Keeping warm - more tops tips please!

[LittleSkink]

just come in from an hour and my fingers are frozen! - its mostly why I came in (other than a crazy early start for a client tomorrow)

So I wear warm sock and shoes

Layers of fleece and down coat

Warm hat

Sit on camp foam cover for my viewing seat too, so my soft parts are all warm

partly to blame was my touching the metal of the scope but I must be missing something, I am used to winter mountaineering and don't get cold hands then!

[jnb]

Remote control?

[Pondus]

3 layers

1. thin wool

2. thick wool

3. windproof jacket

and some kind of ehh headgear

wool absorbs humidity, and retains bodyheat very well (if, and only if, you also use a windproof jacket)

wool also contains lanolin (wool wax), so clothes made of wool dont get dirty/sweaty  as quickly as other kind of clothing does...

Rune

ps  Just noticed youre used to winter mountaineering, so i guess you knew this already

[jnb]

I find the two best items I use for keeping warm are thermal base layers (merino wool is good and I've happily used that down to 30 below ), and glove liners rather than fingerless gloves are good as they are thin enough to allow you to use equipment with a gloved hand and thin enough that if you need it a second glove can go on over that.

[Qualia]

I seriously think my blood is thinner these days. I have no problem with temperatures running into the 40ºCs, but a little chill and I really start to feel it.

Anyway, winter here is generally quite mild - rarely goes below 5ºC - and my 'cold' gear breaks down to something like this:

Bottom Half: boxers and thermal socks, thermal leggings, another pair of thermal socks and another pair of loser thermal leggings, over this some cords and the feet enclosed in a pair of snow boots a few sizes too big. 

Top Half: thermal long sleeve, another looser fitting thermal long sleeve, another top and another top and then a jumper and a thin zip-up jacket and over this a feather puff ball coat.  

Neck, Hands, Head: Neck warmer or two, big woolly hat, thin cycle gloves and if needed another pair of thicker glooves which convert into fingerless gloves.

I remain snug warm for a couple of hours or so and then I start to feel the cold. I really don't know how some of you guys do it. I've seen young women in UK city centres walking about on a freezing mid-winter's night in short skirts .

The only conclusion I can draw is that there must be something in the British water that makes supermen and women out of folk

[ghostdance]

Glooves for yer hooves eh?

The city lasses sound like you were in Newcastle... They're pretty tough those Geordies... Must be the Federation...

(My wife's a Geordie - but she *hates* the cold. I swear that's why she moved to London...wasn't me at all! )

[Dave In Vermont]

Currently here in northern Vermont, we are enjoying a balmy -18C, or 0 F. It's been much colder as of late. So a good hat is mandatory - as well as good, well-insulated gloves. So I wear a fashionable little chapeau known as a 'Mad-Bomber Hat.'

Mad-Bomber Hat for a Mad Scientist.

Clear Skies - If I dare set foot out there...

Dave

[pevsfreedom]

This is totally odd but last night I was out and sitting on the chair and had a book over my legs, a pretty large book going all the way to me knees, and my legs/undercarriage section was SO WARM it felt like a heater was uhh, in my pants. It was nice, I'm gonna always place a big book on my lap for warmth. 

[pevsfreedom]

Currently here in northern Vermont, we are enjoying a balmy -18C, or 0 F. It's been much colder as of late. So a good hat is mandatory - as well as good, well-insulated gloves. So I wear a fashionable little chapeau known as a 'Mad-Bomber Hat.'

Mad Bomber Hat.jpg

Mad-Bomber Hat for a Mad Scientist.

Clear Skies - If I dare set foot out there...

Dave

Now I live in LA so the nights are a frigid 55 degrees or so F. In the Air Force I was in Idaho for nearly 4 years and the average during the winter in the crappy town was about -15 F every morning. I think I wore 4 jackets each day. 

Unnatural coldness. 

[ronin]

I am used to winter mountaineering and don't get cold hands then!

Thats easy you are not stood still doing almost nothing when mountaineering, you are generating heat and that escapes via the hands and any oher part it can.

I think that if you look at the PHD site they do clothing for activity and non-activity situations, the "minimum" temperature that the clothing is rated for is 15C different.

Not sure of the glives you have but if there is a Go-Outdoors within reach go put your hand in a set of their (I think) Trekmate gloves/mitts. They are a 5 finger inner (glove) inside a mitten outer which is packed with insulation. I may have the name wrong but if they have any you will know them.

Problem is you will keep taking anything on your hands off and on all night.

