UNIHAND hand warmers for skiing

Warm on the run, cold on the chair

Skiing and snowboarding heat you up and cool you down in turns. On the way down your legs work and your hands stay warm inside your gloves. On the lift you sit still in the wind for the whole ride, with your hands on a cold bar. Your grip on the poles all morning does not help either, and snowboarders lose heat each time they strap in at the top with bare fingers.

That rhythm suits a warmer that switches on and off. Run it on the ride up, put it away for the run, and pick it up again at the bottom. While it runs, each unit holds the level you chose.

Mittens, gloves and where the warmer goes

The National Weather Service says mittens keep hands warmer than gloves, because your fingers share one space and warm each other. A warmer inside a mitten adds to that shared heat, and in our mitten photos you can see the unit glowing through the knit.

Thin liner gloves under your mittens give you a layer to keep on when you pull a mitten off on the lift. With gloves alone, the inside pocket of your jacket is the better home. Close to your body the warmer stays warm itself, and it cannot fly out of an open hip pocket on a fall. On the chair, take your hand out of the glove for a minute, hold the warmer, and put the glove back on before the top.

Keep High for the pocket rather than bare skin inside a tight glove. It reaches 130 °F, and fingers numbed by a cold lift cannot tell you when something is too hot.

Sharing the pair on the lift

Two warmers in one box means the person on the chair beside you can have one. Each runs on its own battery and button, so they can choose their own level. On a day with kids in ski school, an adult can keep both and hand one over at lunch.

When your own hands are frozen through, press the two units together, back against back. You get one round warmer with heat on every side, enough to hold in both hands for the ride up.

Batteries on a cold mountain

Cold mountain air works against any battery. Battery University says a battery that gives its full capacity at 80 °F typically delivers about half at 0 °F. A warmer carried in an outer pocket at the top of the mountain runs shorter than the same unit kept against your chest.

Charge at the lodge or the hotel, not in the car park. Battery University warns against charging lithium-ion batteries below freezing, so let a cold unit warm up indoors before it goes on the USB-⁠C cable. If there is an outlet near your table, lunch is a good time to top up the unit you used on the morning lifts.

Watching each other for frostbite

CDC describes frostbite as an injury caused by freezing, most often on the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers and toes. Redness or pain can be the first sign, then white or grayish-yellow skin that feels firm or waxy. You may not know it is happening until someone else points it out.

So check your friends' faces on the chair, and ask them to check yours. If you see signs, get to a warm room and to medical care. CDC warns against heating pads and other heat sources on numb skin, because it can burn before feeling returns. A hand warmer is one of those heat sources, so keep it off frostbitten skin.

The pairs on this page are part of the UNIHAND collection, and the five colors above were picked for skiing. Compare them side by side.