Keeping Your Hands Warm

[Photo-John]

I have fingerless wool gloves and mittens where you can pull the mitten part off to expose your fingers. But when it's below freezing, my hands get cold. Taking ski photos is the worst. I've heard about wearing surgical gloves. What do you cold weather shooters do to keep your fingers from falling off? I've been shooting as cold as 6 degrees Fahrenheit this winter and I just take off my gloves. But that's not practical.

[mjs1973]

Hey PJ. I tried the surgical gloves many years ago for deer hunting. The problem I found with them, is that they make my hands sweat, and being wet in the cold is no way to stay warm. I a pair of the mittens you describe where you can flip the mitten part off to expose your fingers to run your gear and they work pretty good. The thumb also flips off and it makes running the camera a lot easier. On the real cold days, I put one of those disposable chemical hand warmers in the mitten part of the mitten to keep my finger tips warm. I also have inserts for my boots that have a little pocket to hold these warmers as well, to keep my toes warm.

Another thing that I bought last year is a fleece muff. It's basically a tube of warm fleece, with elastic on the ends, like the sleeves on a jacket. It has a strap on it that you hook around your waist like a fanny pack, and when your hands get cold, you stick them in the muff to warm up. I also put a hand warmer inside the muff so it's extra cozy when you need to warm up your hands.

I usually wait till the spring when the hand warmers go on clearance and then stock up for the next winter. I also have some of the refillable hand warmers that burn lighter fluid. They last all day, and work great. That's usually what I put in the muff.

[jorgemonkey]

While I was out there over Christmas, I shot without gloves for a day or so, then I got those disposable hand warmers and kept them in my pockets while I was out shooting. They made a HUGE difference in keeping my hand functioning properly.

[reverberation]

I use extra large ski gloves with liners. I keep the liners on my hands when shooting. This setup is not ideal because the liners are too thick and loose. I have to remove them to change film. I am looking for thinner, tighter glove liners. The important thing is that my ski gloves are not tight, so there is a layer of warm air in them. I would stay away from anything that does not let your hands breathe. I have shot with wind chill well below zero. I was looking at mechanics gloves but decided against them because they had too much plastic on them. The good thing about my setup is that my hands are always warm in the gloves, and the liners give me protection when I am shooting. The potentially dangerous thing is that I have had a glove blow away in a blizzard (I eventually got it back!) and if I did not have a spare pair in my pack it could have been a problem. I now clip them to my jacket so I don't drop them.

[Frog]

The chemical handwarmers are the way to go. They're cheap too.

[SmartWombat]

Layering ?
My father was in the RAF during WWII and their approach was a pair of thin silk gloves as an underlayer, and then the fleece insulated gloves on top.
Maybe you can find some modern fabric similar that has even better heat retention and allows moisture out for while you're exerting yourself skiing...

[Jimmy B]

John you might check out a pair of these.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...estore_ID=1457
Jimmy B

[JSPhoto]

I know I needed something today when I had to shoot a fire, it was 11 degrees F out and a lot colder with the wind chill. I could have used some different boots too, these hole filled sieves did nothing to keep my feet warm.
That 1D body gets cold real fast!
JS

[buffy1]

I use 2 pair of gloves.
First layer is a pair of thin neophrene gloves, Hatch NS430L, Isoleted pistol gloves.

If they get too cold, i use Redline Mitt Expedition Glove, but only too warm my hands. They are too thick.

But than hands are warm, i recommend neophrene gloves, they isolate cold pretty good.

[readingr]

I use a pair of thin sailing gloves with no left finger or thumb so that I can get to the buttons okay and then a pair of thinsulate ski gloves on top of those if it gets too cold. In my pocket there will be a hand warmer which I rarely use but its there if it becomes unbearable.

Roger

[another view]

Layering is usually the best way to go, but I like being able to use at least my index finger and thumb. I have heavy fleece gloves that have covers for the fingers and thumbs like what you're describing, and that's usually all I use other than maybe a chemical heat warmer pack. Those little things are surprisingly good, and I put a pair in my boots too.

First time I used them I didn't even think about it until an hour or so later when I realized that my feet didn't hurt from the cold! They're not much warmer than room temperature but any warmer than that and you might start to sweat which would be bad (then you'll really get cold!). The old-school handwarmers that burn lighter fluid are a little warmer, but nice on your hands once in awhile.

[livin4lax09]

i usually shoot with a 84 cent pair of gloves from walmart, covered by those gloves/mittens you were talking about, which have thinsulate insulation. I then put a handwarmer in between the two layers. I leave my mitten on my left hand for the lens, and usually leave my bottom 3 fingers on my right hand in the mitten part and only expose my pointer finger for shutter release... and smartwool for the feet...