Equally something may be wrong in your clothing (at least for astronomy) as the heat you generate is not having to escape through your hands - it must be getting out elsewhere. When I am stood at a scope my hands are warm as that is where the heat is going to to escape from. I rarely wear gloves as otherwise I can get too hot. So you might have something wrong with what you wear - the heat is getting out.

[faulksy]

I seriously think my blood is thinner these days. I have no problem with temperatures running into the 40ºCs, but a little chill and I really start to feel it.

Anyway, winter here is generally quite mild - rarely goes below 5ºC - and my 'cold' gear breaks down to something like this:

Bottom Half: boxers and thermal socks, thermal leggings, another pair of thermal socks and another pair of loser thermal leggings, over this some cords and the feet enclosed in a pair of snow boots a few sizes too big. 

Top Half: thermal long sleeve, another looser fitting thermal long sleeve, another top and another top and then a jumper and a thin zip-up jacket and over this a feather puff ball coat.  

Neck, Hands, Head: Neck warmer or two, big woolly hat, thin cycle gloves and if needed another pair of thicker glooves which convert into fingerless gloves.

I remain snug warm for a couple of hours or so and then I start to feel the cold. I really don't know how some of you guys do it. I've seen young women in UK city centres walking about on a freezing mid-winter's night in short skirts .

The only conclusion I can draw is that there must be something in the British water that makes supermen and women out of folk

i can just imagine seeing the michelin man now looking through the moonshane

[scarp15]

Having good deep pockets as hand warmers is very effective, whilst I wear and have to take on and off a pair of gloves, it is the through pocket on my down smock that is dependable to prevent my hands from numbing. Cold leaks out of your extremities, that is to say your head, fingers and feet, your core body can contain its thermal insulation more efficiently for longer.  If I am say wild camping in cold / wintry conditions, wrapped in my down hooded sleeping bag and I still feel the cold, then I will wear a hat (and socks). 

For head gear I wear both a fleece hat and if required a balaclava, cropped short and hair loss definitely doesn't help - though that Mad Bomber Hat looks great. As mentioned, UK company PHD do some great garments. Wild chill is of course the one to guard against.

[James]

I lost a lot of weight recently and in conjunction with a condition that made me more sensitive to cold I'd been suffering the cold a lot when imaging... to the extent that I restarted observing to keep myself moving...

... and that was/is the solution. I have good clothing that should keep me going well into the minus temperatures but if I sit down I get cold, if I move around I get warmer.

Drinking hot tea and eating lots of food helps too  

James

[Vox45]

First time in the cold last month made me realise that I was ill equipped..

- My wool hat was too small and did not cover my ears ... big mistake. Also, the head lamp elastic band was squeezing my hat which then slipped up and I ended up with a bunched hat on top of my head

- My hiking boots were too tight and the soles had the tendency to accumulate mud in the deep indentations. The muddy wet cold goo sticking on the soles did not help in keeping my feet warm. Also, I spent quite some time cleaning the darn soles the next day

- The fingerless glove were quite warm but I ran into a design issue: all fingers were exposed but the thumb was not. This made me realise the importance of the opposing digit in human evolution...

- I had the brillant idea of bringing a blanket with an insulated underlay to keep the humidity away .. But I also came up with the stupid idea to put it under the scope and not under my feet. Although the initial idea of the blanket under the scope helped when I dropped an EP on the blanket instead of the deep grass and mud, I should have brought 2 and put the second one under my feet.

So I did some puchases for my second night out in the cold:

- rubber boots (nothing to tie, easy to remove without putting your hands in god knows what) with smooth soles that I can wash in the shower when the wife is not looking. 1 size too big and a pair of wool socks

- a 'mad Bomber hat' that can be tied under the chin to prevent the 'hat on top of head' situation

- a simple sheet to put under the scope, a waterproof picnic rug under my feet

- scotch (nah, kiddin')

Next run is saturday, I'll see how long I last this time.

Still have to solve the glove issue.

[Astro Imp]

I seriously think my blood is thinner these days. I have no problem with temperatures running into the 40ºCs, but a little chill and I really start to feel it.

Anyway, winter here is generally quite mild - rarely goes below 5ºC - and my 'cold' gear breaks down to something like this:

Bottom Half: boxers and thermal socks, thermal leggings, another pair of thermal socks and another pair of loser thermal leggings, over this some cords and the feet enclosed in a pair of snow boots a few sizes too big. 

Top Half: thermal long sleeve, another looser fitting thermal long sleeve, another top and another top and then a jumper and a thin zip-up jacket and over this a feather puff ball coat.  

Neck, Hands, Head: Neck warmer or two, big woolly hat, thin cycle gloves and if needed another pair of thicker glooves which convert into fingerless gloves.

