Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
Well, finally got out to A-Basin for our first ski trip of the year. Got
there well before the lifts started, had a nice breakfast burrito with hot
cocoa and a banana (yes, all in the same meal), and made our way to the lift,
which was just starting.

Anyway. A-Basin was its usual not-terribly-sunny self, and the ends of my
fingers were painfully cold. But it really wasn't *that* cold ... probably
right around freezing. Okay, maybe a bit colder.

I was wearing the Kombi lobster claws I got several years ago. They
have two "fingers" and a thumb, with a five-fingered liner that goes inside.
My hands always get really wet in them, I guess because my hands are clammy.

My dream is to one day go skiing without painfully cold fingers.

I strongly flirted with the idea of mittens, but I am really nervous about not
having at least some finger dexterity. I went to a local shop today and ended
up with the Swany gloves mentioned in the subject. The outer layer is almost
all leather of varying types, and they have the gauntlet-style wrist
protection that I like (pull it over the jacket sleeve and cinch it down).
There's also a pouch that can be used to hold a hand-warmer. I've never used
those, so I don't know if this is important to me.

Anyway, the salesguy made several claims that I'd like to have
confirmed/denied/discussed:

This is pretty much all my opinion:

1) He claimed that leather gloves are warmer than other materials due to being
less porous than fabrics, which are woven.

That would just stop more water getting into the glove, surely. I'd have
thought Goretex or similar would be better as they aren't porous at all.

2) He claimed that, from year to year, either Marmot or Swany will have the
warmest glove on the market.

Not sure. I'd have to take his word for it.

3) He claimed that, in extremely high-quality handwear, a mitten won't be any
warmer than a glove (this is the one I really wonder about)

I can't see how that'd be true. In a mitten, your fingers are together so
they warm each other up. In a glove they're seperate so they only have the
insulation from the glove to keep them warm.

4) He claimed that this particular glove had been tested and found to be the
warmest (objectively, via temperature) of all the gloves tested

Hmm. I'd want to know how they'd been tested.

5) He claimed that the fleece liner will wick away my sweat and keep my hands
from being wet.

Probably true as long as the sweat can get out through the outer layer.

6) He said that his gf, who also has poor circulation and constant hands of
ice, wears these and is happy with them. (I'm not asking you guys to confirm
this, but do you think this is a) true or b) a tactic to get me to buy a
rather pricey pair of gloves?)

You'd have to make your own decision on that.

Finally, I'm wondering if buying gloves is the answer at all, or if I need to
keep my body warmer somehow so that it doesn't say "sayonara!" to my
extremities. Thing is, if I dress any warmer than I do, I'll be sweating when
I ski or am standing in line, and even with wicking fabrics throughout, that
causes enough wetness to make me cold again. Especially as sports bras don't
do a great job of wicking, anyway.

One tactic a ski instrcutor told me about ages ago is to spin your arms
around like a windmill if your fingers get cold, it forces the blood to
them and warms them up. If your body is warm but your fingers are cold
this works really well. Suprisingly well in fact - about 15 seconds is all
it takes for my fingers to warm up. You can do the same with your toes by
swinging your legs (obviously not like a windmill unless you're very
flexible!)

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