Jen above the balcony wearing a balaclava under her down suit with the zip down slightly – her head is warm (enough) but equally she isn’t overheating. By carefully regulating her temperature and her pace to the 2 litre flow of oxygen she is high on Everest wearing a decent pair of gloves

Here’s what you can do …

o Wear a hat!

If you think logically about the hierarchy then one way to avoid getting cold hands (or feet) is to keep the brain warm. What better way than to wear a hat? Blood not only supplies oxygen to the brain (and elsewhere) for it to function but is also provides warmth, so it goes without saying that a hat will allow the brain to retain a degree of warmth and it will then be less dependent on receiving it from elsewhere. To that end it will be less likely to sacrifice circulation to the extremities.

Once you have set off if you find that a hat is too warm then replace it with an earwarmer and stow the hat for later, or pop the hat off and use a buff up and over your ears if they are getting cold. Or pull your hood up to keep the breeze off your ears whilst allowing the head to cool off a little. Basically you need to be versatile and flexible with your gear and your methodology.

o Wear a warm top!

Next in the hierarchy is the torso where the other major vital life giving organs reside – so wear a decent top. If you have a warm (enough) head and a warm (enough) torso then you are much more likely to maintain a decent circulation to the extremities.

Having said that, like the head the torso and major organs don’t like to be cooked so you must avoid getting too warm otherwise you are compromising yourself in other ways (more later). If you are going to be walking even at only modest speeds then if you whip off a layer before you start a journey so that you are comfortably cool then you are probably going to be comfortably warm enough in 10 or 15 minutes from the outset. Sometimes even this ploy is difficult to get right when you find yourself walking in to the wind and you’re cooler than anticipated, or the sun pops up and you are warmer than anticipated. In which case do something about it (more later).

But the main point here is that you are creating warmth through movement that can then be distributed by the blood to the fingers and toes because your head and your torso are not being cooled and therefore aren’t being compromised.

o Avoid sweating.

If you get too hot then you will start to sweat – the body’s main cooling mechanism. If you sweat too much then your clothing will wet out and even the best wicky layers will have trouble transporting moisture from your body. When you stop you will have a damp clammy layer against your skin which will start to cool your torso at exactly the same time you have stopped the exertion and the heat production. If you pop a warm layer on straight away then you may be in time to avoid the body cooling further than it ought to. If you have a really wet clammy wicky layer then it may well be prudent to replace it as well as donning a warm outer layer.

For the hands and feet if you have created sufficient sweat to wet out your socks and gloves then this can be difficult to address.

Wet socks are less efficient than dry ones and used socks are less efficient than clean ones. So it would be prudent on a 5 day summit bid on Everest to take spare, clean (preferably unused) socks to The South Col which are saved specifically for summit day.

If you have wet inner boots it is always worth removing the insole to allow any moisture in the boot to have a chance of dispersing. If you don’t remove the insole then the moisture under it can’t escape and at cold temperatures it will then freeze. You’ll be popping not only a cold boot on to your foot but also walking on a frozen insole. Nice!

Gloves are sometimes a bit more difficult to deal with if they get really soaked through sweat. If they don’t have removable inners you can’t really turn them inside out that easily and with no access to radiators on the hill it can be difficult to raise the temperature sufficiently to drive the moisture out. Far better to avoid wetting out in the first place by using different gloves for different conditions where appropriate. Carrying spare gloves in jacket pockets makes you much more inclined to change them on the go whereas if they are in a rucksack you are much more likely to make do because you can’t be bothered with the hassle.

And regardless of that, warm gloves with removable inners are far superior to those without because they can be dried so much more readily on the hill.

o If you are cold (or hot) do something about it!

It is important not only for your own comfort, but also for your well-being, to make sure that you don’t over-cook or become too cool. Over-cooking is not only bad for the organs but also causes you to sweat (see above) which, in turn, causes you to become dehydrated. If you are dehydrated you are much more likely to be prone to frostbite, hypothermia, Acute Mountain Sickness, HACE & HAPE and, in extreme cases over a more prolonged period, more susceptible to DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) which is a very serious, life threatening problem and is the end of your trip.

