When we go ice climbing, my girlfriend simply can't keep her hands warm. It's hard for me to comprehend, because my core is an absolute furnace and I never get uncomfortable unless it's well below zero, and even then it's not a problem. She brings hand warmers and extra pairs of gloves, and even runs uphill for a few minutes before she follows my leads...and gets the barfies every time.

She likes everything about ice climbing BUT cold hands, and it is really starting to turn her off.

I know women have generally have worse circulation than men, and I think my gf has bad circulation compared to most women. Anyone else out there battle poor circulation successfully? Any tips for my girlfriend? Any specific glove/mitten system that has been successful for a cold person?

Thanks. Your help is much appreciated.

Stop over-gripping her tools? Shake-out regularly en route? Go leashless if she isn't already.

Worst case: $375 Hestra Heater gloves.

kevin,

I just checked out the Hestra gloves. It seems that the user reviews generally aren't favorable, but I'm gonna go pursue the idea and see what I find.

thanks.

Great to hear she digs ice climbing, drag to hear about the cold hands. Here are some options I've seen work for friends that get cold hands:

• leashless tools, helps keep circulation moving

• arm warmers (cycling type, or home made from old thermals)

• hand warmers, two per arm: one on the backside of the hand, and a second on the inside of the wrist (even heard of people taping a third warmer against the inside of their bicep to hit the brachial artery)

• aspirin to keep the blood a bit thinner, aid in circulation a bit for constricted blood vessels at the fingers (edit to add: it's not the greatest for when you need your blood to coagulate though, so no puncturing a calf with the 'pons)

• heated gloves (I hear these work pretty damn good... pricey and with ice climbing they don't last super long, but it's better than her getting the screaming barfies every time)

Warm mittens for the belay, warm belay jacket to keep the core warm, thermos of hot tea or soup.

Do windmills with your arms to pump the hot blood out to the fingers.

Good luck!

I have problems with my feet and learned that (over) hydrating the day prior will thin your blood enough to reach the small capillaries in your hands and feet.

The key is to keep her hands from getting cold in the first place - so have her wear beefy gloves for the approach and belays. Keep her climbing gloves inside her jacket around her torso to keep them warm for the climb. Along with the other suggestions that should help.

Getting older with poorer circulation, I"ve finally gone to hand warmies in each glove during down time or on belay. Even one on back of wrist helps the hands when climbing. I freeze up just putting on crampons and gear to start, then need half an hour to warm them up before I climb. A tip on the chemical warmers: You can preserve them a day or so after the climbs by enclosing air tight in a zip lock bag. They will rewarm up again if used soon for a few more hours if you didn't expire them the first day out. I keep one going in my camera bag too, so the battery won't freeze up on photos at the priceless moment when needed.

there's a lot of great advice here so far, I just sent this link to the gf to see what she thinks...

also, the handwarmer/camera battery combo is genius.

I also posted on other site, and learned about raynaud's syndrome and the possibility of anemia playing a role. anyone deal with these issues?

thanks again.

Hmmm... Didnt see negative review on the Hestra gloves, but my wife LOVES hers ( and she ice climbs with Reynauds syndrome)

Work on her layering system. A lot of the time a vest or an additional layer will make all the difference.

Pack a Thermous. One of those little bullets doesn't take up much space and if you mix up a batch of hot cocoa made with some heavy milk will really help.

Food. Keep that metabolism firing and that will also help. Go for meats, cheeses nuts and the like. High on the gycemic index

Extra Gloves. No glove is warm when wet. I like to climb in a light glove and belay in a huge mitt. This really helps keep the hands warm and dry.

Don't stand on snow or ice. If you are just single pitch cragging, have her try standing on a back pack instead. If her feet get cold it will make her hands feel even colder. Sounds weird but it works.

Good luck, have fun.

+ 1 for windmills and taping handwarmers on the under part of your wrist. I also keep a spare pair of gloves tucked inside my jackets.

Another important thing is FOOD! Lots of sugary fatty things will keep her energy levels up, and help to create heat. Also a thermos full of a sweetened tea will help with warmths. Avoid alcohol and caffeine.

Hmm... another idea, havent tried it, but it would be sweet. Bring a small Coleman propane heater.

get her a set of nomics and she'll probably warm right up to this suffer-fest. I wouldn't get too much into the physiological unless she was shunting all of the time in the environment; otherwise switching the gloves & chem warmers can help. Sounds like it's more a matter of getting mileage to be more comfortable and relaxing on the ice.

