens, nothing more. Since they run a tad large, I am tempted to try a felting process to see if I can tighten up the knit.

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The Dachstein mittens that Sweaters International sold and appear to now be sold be the Sweater Chalet—a rebranding of Sweaters International under new ownership?—for a staggering $80, are not as good as the Dachstein mittens once sold at the dearly departed Climb High. The inferiority of the SI Dachstein mitts is due to them not being as felted as the version that CH sold. This makes the SI version less durable and signifcantly reduces it's windblocking capability and overall warmth.

All is not lost! A search for "Vaude Himalaya Mitten" or "Vaude Himalaya Handschuhe" on the British and German Amazon sites should bring up a Vaude brand of the famed Dachstein mitten, which well may be the same brand that CH once sold. If the images are accurate, they appear to have the same degree of felting that my old CH version have. More anon.

TEO said:

All is not lost! A search for "Vaude Himalaya Mitten" or "Vaude Himalaya Handschuhe" on the British and German Amazon sites should bring up a Vaude brand of the famed Dachstein mitten, which well may be the same brand that CH once sold. If the images are accurate, they appear to have the same degree of felting that my old CH version have. More anon.

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Followup: My Vaude Himalay Mitten arrived today from British Amazon. They are as heavy and dense as the heaviest and densest of my previous Dachstein mittens. The size 8 Vaude is the equivilent of my size 7 pair from the Sweater Chalet, but the former have been boiled to a much denser, thicker, fuzzier felt.

When I got out of the army 25 years ago, I moved back to ME and got back into ice fishing with some high school friends. Over the 12 years I was in I’d collected plenty of warm clothing but didn’t really have anything for my hands and feet. A trip to Kittery Trading Post took care of that, I left with a pair of Lacrosse Ice Bowl boots and Ganka Expedition mittens. Using GI wool liner mittens my hands were toasty warm walking around town at -25F during our deep freeze last February. They’re absolutely useless for anything but keeping your hands warm. Ganka doesn’t make these any more, they have some that look similar but I’d probably just go with GI arctic mittens if I needed a new pair now.

Keeping your core warm is the most important thing for having warm hands (and feet.) I previously worked as a ground support equipment mechanic at Portland (ME) International Jetport and replaced more than a few starters outside in -20F temps. Expedition weight polypro, my regular uniform pants & shirt, hooded Carhartt insulated jacket, and insulated arctic coveralls from my time as a ski lift mechanic kept my core toasty and made sure the blood going to my hands and feet didn’t have to give up any heat along the way. I wore Sorel Conquests on my feet and those white knit acrylic gloves to prevent direct contact with metal, though at times they did have to come off (such as when threading on the tiny #8 or #10 screw or nut that holds the wire from the ignition switch to the starter relay/solenoid.) 20 minutes was about how long I was good for, my hands would get cold but not to the point of being unusable. I’d pull my hands into my sleeves and make a fist to start them warming up.

You can tell those mitts are built for the cold because they have the built in snot rag on the top.

skiguy said:

You can tell those mitts are built for the cold because they have the built in snot rag on the top.

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When I was stationed at PNSY one of my duties was to supervise the movement of submarines into and out of drydock. For some reason, these events always seemed to occur on the coldest and windiest days of the year. I complained to my boss and he told me to requisition whatever I thought we needed. We wound up with arctic gear like you describe, with the fur on the backside of the mitts to wipe away rime (and other stuff). Made using a walkie-talkie difficult though. Got these quilted pants and jackets that were unbelievably warm along with some Elmer Fudd looking hats. We could barely walk in these outfits (think Michelin Man), but we were warm.

NH2112 said:

Ganka Expedition mittens. Using GI wool liner mittens my hands were toasty warm walking around town at -25F during our deep freeze last February. They’re absolutely useless for anything but keeping your hands warm. Ganka doesn’t make these any more, they have some that look similar but I’d probably just go with GI arctic mittens if I needed a new pair now.
[snip] 20 minutes was about how long I was good for, my hands would get cold but not to the point of being unusable. I’d pull my hands into my sleeves and make a fist to start them warming up.

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A nice thing about Dachstein mittens is that you have just enough dexterity to do basic things. I have Raynauds, so my hands can go to unusable in minutes to seconds. I've also spent many days & nights backcountry skiing in sub-zero temps down to -30º F or so. I've taken to using medical gloves as vapor barriers. This allows me to keep overmitt shells on virtually all the time without wetting the insulatory layer, e.g. Dachstein mitts, and that's made a significant difference.

Thos GE mitts do look warm.

I splurged on a pair of Mainers mittens recently. They should be super warm - now I just need to get into some really cold temps to try them out.

TEO said:

A nice thing about Dachstein mittens is that you have just enough dexterity to do basic things. I have Raynauds, so my hands can go to unusable in minutes to seconds. I've also spent many days & nights backcountry skiing in sub-zero temps down to -30º F or so. I've taken to using medical gloves as vapor barriers. This allows me to keep overmitt shells on virtually all the time without wetting the insulatory layer, e.g. Dachstein mitts, and that's made a significant difference.

Thos GE mitts do look warm.

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I just leave the liners on when I have to use my hands. I’ve tried wool liner gloves but they’re not quite as warm as the thicker mitten liners with the trigger finger. A more practical pair of mittens is on my list, though. These are what I’d want if I was ever stranded on a mountain and awaiting rescue. They’re too big and cumbersome to even use trekking poles, only my MSR Flight2 straps will even fit around them.