How cold do you like it?

Much depends on the wind, but -20 is for me the threshold of real cold. That's when you can really expect cold feet,and hands if you don't have good gloves and warm boots (some boots are warmer than others).Face protection becomes important for comfort. Keeping your body warm will help with the extremities.

The great thing about cold days is less people on the slopes :D

Trencher

It was before sallos were invented, and we wore skin tight ski pants. Up for the 7.45 "milk run" on the single chairlift. Minus 25 deg C, in the village. At the top, I was frozen, the lift man slowed the chair down, levered me off the chair, and gave me a gentle push.

I stayed in the "chairlift position" all he way down.

I'd say somewhere around -8 would be my comfort zone. I've skiied in -22 with 40mph+ winds at the top of Les Deux Alpes, and that wasn't much fun. My friend and I were simply skiing to try and get out of the horrendous winds - the weather had picked up whilst we were having lunch in a picnic shelter, and in the meantime all the lifts had closed. The small parts of my face that were exposed to the wind and snow soon became quite uncomfortably cold, but the rest of me was fine.

Half an hour later the wind had dropped, the clouds had passed and there was beautiful sunshine on a fresh dump of 12cm or so. To top it all off, the mountain was absolutely deserted. Fun times were had :twisted:

In Serre Che in March, the top lift over from Monetier was closed for a couple of days due to 120kph winds. They finally opened it but let me tell you as you got off the chair at the top of La Balme it was still blowing a right old hoolie and it cut right through you. Absolutely mental, and it actually blew you backwards up hill on skis/boards. We got off their prety fast, and the day turned out to be an epic one in bright sun with clear skies and fresh snow.

Humidity plays a big part along with the wind. Although the air holds less mosisture the colder it gets, 85% humidity couple with wind and severe cold will make the cold reach down to the bone.

+2 in most of England will feel colder than -7 in the mountains due to the very high humidity that prevails here.

-5 to -10 is probably about ideal.

Dorset Boy wrote:Humidity plays a big part along with the wind. Although the air holds less mosisture the colder it gets, 85% humidity couple with wind and severe cold will make the cold reach down to the bone.

+2 in most of England will feel colder than -7 in the mountains due to the very high humidity that prevails here.

-5 to -10 is probably about ideal.

Very true. Even when it is below zero, the humidity plays a factor. All the cold weather work clothing here is not water resistant. It doesn't need to be, just wind proof. We have to run humidifiers in the winter to stop us getting too dried out.

You also become acclimatised as well. When we start getting 0 degree days in October, it feels very cold. By march, people are working outside in tee shirts at O degrees. Our cut off as electricians is -20C. At that temp the insulation on the wire starts to crack if you are not careful.

Trencher

We went from -20 degrees C in Val Thorens in Jan, to +38 degrees C in Bandol (French Riviera) 6 months later, last year. It's amazing to think that's a difference of 58 degrees C, and yet we tolerated it perfectly well.

I'm usually warm enough as long as I keep moving. It's when I stop that I feel the cold.

Ally

got stuck on the 4man chair out of 2000 today at minus 16 apparently and that was NOT fun


EDIT:
dont mean actually stuck to the chair just that it stopped!