Has a few weeks of extreme weather.
$8 Knit hunting gloves from Cantire One Size,
Cut the fingertip off one to use .
Mont Bell Chameece
https://www.montbell.com/us/en/products/detail/1118478
Had faux-leather driving gloves, they were great.
The N-Ferno 6970 balaclavais designed with an advanced technology to allow workers to breathe in very cold weather without the harmful effects of breathing frigid air.
The respirator is composed of a removable heat exchanger that warms the outside air before it reaches your face and makes breathing easier.
Equipped with an adjustable nose clip, it prevents the glasses from fogging up. The face mask can also be removed in milder weather with hook and loop fasteners.
Energizer LED Headlamp Pro260
seems like a good brand of LED headlamp
If your hands get cold, it’s nearly impossible to warm them up again. For example, I thought I could double layer my microfleece gloves on a -17 C day and that would be enough. By the time I got back my hands were so frozen, I could barely open the door. I learned a lesson that day.
https://www.kombicanada.com/pages/dealer-locator
https://www.kombicanada.com/products/the-keen-1?Color=Castlerock&Size=S
https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/snow-sports/best-winter-gloves
Ask-the-Expert-Can-cold-air-freeze-my-lungs.pdf (47.3 KB)
Research has shown people can train
in temperatures in excess of minus 50°C without damaging their lungs. Our bodies are designed to function very well in cold weather and regardless of the temperature we have mechanisms in place that ensure the air we breathe in is at body temperature and 100% humidified when it reaches our lungs.Try the following strategies to reduce your risk of irritating your airways:
- Your nose heats and humidifies inhaled air better than your mouth – try breathing in through your nose
and out through your mouth;- Wear a scarf, balaclava or ski mask over your nose and mouth – this helps trap heat and humidity when
you exhale;- Ensure you are well hydrated for your workouts;
- Schedule your runs for the warmest time of the day; and
- Progressively increase your training intensity as tolerated
The bottom line: There is no risk you will freeze your lungs running anywhere on Earth. You can however get
frost bite if you don’t dress properly.
Dr. Darrell Menard is the Surgeon General’s specialist advisor in sport medicine. He has worked extensively with athletes from multiple sports and has covered Canadian teams competing at multiple games including the 2012 Olympics and the 2016 Paralympic games. These articles were originally published in the Canadian Forces Journal, the Maple Leaf.
You’re not beating Outdoor Research in terms of quality for your dollar for gloves, especially at 50% off (we often get 60%).
Favorite mild temp glove is the stormtracker, how mild is going to depend on the user.
https://www.outdoorresearch.com/ca/shop/mens-stormtracker-sensor-gloves-244881
Arete’s are as heavy as I’d go before switching to mitts. The Alti’s are warmer, but IMO anything touted as an extreme cold glove like the Alti’s or guide glove is useless for things that require dexterity, (shooting, rope work).
https://www.outdoorresearch.com/ca/accessories-sale-ca/or-mens-arete-gloves-271615
These are my ultimate favorite cold weather glove, but better purchased through MEC than the BD pro when you factor in shipping/exchange from USD. BD dexterity beats OR, and I can still manipulate biners and ropes at -20 with these without hating life.
https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_CA/product/punisher-gloves/?colorid=5952
Anything colder I revert back to a light glove with mitts over top whenever possible, but the key is rotating between two or more pairs warming under your coat. If you’re shooting or doing anything that requires fine dexterity, smaller gloves with mittens over top is the only way to go. Bonus points having a string weaved through your sleeves like a little kid.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianForces/comments/xfphel/recommendations_for_good_toquegloves/
https://blackdiamondequipment.com/products/guide-gloves?view=sl-20409132
https://op1.0ps.us/pdf/opplanet-black-diamond-glove-care-instructions-pdf.pdf
opplanet-black-diamond-glove-care-instructions-pdf.pdf (229.9 KB)
encountered a patch of ice last night which reminded me why I wear crampons. instantly lost footing. the crampons definitely did something because the metal band broke after I slipped.
rip yaktrax, 2024-2025, “you were okay”.
the article above disagrees with this article:
People who enjoy exercising outside during winter need to be wary of the effects plunging temperatures can have on their lungs, according to a University of Alberta cold-weather exercise physiologist.
“If it’s a really cold day in February, a high-intensity run or ski race could change your life,” said Michael Kennedy.
He explained the problem with intense cold-weather exercise is that increasingly cold temperatures make it harder for the lungs to warm and humidify the air, which causes the lining of the airway to dry and, in some cases, become irreparably damaged.
“The inflammatory response is so large that the lungs never recover back to a healthy baseline,” he said. “They basically remodel.”
Kennedy said ski culture and Nordic culture are slowly changing, but for the most part there is still general acceptance that it’s OK to race in -15 C or -20 C.
“It’s not OK,” he said. “We have a qualitative study planned on high-level cross-country skiers who have chronic cough and severe reduced lung function post-retirement.”
Kennedy said the number of cold-weather athletes with exercise-induced asthma may be understated. Recently, his team found that the favoured lab test for predicting exercise-induced asthma in cold air is not as accurate as simply testing athletes after a cold-weather run to simulate a race or a hard run in the winter.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10361853/
However, it is controversial whether breathing cold air only causes respiratory symptoms (Koskela 2007) or whether it may play a role in inducing respiratory diseases by triggering inflammation and airway remodelling in healthy subjects, as has been observed in winter sport athletes (Sue-Chu 2012).
Cold storekeeping has been shown to be a physically demanding activity, with oxygen uptake close to the endurance limit when workers are moving loads of up to 15 kg in the frozen food industry (Groos et al. 2021). The workers in our sample, however, worked with smaller loads (packages of 1–2 kg weight), thus we would not expect high oxygen uptake during the time spent in ultra-cold storage.
Like in other studies on occupational health, we cannot rule out a healthy-worker effect, which would arise when unhealthier workers leave over time and healthier are retained (Chowdhury et al. 2017).
My first pair of ice cleats was Yaktrax Diamond Go.
This style was easy enough to put on and take off, but because there were no studs on the heel I didn’t feel they contributed a huge amount of traction.
They lasted about 2 seasons. I put them away wet into their case often, and the steel cable that goes through the studs snapped.
In the February melt 2026 I was compelled to get another pair to replace them.
Tradeoff between NANOspikes and MICROspikes. Went for the NANOspikes. Bought from Cantire. Happy with them.