Pure Trad Multi-Pitch Rock Climbing - How Cold is Too Cold?

As a Gunkie, I'm finding my climbing season is closing down in 3, 2, 1.... now.  For me, locally measured 50 degrees F and sunny is about it.  Maybe find a sun gathering corner, sunny with no wind... maybe 40 degrees F.  My hands really begin to hurt when they get too cold.  However, I see young, good climbers out in freezing temps and sending hard stuff.  I put a hand warmer into my chalk bag a couple of days ago and spent an embarrassing amount of time with my hands in the chalk bag on route.  With that, I want to extend my climbing season.

Any other tips on keeping hands warm enough in colder weather to continue multi-pitch trad climbing in a 'comfortable enough' status?

would taking something like viagra help? Increased bloodflow to the extremities for people with bad circulation?

 50 degrees & sunny is my cutoff as well.  I've had no success keeping my hands out of the pain zone below that window.

An issue is the rock is cold so your hands get cold as soon as you touch it. So cracks are probably worse since more of your hands are in contact and they’re shady.  I did a multipitch once when it was really cold. California so it was below freezing at night and maybe 40-50 during the day and I said never again.  

Everyone's different, but especially at the Gunks I wouldn't hesitate to haul up the kitchen sink if it makes my experience more pleasant. Mittens, big belay puffies, battery hand warmers, lots of food and warm drinks, hell even warm shoes for the belay.

Keeping your core warm helps a lot. Wool base layers, a puffy vest, or a warm belay jacket will help as much or more than a hand warmer.

Sun exposure, wind, rock reflectivity, humidity (people underestimate this one), and general climate can all play a larger role in how cold it feels than the temp on the thermometer. In the desert, I've climbed in the low 50s in the shade where I never felt the need to put on my puffy, and have gotten fried in the sun at similar air temps on a windless day. In the NE, where sunny often means "scattered clouds" and there are lots of trees blocking the sun, I've bailed on sunny boulders in the high 30s (which might be too hot in the west!). And I would say I get cold easier than most.

Make sure you pay attention to your core temperature as well. If your body is barely keeping your core warm, it's not going to have the bloodflow to divert to your hands...

You can get electric hand warmers on Amazon for ~$20 that last for hours. I was using them yesterday at Jtree (very windy, shady wall in the low 50s) in addition to a hand warmer in my chalk bag. Finger cracks were still cold AF but it made it tolerable to go all day, this was of course single pitch but it felt like it'd work for MP too

i kept the electric warmers in my pockets and held them as needed prior to starting a route. I could have done that in a good rest if needed to. Lower than 50 though, woof. Single pitch for me at that point

I have found that taping hand warmers on to my long sleeve shirt over the inside of my wrists to be effective. The blood vessels are close to the skin there and it seems to warm that blood enough to counteract what would otherwise be really cold rock. Don’t do it over bare skin though. That risks being too hot in my experience. Then a long sleeve over that layer keeps things snug and toasty. 

Yeti say, "never too cold to climb."

Ben B wrote:

I wouldn't be too concerned about cold climbing temps now that we have unmitigated climate change 

What a helpful comment, so nice of you to stop by and bless us with this one

I'm heading out in about 20 minutes to go cragging in ~45 degree temps with full shade. I'll let you know when I get back.

John Clarkwrote:

would taking something like viagra help? Increased bloodflow to the extremities for people with bad circulation?

Possibly, because I have rather unattractive climbing partners.  So this should go swimmingly :)  Actually, it's an interesting idea.

Not trad or multipitch, but I once tried climbing at Smith when it was 13 degrees. I can say definitively that 13 degrees is too cold.

gunkie Xwrote:

Actually, it's an interesting idea.

I slept outside every night for a winter at 9,200' (temps in the -30 to -40F range) and supplemented with cayenne. It definitely helped with my feet and hands when I used it.

Yukon Corneliuswrote:

Keeping your core warm helps a lot. Wool base layers, a puffy vest, or a warm belay jacket will help as much or more than a hand warmer.

Just to reinforce this: I used to whitewater kayak through the winter, so hands and occasionally head (if I flipped) immersed in nearly freezing water. I wore neoprene gloves, but the biggest help was overdressing my core. If I felt overheated walking down to the river, then I was dressed appropriately to keep my hands functional. I wanted to be so warm that my body was trying to cool down. That helped keep circulation going in my hands.

It’s a damp sport overall, so I was not really worried about sweating a little. Might want to fine tune more carefully for climbing if you want to avoid getting sweaty. But it might be worth trying to overdress and see how it goes.

This year in Grand Teton/Tuolumne I often had to start climbing multipitch when it's sub-40 deg in the morning. Again it was not very comfortable at belay stations, but once I started climbing it felt pretty warm. I was even overheating quite a bit on a 200ft 5.8 crack pitch haha.

For sports climbing/bouldering, as long as I overdress off the wall, I warm up pretty quickly shortly after start climbing and enjoying the supreme friction. I had the most glorious (overperforming relative to my level) sports climbing day when it was 30 deg cloudy+slightly snowing. 

John Clarkwrote:

would taking something like viagra help? Increased bloodflow to the extremities for people with bad circulation?

Be me:

At the Vancouver airport after a trip to Squamish with a female friend of mine.

for some reason, we get pulled aside at customs and dragged to a back room for intense screenings and accusations of, very specifically, weed gummy possession. (100% had nothing of that nature on us)

-rip apart my bag, empty every pill container.

-What’s this pill? Advil

-What’s this pill? Allergy meds

-whats This blue pill?:. …. Uhhhhh that little guy, well…it’s…. It’s Viagra sir.

Customs officer smirks, and looks at me, then looks at my friend. My friend stares at me. I stare directly at the ground 

It seemed  like a bad idea to try to explain at that moment  that “it’s totally not for my dick bro, and we’re just platonic friends, i swear im not trying to ~enhanced~ bang you bro.”

(I’ve had noticeable success with reduction in reynauds syndrome in cold weather climbing with low dose viagra)

Jason your story made me laugh. Frequent flyer here, seen everything, been subjected to everything. We haven't lived till we get hauled into that Canadian backroom customs shakedown, for me it was 1 AM in Winnipeg, some guy asking politely (but insistently) for my work papers. 

No viagra though.

https://youtu.be/pu0AnspIGp8?si=LnQzo-EWRzrwW7wL

This video has some helpful tips.

Handcracks and taped hands.