I remain snug warm for a couple of hours or so and then I start to feel the cold. I really don't know how some of you guys do it. I've seen young women in UK city centres walking about on a freezing mid-winter's night in short skirts .

The only conclusion I can draw is that there must be something in the British water that makes supermen and women out of folk

Judging by the amount of clothing you wear living too long in a warm climate must have softened you up, better not return to UK 

[Scott]

As James said, it's the staying still that is the killer which explains why you can handle cold whilst mountaineering. Unfortunately, looking through the ep and moving around aren't good bed fellows so try doing one at a time . I resisted using gloves without fingertips for a long time thinking they couldn't work but they do. you can even get them with finger "hoods" you can replace when not fiddling about .  

Failing that, move over to spain...Quaila needs an observing buddy

[Wobbly Bob]

I find the two best items I use for keeping warm are thermal base layers (merino wool is good and I've happily used that down to 30 below ), and glove liners rather than fingerless gloves are good as they are thin enough to allow you to use equipment with a gloved hand and thin enough that if you need it a second glove can go on over that.

I bought a couple of Marino Wool base layers from Go Outdooors, they are brilliant or were brilliant, after a few wearings and washings the started to grow massive holes, still use them but a bit drafty.

[Hobbes]

I have found multiple layers to be the best thing.

Top Half

Merino wool base layer

Flannel shirt

Wool Jumper (Cashmere if you can find it cheap in your local charity shop)

Heavy duty Fleece (wind proof)

Mid-thigh length winter coat (wind and water proof)

Snood to keep my neck warm

Woollen hat

Bottom Half

Thermal long underwear

Warm trousers

Waterproof over trousers (I use an old pair of cycling ones)

Feet

Thin pair silk socks

Thick pair of woollen boot socks

Walking boots - I use leather Brasher boots (not Wellingtons - these have lousy thermal insulation and I always get cold feet if I'm wearing them)

Hands

I tend not to wear anything but have a pair of charcoal burning pocket warmers good for about 5-6 hours which gives me a toasty refuge for my hands.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004AKYKHU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Inside

A hot meal

Snack bars

Thermos of Hot chocolate

Hip flask of good single malt whiskey

This keeps me happy for a 5-6 hour session down to about -5.

[Vox45]

You Booze, You Lose (Heat)  Alcohol is a vasodilator and apparently caffeine has a similar effect !

Everything You Know About Getting Warm Is Wrong ... turns out I am wrong a lot !

[jetstream]

Hands, feet, head- keeping these warm is a good place to start. I use mechanics gloves to switch my EP's out and focus, but wear mitts over them. Trapper hat, balaclava and I just bought these for walking as my big insulted rubber boots are not good for walking in.http://hunt.irishsetterboots.com/irishsetter-shoe/2871-irish-setter/2871-irish-setter-hunt-mens-12-inch-boot-dark-coffeemossy-oak-break-up-infinity-camouflag

[jetstream]

 This is my thumb with frost burn, happened in a minute taking my filter off an aluminum EP in -30c, no glove, at least I got the HH that night.

[DougM43]

We bought some of these for the guys at work, they are super toasty warm. was working in the snow and biting wind last month with just a t shirt and boxers underneath, bob hat and gloves.

Not sure if the link will work, if not, Dickies padded waterproof overall. Best £60 I've ever spent for winter outdoors.

Only problem is they have a bit of a smell of  gone off fish ,,, unless its me. 

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/dickies-padded-waterproof-overall-blue-xxl

[kirkster501]

Check out the Outdoors stores next few weeks and look out for deals on Ski stuff they are trying to clear.  I got a pair of Ski trousers and a Ski top, really nice and extremely warm for £40 a few years back.  

[Skipper Billy]

The best solution I have found for warm hands is a pair of hand warmers that run off lighter fluid - one in each deep handwarmer pocket and every opportunity put your hands in the handwarmer pocket with the heaters - I have imaged for 5 hours at minus 5 dropping to minus 10 and had warm hands.

If its really cold the above plus a pair of very thin silk gloves as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zippo-Hand-Warmer/dp/B00MTKF0OA

http://www.thisispulp.co.uk/nevica-silk-liner-gloves-405573?colcode=40557303&src=google&gclid=CMfnsdPJ7MMCFcHMtAodniMAJg

If your hands are warm the rest of you tends to feel warm too!

[bmtta2003]

It has been ridiculously cold in the north east U.S. wind chills down to -40F at times. I'm a fair weather beginner and can't wait to get out with my scope. Does extreme cold cause any damage to your equipment (I'm talking about the scope ) Do you have to take any special precautions to protect it? Will it cause you to have to collimate more frequently?