So I'm a VERY 'warm blooded' person... I don't get cold often but my HANDS and sometimes my toes/feet get very cold.For the sake of this post lets talk about gloves.

Here's one scenerio I remember.

Last winter snowboarding as I was waiting to go down the mountain my hands got so cold they were hard to move and hurt really bad, thinking the start of frostbite but HOW? I had just gotten OUT of the gondola (was not on a lift exposed to the wind/cold on the ride up) and put my bindings on and sat down in the snow. I was sitting waiting for others to get read with my hands in my very nice snowboad gloves which go past my wrist and tigthen there too. (They were NOT over tigthened cuting off circulation.) I ended up having to put one of those hand handwarmers in each of my gloves to 'thaw' my hands and make them comfortable again.

While that was the most extreme cold they'd felt it really sucks being warm all over and having your hands cold when they shouldn't be. Everyone else I was with was fine even the girls who normally get freezing cold before me.

So what I'm looking for is some high quality gloves I can wear not only in the snow (probably want two sets one for snow and one not) but while also driving/4x4 in the cold/snow weather.
Maybe I need a "glove system" like an underlayer of wool/fleece with an outer shel??

I don't know much abuot gloves but It hink I must have poor circulation in my hands.

So I'm looking for glove suggestions that don't limit my movemant TOO much.

Thanks
-Todd

Need to get some ski mittens; with your fingers in contact with each other they stay warmer. With gloves, there is cold air around each finger so they are colder. You can wear glove liners inside your mittens so that when you take off your mittens, you hands will still be covered.

Have you operated vibrating machinery for long periods? There is a condition popularly called 'white finger disease' This was first observed in chain saw operators. Vibration stops blood flow in the capillaries and eventual collapse. Poor circulation, sensation and sensitivity to cold are symptoms. My personal system are poly or smartwool glove liners for neded quick duties requiring dexterity ( and you won't freeze your hands to cold objects- BTDT!) Dachstein boiled wool mittens ( www.campmor.com) and a shell guantlet. Oh, and lots of snack food to keep my internal furnace going.

Go old school -- chopper mitts. Leather mittens with wool or fleece mittens inside. Its real cold weather stuff

tro

I have never heard of that, but maybe that is my problem. I used to work in the oil fields, and my job had a lot of hand vibration involved. Anyway, when I started carrying a gun for a living I still had cold hands, but needed some amount of dexterity. Thick gloves were out. I ended up with some thin glove liner things, wristlets I think they were called. Very thing super fiber of some kind, covered my wrists but not the fingers. They had two holes in the bottom end, one for the thumb, the other for the fingers. The theory is that the blood vessels in the wrist are close to the surface, and get cold faster than the rest of the hand. I wore them under the black version of GI nomex flight gloves, which are, at least to me, amazingly warm, and still allow you some feel and dexterity...

My Grandma used to tell me: "Hands cold? Cover up your head."

The theory being that you lose most of your body heat from your head and upper chest. When you lose body heat, the body contracts the vessels in your extremities to protect the core. (I learned this part later. Grandma wasn't interested in theroy.)

brandtb- While that's great advice about covering yuor head to keep warm at above scenerio I had on full snowboardin gear and my beanie and was 100% toasty warm but not my hands/fingers and that's the case most of the time I'm just fine temp wise but the hands are not.

Chris- Funny you mention that! I'll have to share that with my father he has, and has that problem. 2 of his fingers turn solid white and feel like they are in the 30*s when he's odne working outside in the cold. I'll have to get some smartwools as I bet they are as great as their socks!

Smartwool socks are great. I use them even here in Hawaii. They are the most comfortable socks I have ever used. I didn't know they make gloves.

I use wool glove liners inside Canadian military surplus wool mittens and shells. My thoughts are that the only people who know cold better than the Candians are the Russians and the Inuit. :P

Also, keep your body warm. I've found that I can get away with less on my hands if I need dexterity if I keep my chest warm, which makes sense. Your body adjusts the ammount of blood going to hands and feet to keep your torso warm, so if you keep your torso warmer, you won't have to wear the gloves. Your fingers will get cold, and AFAIK this won't do squat against frost bite, but you will at least be able to use them.

It is properly called Raynaud's Disease and was first observed in the timber industry with the invention of chainsaws. I have been told Ginko Biloba tablets often help reduce the attacks, which may be in the form of severe spasms and cramps.