I' m an Aussie who feels the cold, but I have hardly ever been cold in Hokkaido after 5 trips.
I generally agree with all the other advice, but I do think that the advice given to travellers to Japan re ski gear from Austra,ia is generally a bit inadequate and under- estimates the cold.
Yes, you should make sure your boots are not too tight.
I generally wear thick old fashioned woollen ski socks.
(Last year I rescued an Aussie girl from the cold at Furano ( we're talking about - 13 here) . She was complaining of pain in her feet and was wearing cotton ankle socks in her ski boots, which of course were also wet.)
You also need to keep your core warm. For this I wear thermal top and bottom, a synthetic type ski shirt/ skivvy, a thick fleece or merino wool layer and a good quality parka with neck warmer/ balaclava ( I favour silk that I can wear under a helmet, and of course good quality gloves and inner gloves ( or mittens as others have suggested.
You should try to avoid standing on the snow for too long without your skis on and limit the amount of time on lifts. I generally have found that if you ride 3 lits in a row you without much skiing in between you will need to go inside to warm up . Certainly if you start to feel cold, and you will notice this first in your extremities then you need to go inside, have a hot drink and warm up.
Warm hands and feet!
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
Hi,
I' m an Aussie who feels the cold, but I have hardly ever been cold in Hokkaido after 5 trips.
I generally agree with all the other advice, but I do think that the advice given to travellers to Japan re ski gear from Austra,ia is generally a bit inadequate and under- estimates the cold.
Yes, you should make sure your boots are not too tight.
I generally wear thick old fashioned woollen ski socks.
(Last year I rescued an Aussie girl from the cold at Furano ( we're talking about - 13 here) . She was complaining of pain in her feet and was wearing cotton ankle socks in her ski boots, which of course were also wet.)
You also need to keep your core warm. For this I wear thermal top and bottom, a synthetic type ski shirt/ skivvy, a thick fleece or merino wool layer and a good quality parka with neck warmer/ balaclava ( I favour silk that I can wear under a helmet, and of course good quality gloves and inner gloves ( or mittens as others have suggested.
You should try to avoid standing on the snow for too long without your skis on and limit the amount of time on lifts. I generally have found that if you ride 3 lits in a row you without much skiing in between you will need to go inside to warm up . Certainly if you start to feel cold, and you will notice this first in your extremities then you need to go inside, have a hot drink and warm up.