Stopping Cold Hands in Winter: Lessons from 10 Years of Mountaineering & Alpine Climbing Instruction

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They say that most accidents are the accumulation of a series of small things. Sure, there is the odd catastrophic and unforeseen collapse of a bus-sized serac. But, on the whole, accidents come about from a series of small miscalculations and judgements.

One of the funny things about being out with kids is the comparatively lower-stakes and analogous version that happens with each outing in regards to comfort. Kids will tolerate a certain amount of discomfort, but the accumulation of small discomforts can add up to a, simply, uncomfortable experience. And once you cross that indistinguishable and internally held threshold of a child’s that crosses from discomfort to a fully uncomfortable experience, there seems no going back; soon come the calls for turning around, for ending the trip, or for - potentially - refusal to go any further as well as refusal to turn around.

So, we try to aid our kids by providing a number of avenues they can pursue for effecting their own comfort levels. Not everything is going to fall within their bounds of control, but some things can be. If you saw my video and post on maintaining morale, you have seen how I feel this notion of perceived control is central to maintaining the desire to continue an adventure.

By in large, that was the inspiration behind the video in this posting: giving a modicum of control in environments where absolute control is not possible.

To be sure, I came about these “usual” shortcomings in behavior that lead to cold hands through the process of instructing adults, which I did as an instructor with the Colorado Mountain Club for many, many years. But the application has been beyond beneficial - it has seem to become fully necessary - when getting out with my children.

So, it is my hope that a decade’s worth of instruction may be beneficial to others, as we can apply these comparatively simple techniques to help keep our winter outings moving forward.

One additional word on the liner gloves. There is a difference between a light glove and a liner glove. A light glove is designed to stand on its own in brisk weather. It is too thick to be a liner for the reasons I describe in the video. A thin liner glove, in turn, does it’s job well but is - frankly - not up to the task to be on it’s own. Not only is it not warm enough, but it usually isn’t durable enough, either.

For those who wonder, I like the Lafuma Silk Glove as a true liner glove and the Seirus Soundtouch Dynamax Glove for my “light glove” of choice.