Hands go numb on the ice
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Question for anyone with cold hands that go numb when ice climbing! Especially the ladies: |
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Matt, some people just have poor circulation (or not enough body fat), and their hands are perpetually cold even if they're wearing neoprene gloves or three pairs of Dachstein mitts. My advice would be to pump some plastic at the gym (shorts! T-shirts!) until the warm weather comes, and then you can go out cragging or bouldering once again. Forget the ice climbing (at least with her), and keep your girlfriend warm and happy. |
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Two things... Two pairs of gloves. One pair to climb with, one to belay with. Keep one or the other tucked into her shirt or jacket next to her body to keep them warm and more dry. A few gloves like the OR Alibi has a pocket in them for chemical hand warmers if needed. |
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Man same boat, my GF loves skiing but hands get so cold it's painful for her after a couple hours. No amount of glove seems to matter, as it's an issue with circulation , not insulation. Helicopters work pretty well. As in wildly swinging arms utilizing centrifugal force to force blood into the hands and fingers. Other than that I dunno, warfarin maybe? Ha, good luck. |
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Sounds like your girl has Raynauds, a disorder in which the blood vessels over-react to cold temperatures by constricting causing the hands to go numb and take a long time to regain feeling. |
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try chem packets. |
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Yeah, Raynaud's disease (a circulation disorder) is a bear. My father-in-law has it, and his hands will sometimes begin to go numb and look discolored & waxy even when it's in the high 30's. Unless they're exercising strenuously (running, XC skiing), there's not much Raynaud's sufferers can do. |
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I'm not so sure about Raynaud's guys. If she had that she would know. Her hands would have trouble anytime it was cold. Plus she would have noticed the whitening of the skin during an episode. Doesn't sound like the case in this situation. But, worth investigating. |
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Tape hand warmers to the underside of her forearm, right where her pulse it - this warms blood as it enters the hand. |
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Something nobody mentioned so far is the climbing itself. |
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Yeah I agree with the cool body core=cold hands! (Same goes for feet) |
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Well at least you have a reason to suggest she stick her hands down your pants, more often when really cold. Then again if her hands are really cold could result in some seriously uncomfortable shrinkage, if you know what I mean. |
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Lots of chem handwarmer packs. 2 pair of dry gloves. One aside with warmers inside of them, tucked in jacket. Other belay gloves, keep the warmer inside on back of hand so not to block your hand dexterity. Then swap back into the warmed gloves in the jacket just before climbing, and stuff the warmers inside the second pair to keep warm in the pack while you climb. And on it goes. Too tight gloves don't help at all, huge gloves have no feel for tools or dexterity for placing a screw. Drink warm liquids, take a thermos along if you have to or stove to heat up drinks. It's tough, my hands have got worse with age and old frostbitten areas that get much colder now than they have in past. Good luck. |
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lucander wrote:And remember, it's ice climbing. That game sucks, it's a major reason why relatively few bother playing it.I thought this was normal for ice climbing and one of the reasons i didnt like doing it much. |
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Just a random thought,perhaps the whole ice climbing thing makes her nervous and that in turn constricts the vessels making her hands cold, nervousness can do some crazy things. Try the funky Penguin. |
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i dont know if anyone does anymore, but is she a smoker? Nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, and smokers notoriously have cold hands. just throwin it out there. |
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This works for me (usually): |
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The waxy-white appearance is only a symptom of Raynauds and one that not everyone experiences (e.g., me). |
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I've found that wearing mittens in between laps, on the belay or on the approach helps overall during the day. I have a pair of highloft mittens I wear over my light gloves on the way in. |
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Guys - I have one of the worst cases of Reynauds that I've ever seen, and my hands immediately go numb when they get cold(they go numb if my steering wheel in the car is not super warm, and pretty much whenever its cold outside and I touch something cold). It was miserable to ice climb when I first started, but now its tolerable (even rock climbing outdoors and indoor rock climbing they go numb if its slightly chilly in the gym). I've learned to rock climb with the palms of my hands until my fingers warm up. |
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One other possibility is that she might have TOS (thoracic outlet syndrome). That is impingement of blood vessels or nerves at the level of collarbone. It usually show up with arms elevated. |