Or you could try this...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4087271

J Rheumatol. 1985 Oct;12(5):953-6.

Induced vasodilation as a home treatment for Raynaud's disease.
Jobe JB, Beetham WP Jr, Roberts DE, Silver GR, Larsen RF, Hamlet MP, Sampson JB.

Abstract
Ten patients with Raynaud's disease treated themselves at home using induced vasodilation 3 times/day, every other day, for 18 treatment days. The patients, dressed in indoor clothing, immersed both hands in warm tap water (43-45 degrees C) for 8-10 min while exposed to naturally occurring ambient cold. Results of pre- and posttreatment cold exposures showed a significant mean increase in digital temperature of 3.4 degrees C (p less than .001). Conditioning therapy appears to be an effective, feasible alternative to drug or surgical therapy.

...and if that doesn't work, you could try this...

circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/112/19/2980

Circulation. 2005;112:2980-2985.
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Vascular Medicine

Sildenafil in the Treatment of Raynaud’s Phenomenon Resistant to Vasodilatory Therapy
Roland Fries, MD; Kaveh Shariat, MD; Hubertus von Wilmowsky, MD; Michael Böhm, MD

Background— Vasodilatory therapy of Raynaud’s phenomenon represents a difficult clinical problem...

Methods and Results— To investigate the effects of sildenafil on symptoms and capillary perfusion in patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon, we performed a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, fixed-dose, crossover study in 16 patients with symptomatic secondary Raynaud’s phenomenon resistant to vasodilatory therapy. Patients were treated with 50 mg sildenafil or placebo twice daily for 4 weeks... While taking sildenafil, the mean frequency of Raynaud attacks was significantly lower... Capillary blood flow velocity increased in each individual patient, and the mean capillary flow velocity of all patients more than quadrupled after treatment with sildenafil... Two patients reported side effects leading to discontinuation of the study drug.

Conclusions— Sildenafil is an effective and well-tolerated treatment in patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon

[Sildenafil = Viagara. I wonder what the "reported side effects" were?]

Perhaps wearing a down filled hood over her fleece cap.

or could be vertical ice induced anaphylaxis, happens to me all the time; hit the shit out of her with an epi pen but be ready to climb fast.

Just remember mittens are warmer than gloves. Also, does she have too many layers on? If so it could be all those layers are cutting the circulation off, usually from the axillary area (armpit). You can also try having her take some asprin...a blood thinner...it will help the circulation in the extremities.

When I wear thick glove climbing my hands freeze, but when I wear really thin ones my hands stay warm. So thick glove for when not climbing and very thin ones for when you are climbing. I think the thick ones make me over grip.

In addition to having warm mitts for the belays, warm gloves for the climbing, a hot thermos at the ready, warm clothing you might also go into a sporting goods store and purchase a pair of wrist chemical pack warmers. These little heat packs slip into envelop sized pods that hold heat packs and are strapped around your wrists. The heat can be felt and because the packs are directly over your main arteries they are effective at keeping hands/fingers warm.

These seem more effective than handwarmers. Good luck.

Absolute #1 rule of not getting cold hands/barfies = keep hands dry and free of contact with snow/ice.

Everyone else's suggestions are really good too, but I find this makes the biggest difference of all. I can go out and shovel snow for hours with no gloves (read: physical activity) and as long as the snow doesn't touch my hands, I'm all good. Air is a poor conductor. So waterproof the shit out of her gloves, and make sure she keeps them on as much as possible.

@Norman -yep. Been there, done that. Works to some degree but takes a fair amount of time. Drugs have side effects.

Hydration is extremely important. Instead of aspirin, use fish oil. Also, raw garlic will thin the blood and dilate capillaries.

Cayenne, extra hot in capsule form, might help. Open the capsule into a glass of warm water and drink.

Ginseng might make a difference also.

This might have been posted already, but mittens are the key for me. Like Tits said, don't let them get cold in the first place. I wear mittens on the approach and if needed swap out in between climbs.

Integral Designs makes a primaloft type insulated hat. They say most heat is lost through the head, so this may be a good addition while belaying. Maybe some super gaiters too. Warm up the other extremeties, maybe the hands will follow...

I appreciate all the great advice.

As far as smart layering/staying dry - I think her problem runs deeper than this, because we're pretty diligent about it.

As far as mittens, she (rather hilariously) also climbs in mittens. Somehow, she takes off screws and operates the leash system properly. I don't know how, because I can barely clip a biner with my unlined gloves.

I've climbed before in my bulky mitts(BD Mercury), not the best dexterity but it can work...