Cold
FEET - A SOLUTION ?
Written on 21 July 2013 by Susan Dun
To a certain extent, cold feet are part of what you have to expect when skiing, but if your feet get really cold they can get very painful, making you miserable and ruining your day. In the worst case scenario, you can get frostnip or even frostbite in your toes!
Cold feet are usually a bigger problem for ladies, for those with poor circulation and for anyone suffering from circulatory conditions such as Reynaud’s Syndrome.
When it gets down to minus 30, there’s maybe not much you can do at all but here are few tips to keep your feet warmer in most conditions.
Why do feet get cold ?
Understand the cause
There are three main reasons why your feet might get really cold on the mountain.
TOP TIP
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Some useful solutions
Wrap Up
To keep your whole body warm, make sure you’re properly dressed for extreme temperatures on the mountain – several thin layers keep you warmer than one thick, bulky one and are more comfortable too.
Don’t forget your head, a warm hat is a must and should cover your ears. A neckwarmer’s another great idea to stop warm air escaping round your neck.
Do Your Boots Fit?
If your boots are too small, they constrict your forefoot area where the main blood vessels supplying your toes run, plus there’s no room (you just need a tiny amount) for warm air generated by your body to circulate round your feet.
So you’d think if your boots were too big there’d be no chance of your blood-flow being impaired and plenty of room for warm air to circulate.
But if your boots are too big, your natural tendency is to clamp them tight to keep some control of your skis – especially in the vital forefoot area.
Even if your boots are the right size, if they’re too high in the instep you’ll want to over-tighten the forefoot buckles.
Make sure your boots fit properly, not just in terms of size but overall 3D volume too, and clip them up properly.
Especially make sure you don’t over-tighten the power strap or the clips over the forefoot – they should be finger-tight only. Over-tightening the third clip from the top is one of the most common reasons for freezing feet!
Warm, Dry Boots
Make sure you dry your boots every night.
Take out the liners so both shell and liner have a chance to dry properly. Warm the liner up before you start in the morning too. You can buy portable boot warmer/driers pretty cheaply if your chalet doesn’t have one, or use hairdryer on a low setting.
And it goes without saying that you shouldn’t leave your boots on the balcony, in a freezing boot room or in the car boot overnight!
Socks
Never, ever, ever wear cotton socks! Most people produce about 200mls of sweat from their feet during an average day’s skiing.
Cotton soaks up sweat like a sponge and keeps it next to your feet, then it freezes and so do your feet! Proper ski socks use a combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic yarns to wick moisture up and direct it out of the boot so it evaporates rather than freezes next to your feet.
Don’t wear more than one pair of socks either - the extra bulk inside the boot restricts your blood flow, and the two layers can rub against each other leading to friction and pain too.
And make sure your socks are clean as well – dirty socks absorb and retain sweat. Don’t use fabric softeners in the wash as the chemicals in them can make your feet sweat more.
Footbeds
As well as improving your skiing, footbeds or skier orthotics inside your boots can also help keep your feet warm.
An unsupported foot tends to collapse as you flex, so most people over-tighten their boots to hold the foot more solidly, but this constricts the arteries supplying blood to your toes.
Modern lady-specific skis use the latest technology to counteract these problems, moving the skier’s weight forwards and upwards towards the centre of the ski, and moving the centre of sidecut of the ski forward too.
A proper skier orthotic supports and stabilises the foot, means you can ski comfortably in a boot that’s the right size and releases the flow of blood to your toes.
Give Your Feet a Break!
Releasing the clips of your boots when you’re sitting on a lift or having a coffee eases the circulation to your toes and warms your feet up before you start again.
Start Gently
Don’t overdo things at the start of the day! Clip your boots up a bit looser to start with and tighten them up after a couple of runs.
And don’t throw yourself down the hardest black run you can find first thing, start with a few easier runs.
Boot Warming Pads
A bit like tea bags, foot warming pads contain a combination of chemicals which heat up when activated and stay warm for several hours.
They’re not expensive in the first place, and most of them are re-useable.
WARNING ! - be careful that they do not effect the comfort of your boot.
Battery-Operated Footwarming Systems
Without doubt the ultimate solution, but definitely a worthwhile investment if you’re suffering badly.
There are two components – firstly a step-in or custom footbed which will partly solve the problem by supporting, stabilising and aligning your foot properly in the boot and allow for better circulation in your feet.
And secondly a heating element below the footbed attached to a rechargeable battery pack which clips onto the back of your boots. Some models have adjustable heat levels too.
Taking Your Boots Off
When you get back into the warmth, it can be only too tempting to haul your boots off as fast as you can and stick your freezing feet on top of the heater or in front of the fire – DON’T! The sudden heating up of your feet can be excruciatingly painful.
Plus your blood vessels constrict when you’re cold and can’t handle sudden expansion and increased blood flow so blood can leak into the surrounding tissue and cause chilblains.
Warm your feet up slowly – getting someone to gently massage them helps gradually bring the blood back to cold feet.