Are your feet always cold while skiing or snowboarding? Do your feet get cold easily?
I recently received an email from a customer, thanking me for solving his long-term cold-hands problem. He asked me for my advice on solving his cold-feet problem.
The first thing I should tell you is who I am and why you should consider my opinion: I am a person who has spent his entire life, almost every day in the winter, in ski country AND I am the owner and head designer of a ski products company that focuses on warmth. Our products are ski gloves, but I have lots of experience with cold feet as well, as a life-long sufferer of poor circulation in my extremities (Raynaud’s Syndrome).
Warmth is a VERY SUBJECTIVE subject, unique to the individual, but here are my two cents from my personal experience:
What you do not need:
-Custom boot liners – I have spent a fortune on custom boot fitters and their focus is on best-possible performance fit in a new boot and NOT warmth. Most custom boot fitters offer boot heaters, that a lot of people swear by, but I personally have had problems with them. See below.
-Liners with tongues - most boots come with liners that open forward and let the warmth out.
-Thick socks – more often than not, they kill circulation in your feet.
-Liner socks (worn under your thicker socks) – they compress on your skin, negatively impacting circulation.
-Battery-powered boot heaters – I have owned several pairs and they never worked as advertised for me. In my experience they maybe-worked temporarily, but the heat was inconsistent. Even worse, they caused the bottoms of my feet to sweat, then that sweat would get real cold. When they worked the best for me, my feet were constantly going from warm to cold and back and forth. The biggest, inescapable problem is inconsistency of the battery power.
-Battery-powered socks – see above
-Alcohol and anti-inflammatory medication to improve circulation – a very short-term non-solution
What works best:
-Make sure the rest of you is warm by wearing extra warm layers, waterproof pants, jacket, warm hat or helmet, neck gator, and toasty gloves or mittens (we can help you with that).
-BOOT LINERS THAT WRAP AROUND YOUR FEET. Wrap boot liners changed my life. They are the best products made for skiing and snowboarding (besides our gloves). I use Intuition wrap liners (not Intuition tongue liners). I have no connection financially to Intuition. I just want people to be warm and happy. (That’s why I started Free the Powder).
