Having cold toes is miserable.

When you’re skiing with cold toes, everything is less fun. Your friends are less funny, your wife/husband is less pretty, and the snow just sucks more despite all-time conditions, not to mention–you’re probably less fun, too. Who wants to be around someone with cold toes? Yikes.

So in an attempt to help you avoid your fate as a cold-toed monster on the hill, here’s some suggestions to keep those toes warm while skiing.

1. Thin Socks

This seems counterintuitive, but thin socks are the secret weapon in the arsenal against cold toes. The key to warm toes, as you’ll discover in a couple more suggestions below, is circulation. Blood is like the body’s internal blanket and when its not in your toes, there’s no amount of extra fuzzy sock that’s going to help. The goal is to keep your blood moving in your feet, and if you cram your feet inside a boot with your thickest wooliest socks, the veins in your feet won’t be able to move any blood around because they will be squeezed to death.

Now, all this thin sock talk depends on whether or not you fit your boots to thin socks. It’s like going to try on shoes–you have to wear the type of sock you intend to wear out in the world while you try on shoes in the store. If you’ve fitted your boots to thick socks, going out with thin socks won’t help much and may cause your feet to swim around in your boots, which is no fun. If you’re renting, go into the rental shop with thin socks in mind. If you’re unsure about what all this means, here are our Men’s and Women’s suggestions (featured below).

2. Loosen your boots on the lift and start wiggling

Similar to the concept mentioned above, the blood in your feet has to move around. It’s not poor advice to tighten your boots, especially when skiing tricky terrain, but if your feet are frozen you could greatly benefit from a little loosening and wiggling on the chair. When you loosen your boots on the chair, you open the door for blood to move in while your legs are dangling about, and wiggling your toes can force the blood to get going. When you eventually get off the chair, with your boots still loosened do some bunny hops on solid ground. This will force blood downward and into your feet and also will get your heart rate up just a bit. If your feet are still cold after all this hopping and wiggling, keep your boots loosened (not unbuckled) for a gentle run or two. This should be enough to kickstart the circulation.

And yet, if despite your best efforts this still is not enough, continue to suggestion #3.

3. Boot gloves

You’ve come here because suggestions #1 & 2 have failed you. Your feet lack circulation and you’re frustrated. Don’t give up yet–there is a solution. Like a glove on your hand, there exists a glove for your boot. No, it’s not the most fashionable choice, but it gets the job done, and if you combine it with the strategies 1 & 2, you’ll have a small furnace in the tips of your boots. We recommend the DryGuy Bootglove.

The DryGuy Bootglove | Link |

And yet, if this is just. not. working. If you are at the end of your wits and toes on the verge of frostbite, there is one final solution. Continue to suggestion 4.

4. Boot warmers

Welcome to the end of the road, amigo. Don’t be ashamed for arriving here–it’s not your fault your feet hate you, but it will be your fault if you do nothing to help them. The boot warmers are the last resort for a reason: they’re expensive and require batteries, but they are very effective. Consider this the silver bullet for your frozen toe woes. We’ve all tried shoving bulky hand/toe warmers in the bottom of our boots with moderate success. They may have provided some warmth, but the heat was likely poorly distributed, your toes probably felt crunched at the end of your boot, or they just stopped working after a couple hours. With the electronic boot warmer, you can say goodbye to all of these issues. Instead, you can welcome in consistent, even, and comfortable heat for your entire ski day.

The Hotronic Footwarmer | Link |

So if you’re at wits end and your feet need to be brought back from the Arctic, we recommend these Hotronic Upgraded FootWarmer S4+ Custom. Your cold toes will soon be a distant memory.

5. Ski harder!

We don’t know who needs to read this, but if you really want warm toes, just work your ass off! Is there hike-to terrain at your mountain? Do it, and then do it again. Are your legs burning during your run? No? Ski harder. Are you sweating at all? No?! Ski harder! Just think to yourself–what would Terry Crews do?

Take it or leave it, but treating your ski day like a workout is a surefire way to have warm toes and a wonderful night’s sleep 🙃

Further Reading

• Dealing with Inconsistent Snow | 5 min. read
• Want to Avoid Crowds? Ski Independent. | 4 min. read
• Relive Your Youth by Going Totally Tubular | 3 min. read