Learn how to manage yourself on the go. As mentioned earlier start out comfortably cool, have a headband and some mid weight gloves in your pockets so they are accessible and know where all your zippers are. Have water accessible either via a drinking tube or, in colder conditions where a tube will freeze, a water bottle in an insulated carrier clipped to your rucksack. In even colder conditions water can be stowed inside your down suit (half litre bottles work very well for this).

Wicky tops with deep chest zips are much more preferable than crew neck versions. A zipped top can be vented whereas a crew neck top has no versatility whatsoever.

Trousers or over trousers with thigh zippers are a great way of being able to cool down as well – the thighs generate a lot of heat when you start ascending and leg zippers are yet another way you can regulate your temperature on the go.

One thing to remember, however, is that there is a time and a place to be doing up / undoing front zippers, underarm vents, putting hoods up, taking hats off, changing to lighter gloves etc. If you try doing it on the move you may well compromise your safety. Sometimes stopping is not an option (for instance areas of the Khumbu Icefall, below threatening seracs or when in or below avalanche prone terrain) – in which case you either need to pre-empt and stop earlier or keep on going for the time being knowing that you can do something about it in 5 or 10 minutes.

Togged up in what were quite cold blowy conditions. By knowing our gear intimately we were able to move high on Everest to get ready for an 18 hour weather window when most other teams were hunkered down at ABC or C1.

o Keep hydrated.

As mentioned earlier it is vitally important to maintain your fluid levels. On the mountain you will probably go in to deficit (you won’t drink enough, eat enough or sleep enough) and this is fine . but only for so long. Make sure that on any rotations down to Base Camp that you take the time to rest and refuel.

And if you remember that fluid is more important than food and food is more important than sleep you will not be far off the mark when you start brewing up instead of dossing around at the next camp (more later).

On summit night make sure that you start out with hot water in your bottles and that they are in insulated pouches. If you boiled your water a few hours before setting off it will already have had some time to cool down so, if necessary, reheat it before you start out. Once it freezes (which can happen surprisingly quickly in your journey) it is worse than useless.

So start out with hot water and keep drinking little and often.

o Keep food going in.

Food is fuel and without fuel you’ll compromise yourself. It is important not only to refuel between rotations on the hill but also to make sure that you eat as well as possible when on the mountain. Perversely at altitude you may well go off your food just when you need more calories than ever before. Either which way snacking along the way with treats from your pockets will stop you bonking because if you bonk you are likely to get cold hands and feet.

Every time you have a bite to eat you should drink.

o The importance of concurrent activity.

This can be a great time saver. If you stop to take off a layer then this could be an opportunity to do anything else that you anticipate needing to do in the next 30 minutes at the same time. For instance if you are wanting to remove a layer in The Khumbu Icefall at 07.30 in the morning it may be prudent to apply suncream, pop some lipsalve on, have a quick bite to eat and a drink, take a photo, get your sunglasses out and then, just before you set off again, whip off that layer that you had stopped to remove. That way you aren’t stopping in 25 minutes later when you are suddenly in the sun. In which case you are being more time efficient which means you’ll get to camp earlier and be drinking sooner.

Or on arrival at Camp 3 and you’re feeling a bit pooped you could slowly busy yourself by collecting some snow, get the cooker going and then sit down to get your breath back. In 20 minutes when you have sufficiently recovered ‘Hey Presto!’ you have a litre of water ready.

o Gloves vs Mitts.

Gloves tend to give you greater dexterity whereas mitts tend to be warmer because all your individual sausages are together (comparing like for like).

For high altitude / cold environs I would suggest buying warm gloves that are big enough to accommodate a thin liner glove whereas for warmer mitts I’d suggest that they are big enough to take a more substantial powerstretch glove. This then not only gives you plenty of options but also means that if you do need to remove the big outer garment you aren’t having bare fingers in contact with the snow and ice or, more importantly, any metal items.

If the glove is not big enough and there is any pressure then are you not only compressing the insulation but you are also likely to compromise your circulation and end up with a cold hand.

If you are wearing gloves and they are just not quite up to the job, or you are intermittently getting cold hands along the way, then retracting the fingers from their individual compartments, forming a fist and flexing & unflexing will usually work as an interim measure. With practice you can retract fingers for warmth purposes and still use trekking poles or even an ice axe on easy, walking terrain.