I've used various glove systems over the years. Snow camping in Wyoming - liner gloves, wool glover or mittens, with a thinsulate mitten shell. XC skiing in New England, Wyoming, and Montana - a slightly lighter glove works for aerobic activities down to about 0, sometimes with chemical hand warmers slipped in over the back of the hand. I've have a pair of flip fingered gloves made for winter fishing and have found my thumb and forefinger to be colder than the others. I can't speak to the more expensive Valleret gloves.
Chemical packs in the pockets. Get to location, set up camera on tripod, re.ovr outer mits, shoot for a few minutes. When your fingers start getting cold (but not numb) typically after just a coue of minutes, stick them in your pockets the warmers. Keep them there for about 5 mins until they feel nice and comfor again. Leather, rinse, repat. I was able to keep that up for hours at a time.
You don't necessarily need the rather extravagantly priced mits. Any good quality mit will do. I get steep discounts.on Mountain Hardware and paid under $100 for the MH mits, at that price they are very bomber gloves for ultra cold weather.
Chemical packs in the pockets. Get to location, set up camera on tripod, re.ovr outer mits, shoot for a few minutes. When your fingers start getting cold (but not numb) typically after just a coue of minutes, stick them in your pockets the warmers. Keep them there for about 5 mins until they feel nice and comfor again. Leather, rinse, repat. I was able to keep that up for hours at a time.
You don't necessarily need the rather extravagantly priced mits. Any good quality mit will do. I get steep discounts.on Mountain Hardware and paid under $100 for the MH mits, at that price they are very bomber gloves for ultra cold weather. ...Show more →
Chemical packs in the pockets. Get to location, set up camera on tripod, re.ovr outer mits, shoot for a few minutes. When your fingers start getting cold (but not numb) typically after just a coue of minutes, stick them in your pockets the warmers. Keep them there for about 5 mins until they feel nice and comfor again. Leather, rinse, repat. I was able to keep that up for hours at a time.
You don't necessarily need the rather extravagantly priced mits. Any good quality mit will do. I get steep discounts.on Mountain Hardware and paid under $100 for the MH mits, at that price they are very bomber gloves for ultra cold weather. ...Show more →
Not tested in Alaska, but I use The Heat Company gloves in winter -- the polartec liner gloves under the softshell mittens. Both pairs have pockets for chemical hand warmers, which is also nice. The only downside is the hideous logo embroidered on them. If it's super cold I use the liner gloves under a big ol' pair of Marmot ski gloves. In general the only way to keep hands warm in frigid temperatures is two pairs of gloves.
mark1958 wrote:
Yes the chemical pack warmers.. will bring some of these I also have some electronic warmers and will try those
Electronic warmers should never be used without a backup if you are a meaningful distance away from a warm shelter. I personally don't find them useful. Chemical warmers last longer, weigh less, take up less space, and will not fail.
mark1958 wrote:
I have both electric and chemical warmers.. On my way today
I'm interested in your field-tested glove report! Fairbanks has an arctic cold front moving in now and is predicted to hit lows of -40F/-40C with a high of -16F/-26C through the week. Even tropical Anchorage is getting cold advisories at -16F/-26C lows and highs of 1F/-17C, and the wind has picked up overnight. Hope you have a productive and unique trip!
For -40F, my fail safe system was wearing Overland wool sheepskin gloves with a remote cable plunged inside oversized sheepskin gauntlet mitts w/warmers inside (learned about oversized gauntlets from a Fairbanks shooter). Mitts were hung over the parka and also keep batteries warm. Rab down mitts worked as well to a lesser degree (learned from BBC filmmakers, are more lightweight for travel and note: I’m cold blooded from HI). OTOH, friends from Canada/Idaho were happy wearing electric gloves using a remote cable inside TNF/Rab down mitts. This was at Wat’chee when we were using tripods with lots of standing/waiting. I tried the Heat Co mitts at the time but preferred wiggling my fingers for circulation/warmth inside oversized mitts using larger body warmers.
In warmer temps (down to 5F i.e. winter in Patagonia, in/out heated cars), I tried liners inside Valleret Markhoff III gloves (too constricting in the fingers for my taste) but much preferred Heat Co. wool Pro liners worn inside Valleret Skardi mitts (1 size up) w/warmers tucked inside for my preferred ergonomics. Since then I bought 66N touch liners (recommended by JoshuaH, do work as advertised), but haven’t fielded tested them yet. He’s a cold weather shooter, so I assume they’d work for most folks.
If I needed to be mobile and were in variable temps up to -40F again, I’d pack the Heat Co wool /66N touch liners, the Valleret Skardi mitts and a pair of tried/true old Swany Arctic mitts (vertical zippers by index fingers to get 1 or more fingers out as needed), and the outer shell of an oversized down mitt for hand plunging and/or to shoot with a remote cable inside. And for general knock around/travel, I’d wear the sheepskin gloves.
Sorry about that and I hope that you got some decent images. Minus 40 is definitely a different animal and fingertips can get cold/uncomfortable in minutes. Body warmers (vs the smaller hand size) inside of a larger mitt (so that you can wiggle figures for circulation and wrapped around the warmers) has been my secret sauce albeit nowadays, I avoid those types of trips/temps since traveling with lots of warmers can be tricky.
